Binance was hacked, and $6.3 billion was transferred out within 20 minutes. As soon as the news broke, Musk posted a string of laughing, grimacing, and fire emojis on X, turning the mockery up to eleven. CZ replied: “Elon, I have great respect for you, but this is not the time to mock. Please stop.”
Honestly, when I saw CZ’s message, I felt a little sorry for him. Someone had just been robbed of more than $6 billion, and now he had to publicly, humbly ask another billionaire to “show some respect.” But CZ immediately revealed one of his trump cards: Binance had invested $500 million in Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, and the SpaceX shares it received in return are now worth more than $1 billion. The implication was clear: I’m your shareholder. Don’t kick me while I’m down.
Musk didn’t take the bait. His logic might be: Sure, you’re my shareholder, but you’re also the founder of an exchange that just got $6.3 billion stolen by hackers. I’m mocking what’s happening in the industry, not targeting you personally. Is that argument defensible? Yes. But what makes people uncomfortable is how precisely he chose the moment. FTX is the crypto industry’s deepest scar, and putting Binance, still dealing with massive losses from a hack, alongside SBF’s promises is devastating. I don’t think Musk is “standing up for justice.” He seems more like he’s enjoying the freedom to run his mouth without having to face any consequences.
At the same time, the contrast between two other posts left me even more dazed. Saylor posted an orange chart, hinting that Strategy was about to buy Bitcoin again. They already hold more than 840,000 BTC, at an average price of $75,437, while the market is trembling around $78,000. Meanwhile, Scaramucci said major banks are spending billions of dollars to stop Bitcoin from surging, adding, “Bitcoin should be at $300,000 right now.” And Chamath and Jason’s crowd are still calling for it to go to zero.
It’s so quiet on the Ethereum front that it’s making me uneasy. ETH is at $2,272, up 0.76% over 24 hours—not even keeping pace with BTC’s 0.87%. Whales have been steadily selling below $2,500, and the trend line has already broken. I still have a little ETH. I haven’t bought more or sold any; I simply haven’t figured out what to do with it yet.
My biggest takeaway today is this: the Binance hack is a technical problem, but the spectacle on Twitter is a question of trust. Musk is laughing, CZ is pleading, Saylor is buying, Scaramucci is shouting, and Chamath is scaring people. Everyone is defining “what to believe in right now” in their own way.
Honestly, when I saw CZ’s message, I felt a little sorry for him. Someone had just been robbed of more than $6 billion, and now he had to publicly, humbly ask another billionaire to “show some respect.” But CZ immediately revealed one of his trump cards: Binance had invested $500 million in Musk’s acquisition of Twitter, and the SpaceX shares it received in return are now worth more than $1 billion. The implication was clear: I’m your shareholder. Don’t kick me while I’m down.
Musk didn’t take the bait. His logic might be: Sure, you’re my shareholder, but you’re also the founder of an exchange that just got $6.3 billion stolen by hackers. I’m mocking what’s happening in the industry, not targeting you personally. Is that argument defensible? Yes. But what makes people uncomfortable is how precisely he chose the moment. FTX is the crypto industry’s deepest scar, and putting Binance, still dealing with massive losses from a hack, alongside SBF’s promises is devastating. I don’t think Musk is “standing up for justice.” He seems more like he’s enjoying the freedom to run his mouth without having to face any consequences.
At the same time, the contrast between two other posts left me even more dazed. Saylor posted an orange chart, hinting that Strategy was about to buy Bitcoin again. They already hold more than 840,000 BTC, at an average price of $75,437, while the market is trembling around $78,000. Meanwhile, Scaramucci said major banks are spending billions of dollars to stop Bitcoin from surging, adding, “Bitcoin should be at $300,000 right now.” And Chamath and Jason’s crowd are still calling for it to go to zero.
It’s so quiet on the Ethereum front that it’s making me uneasy. ETH is at $2,272, up 0.76% over 24 hours—not even keeping pace with BTC’s 0.87%. Whales have been steadily selling below $2,500, and the trend line has already broken. I still have a little ETH. I haven’t bought more or sold any; I simply haven’t figured out what to do with it yet.
My biggest takeaway today is this: the Binance hack is a technical problem, but the spectacle on Twitter is a question of trust. Musk is laughing, CZ is pleading, Saylor is buying, Scaramucci is shouting, and Chamath is scaring people. Everyone is defining “what to believe in right now” in their own way.