Zhao Urges Musk to Stop Trolling Binance After $6.3 Billion Hack

Q: Why did CZ remind Elon Musk about Binance’s billion-dollar SpaceX-linked stake after Musk mocked the exchange’s record crypto hack?

CZ brought up Binance’s more than $1 billion SpaceX-linked stake to make two points at once: Binance has financial resources to absorb the hack’s remaining damage, and Musk should show some loyalty instead of mocking a company that helped finance his business deals. After Musk reacted to the Binance breach with laughing and grimacing emojis on X, Zhao said it was a “bad time to troll.” He reminded Musk that Binance’s $500 million backing of Musk’s Twitter takeover has since turned into SpaceX-related holdings worth over $1 billion. The message was partly personal: Binance had supported Musk financially, so Zhao argued Musk should offer support in return during a crisis. It was also meant as a signal about Binance’s balance sheet. Zhao later explained his rough math: about $6.3 billion was affected, roughly $3 billion had been frozen, and Binance’s SAFU emergency fund covered more than $1 billion, leaving an estimated gap of around $2 billion. By citing the SpaceX stake, he was showing that Binance still had sizable assets and that the shortfall was painful but manageable. Zhao did not say Binance would sell the SpaceX shares. Binance co-founder Yi He added that the company’s annual revenue was sufficient to cover the losses without unloading that stake. So the reference to SpaceX was less a liquidation plan than a public reminder to Musk that Binance had backed him and remained financially capable of handling the fallout.

3 articles · Updated · CNBC · Oct 30

Changpeng Zhao publicly asked Elon Musk to “stop” mocking Binance and “show a little support” after Musk reacted to the exchange’s $6.3 billion hack with laughing and grimacing emojis on X.
Zhao tied the appeal to Binance’s financial link to Musk’s empire, saying the exchange’s SpaceX stake—derived from its $500 million investment in Musk’s Twitter takeover—is now worth more than $1 billion.
Binance froze withdrawals and deposits after the late-Thursday breach, though deposits have since resumed, and investigators suspect North Korean state-backed hacking unit TraderTraitor was behind the attack.
About $3 billion in crypto assets have been frozen so far, underscoring the scale of the fallout at the world’s largest crypto exchange.
The clash revives an earlier feud: Musk called Binance “shady” in 2021 over suspended Dogecoin withdrawals, and Zhao fired back by citing Tesla’s recall of nearly 12,000 U.S. vehicles.