Could Binance’s $6.3 billion hack trigger a crisis across crypto’s billionaire network as CZ turns to Elon Musk for support?

The Binance security breach amounting to $6.3 billion is causing a rather rare spat between two prominent individuals from both the tech and crypto sectors, since founder CZ is calling on Elon Musk for help while the exchange tries to assure customers of the safety of their funds. Indeed, the exchange’s predicament became more interesting since the spat started between CZ and Elon Musk over the latter’s comments on the security breach on X.

It should be noted that this spat has brought attention to another form of connection that goes beyond trading in cryptocurrencies, since Binance made investments in Elon Musk’s ventures, and the SpaceX shares are estimated at over $1 billion by CZ.

Also Read | A $180.6 million warning for Trump? Texas border towns grapple with the economic fallout of his deportation campaign as local workers feel the growing heat


This incident highlights a larger issue about how financial resiliency relates to personal connections within the technology industry.

When a major firm suffers a security threat, its financial resilience does not depend only on its connections with rich investors and powerful corporate executives but also on its financial capability, its access to liquid assets and to security measures.

As far as Binance is concerned, for now, what is of utmost importance is the security breach that occurred and the recovery of the compromised assets.

Why CZ brought Musk and SpaceX into the conversation

The conflict was exacerbated by Musk’s reaction to posts regarding cybersecurity and the Binance scandal on X. Zhao personally requested that he stop joking about the situation and appealed for help during the time Binance was handling the aftermath of the issue.

Zhao also made mention of the Binance investment that stemmed from the Musk takeover of Twitter in 2022. He pointed out that the initial $500 million investment increased to holdings by SpaceX that now have a value exceeding $1 billion.


This piece of information added an unexpected financial element to a story centred around the theft of cryptocurrency and issues of cybersecurity.

Nevertheless, it is important to note that while the valuation of the investment is relevant, it should not be mistaken for ready-to-go cash.

Also Read | Giant birds with 20-foot wingspans once ruled North American skies – and may hold the secret behind Native American Thunderbird legends

The ability to liquidate shares, the time of such liquidation and the terms under which this can happen – all of these are different issues. Valuation itself cannot guarantee that the funds can be obtained fast enough to settle the problem.

Zhao did not state that Binance was going to sell SpaceX shares to deal with the issue. In his turn, Yi He, who is a co-founder of Binance, explained that annual revenues of the exchange were enough to handle the losses without selling the mentioned above shares.

This issue is important as the response of the exchange needs to be evaluated based on the real resources and opportunities that it had.

A record-breaking security breach puts Binance under pressure

The breach was uncovered when attackers transferred $6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrencies out of Binance wallets on different blockchains on Thursday, based on the findings from blockchain intelligence company TRM Labs.

TRM Labs claimed with high certainty that the attack was executed by hackers from North Korea linked to the TraderTraitor hacking group.

Binance’s first statement indicated that a possible hack of their DevOps engineer's laptop led to the breach.

The company added that further investigations showed more entry points for attackers, but it did not give a full explanation of the way the attackers gained access at once.

The firm has stated that it did not find any evidence regarding the leakage of wallet private keys.

Moreover, it has temporarily stopped withdrawals from the affected networks while doing some security tests and working together with industry partners.

Considering the size of the reported issue, the matter of customer protection has become especially relevant.

As was mentioned by Binance, the partners had frozen about $3 billion worth of affected assets, and the company had provided company assets to secure the customer balances. According to CoinDesk, Binance had provided more than $6.34 billion in assets to do this.

These measures may help reduce the financial implications for the customers; however, freezing the assets is not the same as retrieving them. The final balance will depend on the outcome of the investigation and affected assets' status.