Elon Musk: Superintelligent agents will acquire currency on their own, not for humans
On October 30, Elon Musk replied on the X platform to a post about the Binance hacking incident, saying that superintelligent agents would at some point do this to obtain currency that belongs to them, rather than for humans.
The original post that his reply addressed said that after Tether froze about US$1.5 billion in USDT and Circle froze about US$800 million in USDC, the hacker allegedly deposited USDT into Aave as collateral to borrow ETH, thereby bypassing the stablecoin freeze. Musk did not elaborate on the specific technical details, and only linked this behavior to the future autonomous ability of superintelligent agents to obtain currency.
This statement is a speculative comment by Musk on superintelligent capabilities and is not a confirmation of the attack path in the current Binance incident.
Original sources:
Title: Super intelligence agents will at some point do this to gain currency for themselves, not a human Publisher: Elon Musk (@elonmusk) Date of publication: 2026-10-30 URL: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/2116005381205836098 Source nature: original post by the person involved Verification status: full text and context actually read in this report, verified on 2026-10-30 Supporting content: Musk's original words and the object of his reply (the description of hackers using DeFi to bypass stablecoin freezes)
Title: The Binance hacker might have just pulled off one of the smartest moves I’ve seen in crypto. Publisher: BLANEY (@cryptoblaney) Date of publication: 2026-10-30 URL: https://x.com/cryptoblaney/status/2115964568342261955 Source nature: context for the original post Verification status: full text actually read in this report, verified on 2026-10-30 Supporting content: the description of Tether and Circle freezes, and the narrative that USDT was allegedly used as collateral on Aave to borrow ETH (the direct object of Musk's reply)
ABAB AI Insight
Elon Musk's reply links a current alleged operation that appears to use DeFi mechanisms to bypass stablecoin freezes to the possibility of superintelligent agents autonomously obtaining currency in the future. His original words were that they would do this at some point, which is speculative rather than a statement of an event that has already happened, and he did not specify a time or technical path.
This comment continues Musk's public statements about AI capabilities. For example, he has said that AI will reach superhuman levels in digital tasks, including hacking, by the end of 2027, and he cited Larry Page's remarks from years ago that AI would surpass humans in hacking. In this statement, he frames obtaining currency as one of the potential autonomous goals of superintelligent agents, in contrast to doing so for humans.
At present, Binance has not officially released a full technical postmortem, and the freeze actions by Tether and Circle as well as the hacker's subsequent fund path still require further confirmation. Musk's comment itself does not provide new on-chain evidence; instead, it places the matter within the broader discussion of long-term superintelligent development. The key follow-up is whether an official postmortem later confirms the relevant DeFi operation, and whether Musk further explains how superintelligent agents would obtain resources.
ABAB News · Cognitive law
Superintelligent agents are described as possibly obtaining resources for themselves rather than for humans, which is a long-term speculation rather than a confirmation of a current mechanism.
A comment on a single DeFi operation does not automatically amount to independent verification of the attack path or control over funds.
When AI capability predictions are linked to a specific event, the speaker's speculation must be distinguished from verified facts.