As Binance deals with hacking losses worth about $6.3 billion, co-founder Changpeng Zhao (창펑 자오), known as CZ, asked Elon Musk to show restraint over his reaction on social media.

On Oct. 30 local time, foreign media including blockchain outlet Cryptopolitan and TheCryptoBasic reported that Musk left fire and laughing emojis on a security warning post CZ had uploaded earlier. It looked like a reaction mocking the situation in which a large-scale hack occurred at Binance shortly after CZ urged users to be careful about security.

In the post, CZ warned people not to click links in emails or download attachments. He said even an email sent by someone you trust can be risky if the sender’s computer is infected with a virus. Musk also left a frowning face emoji on a post about the Binance hack.

CZ responded to Musk by saying, "I have a lot of respect for you, but now is not the time to troll," and asked for restraint and support. On the reaction linking the hack with his security advice, he said the incident was more complex than that and explained that hacks generally involve compromised devices or algorithms at some stage.

CZ also mentioned that Binance invested $500 million in Musk’s 2022 takeover of Twitter. He stressed that the value of its SPCX stake secured through the investment now exceeds $1 billion, effectively reminding people of the business ties between the two sides.

Binance co-founder Yi He (이허) also joined the exchange. He said the company can cover the losses with this year’s revenue and does not need to sell its SpaceX stake. CZ said he was not implying a stake sale and explained that he mentioned an asset Musk would know to ease concerns.

Binance estimates the damage from the hack at about $6.3 billion. The company initially raised the possibility that an attacker gained access to internal services after a DevOps engineer’s laptop was compromised, but later said it confirmed additional points of compromise.

Richard Teng said the attacker did not use only one engineer’s authority and it was not an incident caused by a single click. The company said it has not confirmed indications that wallet private keys were leaked and it did not pin the blame on any specific individual.

Binance said it froze about $3 billion of the stolen funds and plans to cover the losses in full through SAFU, its user protection fund, and company reserves. The case is an example in which a major exchange’s security response and crisis communication are being tested at the same time.

@elonmusk @HuaweiMate6 Elon, have a lot of respect for you, but bad time to troll. Please stop. Our SPCX shares (from our $500m investment in your Twitter takeover) are worth more than a billion. Would appreciate if you show a little support. Thanks!