Binance Hack of $6.3 Billion Pits Musk and CZ Against Each Other
CZ says Binance is still short about $2 billion after the hack, and Musk responded sarcastically on X. The attack once again puts the risks of centralized exchanges and SAFU in the spotlight.
Key Takeaways
- Binance says it is still short about $2 billion (€1.8 billion) after the biggest crypto theft ever, according to CZ after frozen funds and the SAFU fund.
- Elon Musk mocked the incident on X with laughing emojis, while the debate also centers on Binance’s possible SpaceX exposure.
- The hack hit confidence in centralized exchanges; liquidations climbed above $628 million and BNB fell more than 5%.
Binance says it is still short about $2 billion (€1.8 billion) after the biggest crypto theft ever, while Elon Musk mocked the incident on X with laughing emojis. The crypto exchange says all losses are being covered from its own funds, but the aftermath shows how much pressure centralized platforms can face when an attack is this large. The turmoil has now spread beyond Binance alone: institutional investors are also pulling back from major trading platforms after the hack, according to the shift in exchange withdrawals.
CZ Breaks Down the Shortfall
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, better known as CZ, gave his own estimate of the gap on Friday. According to him, about $6.3 billion (€5.7 billion) in crypto was stolen, of which around $3 billion (€2.7 billion) has been frozen and about $1.17 billion (€1.1 billion) sits in the SAFU fund. That leaves a remaining shortfall of about $2 billion (€1.8 billion), a figure he still called “painful, but manageable.”
SAFU is Binance’s emergency fund and, according to the exchange, it mainly holds Bitcoin. Binance did not say whether it actually plans to sell SpaceX shares to close the gap. CZ did say the company still has more than a billion dollars in SPCX exposure, stemming from the $500 million (€449 million) investment in Musk’s Twitter takeover.
SpaceX Stake and Lockups
The debate also comes down to whether those shares can even be sold quickly. The position started as an investment in Musk’s 2022 Twitter takeover. Later, X and xAI were brought into a broader structure, and SpaceX listed on Nasdaq in June at $135 (€121) per share.
That also involves lockup rules. Early investors are not allowed to sell all their shares at once, and for some parties that restriction runs until 2027. Binance has not said which group it falls under. According to the primary figures, SPCX fell nearly 10% in the week through October 28, while about 1.6 billion newly unlocked shares became tradable.
Why This Matters Beyond Binance
The hack does not just affect Binance itself, but also broader trust in centralized crypto exchanges. The attack has raised fresh questions about security, and according to market commentary, that could boost interest in decentralized alternatives. For European crypto readers, the key point is that incidents like this often quickly affect how people view risk, liquidity, and trust around major trading platforms.
Binance said withdrawals should resume within 48 hours, followed by a new public reserve count. Meanwhile, the market reacted sharply: within one hour, liquidations climbed to more than $628 million (€564 million). Binance’s native token, BNB, also came under pressure and fell more than 5%, according to the provided market data.
