Binance’s CZ asks Musk for support as hack probe and losses continue

CZ responds to Musk

Mint reports that Changpeng Zhao, the co-founder of Binance, asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk for support after Musk mocked the crypto exchange following news of the hack. Zhao, who is also known as CZ, said he appreciated Musk’s support and asked him to stop trolling at a difficult time.

The exchange began after a post on X said Binance had $144 billion in assets under custody and that the losses, after some funds were frozen, were around $1 billion. CZ replied that the loss might be higher than that, but that Binance would cover it. Another X user then shared a screenshot of a Sam Bankman-Fried post from before FTX collapsed, in which he said the exchange had enough funds to cover client holdings.

Hack losses and Binance’s response

Mint says Binance suffered a major breach that it estimated at about $6.3 billion. The company said around $3 billion of the affected funds had been found or frozen, while the status of the rest was not yet clear. Binance also froze more than $2.5 billion in assets.

The exchange said customer funds remained safe and that it would cover the losses. It also said it was working with law enforcement and industry partners to trace and freeze the affected assets and was carrying out a security review.

Trading suspension and recovery timeline

Binance temporarily suspended deposits and withdrawals while it checked and secured its systems. According to the company, its technical team was aiming to restart withdrawals in about 34 hours, though services would stay suspended until the platform was judged safe.

Mint reports that Binance also planned an initial proof-of-reserves snapshot within 12 hours, with the results expected by Monday.

Claims from Binance executives about finances and the attack

Binance co-CEO Yi He said the company did not need to sell its SpaceX shares because its yearly revenue was enough to cover the losses. CZ separately said Binance’s SpaceX shares were worth more than $1 billion.

Richard Teng, Binance’s other co-CEO, said on X that the breach was a complex attack that involved more than one person. He said it included a compromised laptop and malicious software that was designed to erase evidence while it was operating, which made tracing and investigating the attack harder.

Teng also said the hackers manipulated a transaction-approval system to move money from a Binance-controlled hot wallet connected to the internet, bypassing normal approval controls.