Binance Co-Founder CZ Denies Threatening to Sell SpaceX Shares or Pressuring Elon Musk
Key Takeaways
- •Changpeng Zhao publicly denied on Saturday that he had ever threatened to sell Binance's SpaceX holdings or to pressure Elon Musk.
- •CZ said he mentioned Binance's stake only to rebut comparisons with FTX that circulated following the hack of the collapsed exchange.
- •Binance committed $500 million to Musk's $44 billion Twitter purchase completed in October 2022, and its stake was later held in the form of SpaceX shares.
- •Because SpaceX is privately held, its shares cannot be traded on public markets and typically change hands only through private transactions.
- •Zhao stepped down as Binance's CEO in November 2023 under a $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, with Richard Teng assuming the role.
Binance co-founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao said on Saturday that he never threatened to sell SpaceX shares or to pressure Elon Musk, moving to clear up a controversy that spread across social media.
"I never said selling," CZ said in his clarification. He explained that his only purpose in mentioning Binance's stake was to counter comparisons with FTX — the collapsed crypto exchange — that circulated after the FTX hack.
The SpaceX stake
Binance invested $500 million in Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter, a deal completed in October 2022. Twitter was later rebranded as X, and Binance's stake subsequently came to be held in the form of SpaceX shares, according to widely reported accounts. CZ's reference to those holdings triggered speculation that the exchange might be preparing to divest them — an interpretation he has now rejected. SpaceX is privately held, meaning its shares do not trade on public exchanges and typically change hands only through private transactions.
The FTX comparison
The comparisons CZ referenced date to November 2022, when FTX, then one of the world's largest crypto exchanges, collapsed and filed for bankruptcy. Shortly after the filing, attackers drained hundreds of millions of dollars in digital assets from FTX wallets in what became widely known as the FTX hack. Binance had signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX earlier that month, but withdrew after initial reports about the exchange's finances. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was later convicted of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison; the collapse remains one of the most widely cited cautionary tales in the crypto industry.
Background on CZ
CZ co-founded Binance in 2017 and built it into one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume. He stepped down as chief executive in November 2023 as part of a settlement with U.S. authorities in which Binance agreed to pay $4.3 billion, with Richard Teng taking over the role. He has continued to be a prominent public voice in the crypto industry.
In his Saturday statement, CZ maintained that pointing to Binance's stake was not a threat to sell and not an attempt to pressure Musk.
Reported by Coingape.
