CZ, the CEO of Binance, has bet big on Musk's Twitter buyout with a $500 million investment, saying he is 'extremely supportive' of the freedom of speech

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao is an avid Twitter user with 7.2 million followers.

Patricia De Melo Moreira/AFP/Getty Images

• Binance, the world's largest crypto exchange, invested $500 million in Musk's acquisition of Twitter.
• Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said he backed Elon Musk's Twitter buyout to support free speech.
• Zhao, also known as CZ, is an avid Twitter user with 7.2 million followers.

Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, the CEO of Binance, said the world's largest crypto exchange by trading volume has invested $500 million in Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter, which was worth $44 billion. His investment was driven by a love of free speech.

"Number one, we want to be extremely supportive of free speech. As a business, we are helping to increase the freedom of money, and free speech comes before freedom of money, so we need to help maintain free speech," Zhao said. He made the comments at the Web Summit tech conference in Lisbon on Tuesday.

Zhao confirmed Binance's investment into Twitter on October 28 via a tweet, saying his intern had wired $500 million. Binance separately confirmed to Insider on Wednesday it's an equity investor in Musk's Twitter acquisition 

—CZ 🔶 Binance (@cz_binance) October 28, 2022

 

Zhao also cited other "very strong reasons" why he invested in the social media platform — such as Twitter being the "global town square" where people from crypto enthusiasts to politicians can voice their opinions.

Zhao is an avid Twitter user, with 7.2 million followers. "I use the Twitter app more than I use the Binance app," he said at the Web Summit. That's because he doesn't trade, but uses the Binance platform to store his cryptocurrencies, he added. 

Binance is not the only high-profile backer to Musk's acquisition of Twitter.  Other high-profile investors in the deal include the Qatar Investment Authority and Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, according to various regulatory filings. 

Despite putting $500 million into Musk's deal, Zhao said he has little insight into what the Tesla CEO intends to do at Twitter. As investors, "we rely on Elon to run it, which is great," he said. 

"We're excited to be able to help Elon realize a new vision for Twitter. We aim to play a role in bringing social media and Web3 together in order to broaden the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology," Zhao added in a statement to Insider.

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