Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) has shared that his company invested $500 million into Elon Musk’s buyout of Twitter in a bid to support the freedom of speech.
At the opening event of Europe’s largest tech conference, the Web Summit, in Lisbon, the CEO said he was “extremely supportive” of freedom of speech, and there were “very strong reasons” why he invested in the social media platform, Reuters reported.
“Number one is that we want to be extremely supportive of free speech,” he reportedly said, adding that Twitter is “where people express their opinions. It is an important free speech platform – that’s the number one reason.”
CZ, who has over 7 million followers on the platform, said he is “a heavy Twitter user,” adding that Binance planned to be a long-term investor in the social media company.
He also mentioned the importance of Twitter for the crypto industry, citing it as a reason to invest in the platform. “I want to invest in products that are important for our industry,” he said.
However, it is not clear how involved co-investors like Binance could be in social media’s future as minority investors. Part of Musk’s initial work was to dissolve Twitter’s board of directors, becoming the sole entity in charge of the platform.
Furthermore, the billionaire has revealed that Twitter would charge $8 for its Blue service in a push to make the social media network less reliant on ads. While the announcement has attracted its fair share of backlash from Twitter users, Zhao said he supported the idea.
As reported, CZ said last week that he would continue to support Elon Musk in his planned $44 billion buyout of Twitter as the US reportedly weighed security review for the deal.
“We hope to be able to play a role in bringing social media and web3 together and broadening the use and adoption of crypto and blockchain technology,” the billionaire said at the time, adding that he will keep his financial commitment to Musk.
The statement came as a report by Bloomberg claimed that the Biden administration officials were considering whether to subject some of Musk’s ventures to national security reviews, including the planned Twitter takeover.
The report said that Washington is concerned regarding Musk’s plan to buy the social media platform with a group of “foreign investors,” which includes Prince Alwaleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia, Binance, and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund.
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