Musk and Zhao Exchange Memes Amid Bitcoin Drop Below $80,000

Elon Musk and Changpeng Zhao (CZ) resumed their recent spat on November 6, 2026, exchanging memes amid a stock market crash that spilled over into cryptocurrencies. The exchange began under a post by Dogecoin co-creator Billy Markus, who had just woken up in Japan and asked how the market was doing.

The jokes were at the expense of traders who were incurring real losses: Bitcoin (BTC) was falling along with stocks. Those most at risk were holders of leveraged long positions—trades on borrowed funds betting on price increases.

Musk was the first to respond to Markus. He posted a blurred image of Zhao in red tones—a nod to the red candles on price charts. This jab reignited their previous spat. After North Korean-linked hackers withdrew about $6.3 billion from Binance on October 29, Musk posted laughing emojis under Zhao's safety warning. At that time, Zhao called it an inappropriate moment for trolling and asked Musk for "a little support."

This time, the founder of Binance joined in the joke with a cartoon of a figure sitting on the ground with an arrow sticking out of a bleeding leg. About an hour later, Binance co-founder and co-CEO Yi He joined the discussion. She quoted Musk's post with a frame from the movie "The Matrix," where the red pill reveals harsh truth, and the blue one maintains comforting illusion. Her post also included versions of Zhao's image in green and red tones; she asked followers: "Which pill will you choose?"

The sell-off began in the U.S. stock market. On Thursday, a crash in AI chipmakers' stocks triggered a $2 trillion drop in stock values, which spread to global markets overnight. By the time the Dogecoin co-creator went online in Japan, Asian markets were already under severe pressure. In South Korea, the KOSPI index fell below 5,000, triggering an automatic brake after an 8% drop.

The stock crash soon turned into a cryptocurrency crash. One trader lost 201 BTC, worth about $15.6 million at the time, due to eight consecutive liquidations. Meanwhile, Bitcoin's price fell below $80,000, reaching a monthly low.

According to crypto analyst Ben Cowen, further movement may depend less on memes and more on stock markets. He warned that a sell-off similar to 2018 could send Bitcoin to $58,000. Such a drop would extend the cryptocurrency crash far beyond this week's losses.