Here's Why Changpeng Zhao, Founder Of Binance Supports Elon Musk's Twitter Acquisition

Changpeng Zhao, chief executive of the world's largest crypto exchange, Binance. (photo: twitter @cz_binance)

JAKARTA - Changpeng Zhao, chief executive of the world's largest crypto exchange Binance, said he was "strongly in favor" of free speech. That was the main reason why his company decided to invest $500 million into Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter Inc.

Binance's Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, is an active Twitter user with over 7 million followers. He said there were "very strong reasons" why he invested in the platform.

"Number one is that we want to strongly support free speech," Zhao said at the opening ceremony of Europe's largest technology conference, the Web Summit, in Lisbon. He also added that Twitter is "a place where people express their opinions".

"It's an important free speech platform - that's reason number one," CZ added.

The saga of Musk's own takeover of Twitter ended on Thursday 27 October when the deal officially closed after months of torturing in and out of the courtroom. Immediately after acquiring Twitter Musk immediately fired the top executives at the platform.

It's unclear how active an involved co-investor like Binance will be in Twitter's future as a minority investor, as Musk fully controls the board and decision-making on Twitter which is now private.

Most of his co-investors in the $44 billion deal are funds like Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management, Andreessen Horowitz and Brookfield.

Binance said last week that it is setting up a team to work on how blockchain and crypto can help Twitter to grow.

"I'm a heavy Twitter user," said Zhao, who added that Binance plans to become a long-term investor in the platform. "I want to invest in products that are important to our industry."

Musk said on Tuesday that Twitter would charge $8 for its Blue service, which includes a "verified" badge in its efforts to monetize the service and make the social media network less dependent on advertising. Zhao said he supported the idea.

Asked about other ideas Musk has for the platform, Zhao said: "Elon Musk is a very unpredictable person."