While global markets were recording massive losses and Bitcoin was breaking below a psychological threshold, the two most influential players in the crypto industry — Elon Musk and Changpeng "CZ" Zhao — engaged in a public spat on social media. This episode became a striking contrast between market panic and the irony customary for the crypto community.
The sell-off wave began in the US: a decline in shares of artificial intelligence chipmakers triggered a collapse in global market capitalization by $2 trillion, which spread worldwide overnight. The pressure quickly spilled over to Asian markets — South Korea's KOSPI index dropped below 5,000 points and triggered a trading halt after an 8% decline.
The cryptocurrency market reacted instantly. One trader lost 201 BTC — at that time approximately $15.6 million. Bitcoin itself fell below $80,000, reaching a monthly low.
Meme battle amid the sell-off
It was at this moment that Dogecoin founder Billy Markus asked the community about what was happening in the market. Musk responded with a blurred image of CZ with a red filter — a direct reference to the red candles on price charts.
This is not the first instance of trolling by the Tesla CEO. On October 29, when North Korea-linked hackers withdrew about $6.3 billion from Binance, Musk responded with laughing emojis under CZ's post about security measures. At the time, Zhao called it "a bad moment for trolling" and hinted at a possible sale of the businessman's company shares.
This time, the Binance founder decided to join the battle by posting an image of a character sitting on the ground with an arrow in a bleeding leg. About an hour later, exchange co-founder Yi He joined in: she quoted Musk's post with a meme from "The Matrix," where the red pill reveals the harsh truth and the blue pill leaves one in a world of illusions, and invited followers to choose a side.
Cryptalist analysis: The behavior of key industry figures during market stress traditionally serves as an indicator of community sentiment — public humor instead of panic often signals the maturity of participants and a reduced likelihood of capitulation. At the same time, the correlation of cryptocurrencies with tech stocks remains high, and Bitcoin's further dynamics will depend on the stabilization of stock markets, not on social media.