Binance co-founder Changpeng Zhao publicly called on Elon Musk to stop commenting on the cryptocurrency exchange’s record security breach after the Tesla and SpaceX chief reacted with emojis and brief posts on the X platform. The exchange follows the theft of approximately $6.3 billion to $6.4 billion in digital assets from Binance-linked wallets, described as the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.

The Record Theft and Immediate Response

On Thursday, attackers moved at least $6.3 billion in crypto across multiple blockchains, including Ethereum, Bitcoin and Tron. Blockchain analytics firms TRM Labs and Chainalysis linked the operation to the North Korea-associated group known as TraderTraitor, previously tied to other major exchange breaches. Stablecoin issuers froze roughly $2.39 billion in associated assets in the initial response, with some estimates placing frozen funds near $3 billion.

Binance stated it has set aside more than $6.34 billion in company funds to cover the incident, including $5 billion already held in the same tokens that were taken. The firm is acquiring remaining assets through market and over-the-counter purchases. Co-founder Zhao estimated that after freezes and the exchange’s Secure Asset Fund for Users, a remaining shortfall of about $2 billion remained manageable.

Musk’s Posts and Zhao’s Direct Reply

Musk responded to discussions of the breach and to an earlier security warning from Zhao with a series of emojis and the phrase “Everyday is Zeroday.” One post involving estimates of Binance’s potential uncovered losses drew a grimacing emoji from Musk, prompting comparisons online to past exchange failures.

Zhao noted that Binance’s $500 million contribution to Musk’s 2022 acquisition of Twitter had converted into SpaceX shares now valued at more than $1 billion. He framed the reminder as evidence of the exchange’s financial position rather than a threat to sell the holdings.

Internal Clarifications on Covering Losses

Binance co-CEO Yi He addressed the discussion by stating that the company’s annual revenue is sufficient to absorb the losses without disposing of the SpaceX stake. Zhao later clarified that he had not proposed selling the shares and had only referenced them to demonstrate available resources.

The exchange indicated it expects to resume withdrawals within 45 to 48 hours after completing internal checks. Zhao also described the intrusion as more complex than a single compromised device, though early probes examined a DevOps engineer’s laptop among other possible entry points.

The episode marks a public exchange between two prominent figures in technology and finance at a moment when Binance is working to contain the financial and operational impact of the largest theft in cryptocurrency history.