Musk Trolls Binance Over $2B Gap, CZ Counters With SpaceX Stake

After the largest crypto theft on record, Binance is facing a shortfall of roughly $2 billion. The exchange says it will cover every loss out of its own funds, even as Elon Musk trolls the company on X with laughing emojis.

Binance founder CZ and Yi He are reminding the SpaceX CEO of the money their exchange put into his company.

On October 29, hackers with ties to North Korea made off with about $6.3 billion from Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange. Around $3 billion of those funds were frozen. Withdrawals have stayed suspended since.

The Math Behind CZ’s $2 Billion Gap

Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, is the founder of Binance. On Friday, a user asked why he kept bringing up SpaceX. He answered with a calculation.

“Rough math: $6.x b hack, $3b frozen, $1.x b SAFU fund. Gap is about $2b, we have $1.x billion in SPCX alone. Remaining gap is (still painful, but) manageable.”

SAFU acts as Binance’s emergency reserve. It currently contains around $1.17 billion in Bitcoin.

Can the SpaceX Stake Actually Be Sold?

The stake came from a $500 million bet on Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter. X was later absorbed into xAI, and in February SpaceX bought xAI. SpaceX then debuted on Nasdaq in June with shares priced at $135.

Early backers remain subject to lockup terms that unlock holdings in waves. The last general release is set for December 8, while some large investors are restricted until 2027. Binance has not revealed which tier it belongs to.

SPCX itself lost nearly 10% in the week ending October 28, when about 1.6 billion newly freed shares became eligible for trading.

Musk Picks a Bad Moment to Troll

As the hack story broke, Musk wrote “Everyday is Zeroday.” He followed up with fire and laughing emojis underneath CZ’s warning about clicking links in emails.

🔥😂

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk), October 30, 2026

CZ struck back.

“Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop. 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!” CZ replied.

Some critics drew a darker comparison. In 2022, Sam Bankman-Fried said FTX could repay all customer money. FTX fell apart days later.

There has been no statement from CZ on a sale, and Binance co-CEO Yi He also ruled it out, pointing to the exchange’s revenue this year.

“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,” she wrote.

Withdrawals should resume within 48 hours, followed by a new public count of Binance’s reserves. Traders are not sitting tight. In the hour after the news circulated, liquidations surpassed $628 million.