Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder and former chief executive of Binance, made a public appeal to Elon Musk on Friday, asking the billionaire to stop mocking the cryptocurrency exchange and instead offer some support after it was hit by a $6.3 billion hack.
After learning that the world's largest crypto exchange had been breached late Thursday, Musk posted a series of emojis on X that ranged from laughing to grimacing, a reaction Zhao appeared to view as trolling at the company's expense.
In his response, Zhao reminded the SpaceX and Tesla chief executive that Binance holds an equity stake in his businesses. According to Zhao, Binance's SpaceX stake, which traces back to an earlier investment in what was then Twitter, is now worth more than $1 billion.
Even so, that holding represents only a small fraction of SpaceX, which carries a valuation of roughly $2 trillion.
"Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop," Zhao wrote. "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 exchange is not the first online clash between the two men. In November 2021, Binance suspended Dogecoin withdrawals because of a wallet glitch, a step Musk described as "shady." Zhao fired back at the time by pointing to a major Tesla recall of almost 12,000 U.S. vehicles linked to software glitches and hardware issues.
Following the hack, Binance froze all withdrawals and deposits on its platform. The company has since restored deposits.
Investigators suspect the attack was carried out by TraderTraitor, a hacking unit believed to be sponsored by the North Korean state.
So far, around $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets have been frozen in connection with the breach.
