Changpeng Zhao Urges Elon Musk to Stop Mocking Binance

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao publicly asked Elon Musk to stop joking about the exchange following a $6.3 billion hack. “Elon, I have great respect for you, but now is not the time for trolling. Please stop,” Zhao wrote on X, adding that Binance would appreciate support. The exchange began after Musk reacted to Zhao's October 28 warning about suspicious emails and links: the billionaire posted fire and laughter emojis and later commented on the theft with the phrase “Everyday is Zeroday” – a reference to zero-day vulnerabilities. In another exchange, Musk responded with a grimacing emoji.

In response to questions, Zhao reminded that the SPCX stock package, acquired for $500 million in investments for the Twitter acquisition, is now worth more than $1 billion. According to his calculations, the damage exceeds $6 billion, $3 billion is frozen, more than $1 billion is available in SAFU, and the gap is about $2 billion – “painful but manageable.” Zhao emphasized that this is not the final calculation, and he has not announced plans to sell the shares.

Yi He’s Response

Binance co-founder and co-CEO Yi He responded directly: “Reporting to a major shareholder: the company's annual revenue is sufficient to cover the losses, so selling SpaceX shares, which you are betting on, is not necessary for now.” Zhao clarified that he was not suggesting selling – he was merely showing resources to ease Musk's concerns.

Industry Reaction

X top manager Nikita Bier noted the contrast between the scale of the theft and Zhao's assurances, mentioning his phrase “Funds are SAFU!”. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong, on the other hand, offered help: the industry needs to collaborate. Musk separately speculated that in the future, AI agents could independently conduct such transactions but did not claim that AI was responsible for this attack.