The world’s largest crypto exchange, Binance, just backed Elon Musk’s Twitter bid to the tune of $500 million. And that’s just the beginning.
Accounting for $9.6 trillion out of a total of $14 trillion in total crypto trading volume last year, according to research-oriented cryptocurrency site The Block, Binance is owned by the richest person in crypto, Changpeng Zhao, better known to his 5.9 million Twitter followers — and everyone in cryptocurrency — as CZ.
Binance’s involvement in the deal will almost certainly make cryptocurrency payments a bigger part of Twitter. Former CEO Jack Dorsey made the opening move by allowing bitcoin tipping, and the company recently expanded into the space to include payments to small businesses in a recent deal with payments firm Stripe.
Binance announced plans in February to invest $200 million in Forbes’s upcoming special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) merger, which will take the century-old media firm public. At the time, Zhao told The Wall Street Journal that the firm is going on a buying spree this year.
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