SAN FRANCISCO: After months of twists and turns inside and outside the courtroom, Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter came to an end on Thursday. Musk then fired the company's top executives.

The largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, Binance, announced that it would contribute USD 500 million to Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter Inc. because its CEO is "very supportive" of free expression.

There were "extremely strong reasons," according to Changpeng Zhao of Binance, who has over 7 million followers on Twitter and is a frequent user of the social media network.

At the Web Summit, Europe's largest digital conference, which opened in Lisbon, Zhao stated, "Number one is that we want to be really supportive of free speech," adding that Twitter is "where individuals express their thoughts." The main reason is that it's a crucial venue for free speech, he said.

After months of twists and turns within and outside the courtroom, the deal to acquire Twitter finally finalised on Thursday. Musk then fired the platform's top executives.

Since Musk completely controls the board and decision-making in the now-private Twitter, it is unknown how actively involved minority investors like Binance might be.

In the USD 44 billion acquisition, the majority of his co-investors include funds including Sequoia Capital, Fidelity Management, Andreessen Horowitz, and Brookfield.

Binance stated last week it is building a team to work on how blockchain and crypto could be helpful to Twitter.

I use Twitter a lot, said Zhao, adding that Binance intended to be a long-term investment in the service. "I want to make investments in goods that are crucial to our sector."

In an effort to monetize the service and reduce Twitter's reliance on advertisements, Musk announced on Tuesday that the social media network would charge USD 8 for its Blue service, which includes the highly desired "verified" badge. Zhao claimed he agreed with the notion.

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