'Bad time to troll': Binance cofounder Changpeng Zhao asks Elon Musk for 'respect' after post about bitcoin hack

The cofounder and former CEO of Binance asked Elon Musk not to "troll" the company on Friday and instead "show some support" after the SpaceX CEO appeared to mock the embattled cryptocurrency exchange in a series of social media posts.

After learning the world's largest crypto exchange had been hit by a $6.3 billion hack late Thursday, Musk posted several emojis, ranging from laughing to grimacing, on X.

In response, Changpeng Zhao reminded the SpaceX and Tesla CEO of Binance's equity stake in Musk's businesses.

Binance’s SpaceX stake, which stems from an earlier investment in what was then-Twitter, is worth more than $1 billion, Zhao said.

That's a tiny fraction of SpaceX's roughly $2 trillion valuation.

"Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop," Zhao wrote. "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!"

It's not the first time the pair has sparred online.

In Nov. 2021, Binance suspended Dogecoin withdrawals because of a wallet glitch, a measure Musk called "shady". In reply, Zhao highlighted a major Tesla recall of almost 12,000 U.S. vehicles due to software glitches and hardware issues.

Binance froze all withdrawals and deposits after the hack, which investigators suspect to be the work of North Korean state-sponsored hacking unit TraderTraitor. It has since restored deposits.

Around $3 billion in cryptocurrency assets have been frozen so far.