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While the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service investigate the theft of $6.3 billion from Binance wallets, a public discussion between Elon Musk and the exchange’s founder Changpeng Zhao (CZ) unfolded on the X platform. The spat highlighted an unexpected irony: Musk decided to troll the crypto exchange in the midst of the crisis, but in response received a harsh reminder that his own assets had become Binance’s main argument in the dispute over solvency.
The reason for the dispute was a meme by one of the users, which ironically compared CZ’s public promises to cover the losses with Sam Bankman-Fried’s famous tweet on the eve of the FTX collapse: “FTX has enough to cover all client holdings.” Elon Musk reacted to this comparison with an awkward emoji (😬), launching a wave of trolling directed at the exchange.
The reaction of the Binance founder followed immediately: “Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop.” As a counterstrike, Zhao, right in the discussion thread, reminded Musk whose money exactly he had used to buy Twitter in 2022. At that time, Binance provided the billionaire with $500 million. By October 2026, these investments had transformed into a stake in the aerospace giant SpaceX (SPCX) with a market value of more than $1 billion.
How Elon Musk accidentally became Binance’s guarantor
Trying to shame Musk and at the same time prove the stability of the exchange to the audience, Zhao disclosed internal calculations right there in the dispute thread. According to him, of the $6.3 billion in stolen funds, about $3 billion was promptly frozen by stablecoin issuers, and another part is covered by the SAFU reserve fund. The actual balance gap is about $2 billion, exactly half of which is potentially covered by this stake.
“Gap is about $2b, we have $1.x billion in SPCX alone. The remaining gap is (still painful, but) manageable,” Zhao replied to Musk, adding at the end: “Would appreciate it if you show a little support. Thanks!”
To finally shift the focus away from security problems and put Musk in his place, Binance co-CEO Yi He harshly intervened in the discussion. She published an ironic open address to Zhao, taking a veiled jab at the head of SpaceX: “Reporting to the major shareholder: Our company’s revenue for the year is sufficient to cover the losses, so we do not yet need to sell the SpaceX shares you are bullish on.”
Zhao himself later explained that he pulled out the data on the SPCX stake in the dispute with Musk exclusively to demonstrate the platform’s safety margin, so that he “can be less worried.” The owner of X himself has so far left the attacks of Binance’s leadership unanswered.
The exchange plans to resume withdrawals within 45–48 hours after the completion of internal checks, and the four-year-old investment has de facto turned into the main stash with which Binance is now protecting itself from market panic.