OKX Valued at $25B in Funding Round with Circle, Ripple, StanChart
MissedBlock Desk · · 3 min read
Updated
OKX Secures $25 Billion Valuation in New Funding Round
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has secured a significant new investment, valuing the company at $25 billion pre-money. The funding comes from a consortium of prominent financial players including Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered’s venture arm, and trading firm Qube Research. The specific amount raised in this round has not been disclosed. This latest investment follows a March funding round from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which also valued OKX at the same $25 billion mark.
The caliber of investors in this new round is particularly noteworthy for OKX. Circle is the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, while Ripple is a major player in payment solutions and issues its own stablecoin, RLUSD. Standard Chartered, through its venture arm, has a prior arrangement with OKX to hold assets backing BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury fund. Qube Research is already an established client of OKX, providing trading capacity. This diverse group of investors either directly competes with OKX’s strategic direction or is already engaged in business with the exchange.
This strategic alignment appears to be a deliberate move by OKX. CEO Star Xu has articulated a vision for the company to evolve beyond its origins as an exchange into a comprehensive financial technology platform. The goal is to offer customers a single destination for holding, spending, investing, and growing their money. By bringing in investors who already possess key components of this envisioned ecosystem, OKX can accelerate its expansion rather than building these capabilities from scratch.
The joint venture with ICE serves as a clear illustration of this strategy. OKXICE filed on Sunday to launch round-the-clock trading in tokenized shares of 63 U.S. companies. This service will operate on OKX’s proprietary blockchain and will be settled using stablecoins. This development comes in the same week that OKX launched a consumer app offering a 10% yield on dollar-denominated stablecoins. Xu also revealed that artificial intelligence now handles approximately 95% of the company’s coding operations, at a monthly cost of $10 million.
The viability of tokenized stocks as a mainstream financial product remains a subject of ongoing discussion. Macquarie noted this week that success hinges on attracting sufficient liquidity to ensure reliable pricing, particularly during off-peak hours like Sunday mornings. Furthermore, the temporary nature of the SEC’s framework for tokenized assets is reportedly making institutions hesitant to integrate their systems. Both Macquarie and TD Securities anticipate that initial demand for tokenized stocks will likely come from retail investors, as institutional investors already have cost-effective access to U.S. equities.
The broader industry landscape shows that major exchanges are pursuing similar strategic paths. Kraken’s parent company is investing billions to establish itself as financial infrastructure. Coinbase has expanded its offerings to include perpetual futures, tokenized stocks, and Bitcoin-backed loans. The integration of tokenized stocks within existing crypto trading infrastructure, such as perpetual futures and 24/7 trading capabilities, is poised to be a defining theme of the current market cycle. Companies that successfully navigate this integration are expected to significantly increase their market capitalization and emerge as leaders in the sector.