Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao asked Elon Musk on October 30, 2026, to stop mocking the exchange after a theft of at least $6.4 billion in crypto from Binance-linked wallets on October 29. Musk had replied with a grimacing emoji to a discussion estimating that freezes of stolen funds could leave Binance with losses of around $1 billion; he did not explain what he meant.
Zhao pointed to Binance’s SpaceX shares, which he valued at more than $1 billion, but later said he had not suggested selling them. Binance co-CEO Yi He said annual revenue was enough to cover the losses without a sale. Binance said it had reserved more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the incident, while TRM Labs and Chainalysis attributed the attack to the North Korea-linked group TraderTraitor.
