Changpeng Zhao, cofounder and former CEO of Binance, asked Elon Musk to stop mocking the cryptocurrency exchange after it suffered a $6.3 billion hack on Thursday. Musk, CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, posted laughing and grimacing emojis on X in response to news of the breach.
Zhao reminded Musk that Binance holds equity stakes in his companies. Binance's SpaceX shares, acquired through a $500 million investment in Musk's Twitter takeover, are worth more than $1 billion, Zhao said. That represents a small fraction of SpaceX's roughly $2 trillion valuation.
"Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop," Zhao wrote on X. "Our SPCX shares (from our $500m investment in your Twitter takeover) are worth more than a billion. Would appreciate if you show a little support. Thanks!"
The two have clashed before. In November 2021, Binance suspended Dogecoin withdrawals due to a wallet glitch, which Musk called "shady." Zhao responded by pointing to a Tesla recall affecting almost 12,000 U.S. vehicles caused by software and hardware problems.
Binance froze all withdrawals and deposits after the hack. Investigators suspect North Korean state-sponsored hacking unit TraderTraitor carried out the attack. The exchange has since restored deposits. Around $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets remain frozen.