Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao has clarified that he never threatened to sell SpaceX shares or intended to pressure Elon Musk, according to a post on X on October 31.
CZ stated he mentioned Binance's SpaceX holdings only to address comparisons with FTX that may have implied the exchange lacked sufficient funds. "I never said selling SPCX shares. I mentioned we have them only because the FTX comparison in the thread may have implied we lacked funds, which is not true," he said.
The clarification came after a $6.3 billion hack of Binance, one of the largest cryptocurrency heists on record. Elon Musk posted responses to the breach that included laughing emojis, prompting CZ to respond with a message referencing Binance's SpaceX shares from its $500 million investment in the Twitter acquisition.
CZ emphasized his opposition to threats and confrontation, stating "I don't make threats" as a core principle. He described Binance's SpaceX holdings as "a drop in the ocean" relative to SpaceX's scale and characterized SpaceX stock as one of the best long-term holdings.
CZ characterized Musk as "one of the strongest builders in the world" and said his preference was to direct focus toward addressing the hack. "Fight with one of the strongest builders in the world? No thx. Let's fight the North Korean hackers," he posted.
Binance co-CEO Yi He addressed the company's financial position separately, stating that Binance's annual revenue is sufficient to cover losses from the hack and that the company does not yet need to sell the SpaceX shares.
