OKX

OKX, formerly known as OKEx, is a San Jose-headquartered blockchain technology company that operates the second-largest cryptocurrency exchange in terms of daily trading volume, and provides access to decentralized finance (DeFi) through its OKX Wallet. The company was founded by CEO Star Xu in 2013 as Okcoin, and later rebranded to OKX in 2017.

In addition to San Jose, the company has an office in New York in the United States, operates a regional headquarters for the Middle East in Dubai and has locations in Singapore, the Republic of Türkiye, Australia Brazil, and in the European Economic Area (EEA). OKX has more than 5,000 employees worldwide. One of the world's most regulatory compliant, licensed crypto companies, it holds licenses in the United States, the UAE, the EU, Singapore and Australia, as well as in other markets.

OKX has partnerships with brands and sports teams including Manchester City, McLaren, and the Tribeca Film Festival.

History

2013-2018: Company beginnings

In 2013, Star Xu founded cryptocurrency exchange Okcoin, which was later rebranded to OKX, which Xu officially launched in 2017 in Hong Kong. On April 11, 2018, the company announced its expansion to Malta, given the country's efforts to provide a sound regulatory framework for blockchain businesses and digital asset exchanges.

2018–2021: Exchange growth

In May 2018, OKX became the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by reported turnover. In June 2018, the platform became one of the largest exchanges to launch and offer a cryptocurrency exchange white label service, where applicants must have solid industry experience and $2.5 million in their accounts.

According to Reuters, in February 2021, OKX saw its largest trading volume in history, up 26% from the previous month to $188 billion.

In June 2021, Baidu, Weibo, and other Chinese Internet platforms blocked keywords such as "OKEx", "Binance", and "Huobi". In October 2021, OKX, initially headquartered in Beijing, China, announced that it would stop serving customers in Mainland China due to new regulations. Its founding team has since moved, with few outsourced personnel working in the region.

2022–2023: Rebrand and expansion

In January 2022, OKEx rebranded to OKX. The rebrand was led by CMO Haider Rafique, and was part of the company's mission to be "the world's most beloved crypto exchange."

In March 2022, OKX rejected calls to ban Russian crypto trading. In July 2022, OKX received a provisional virtual asset license in Dubai, which would allow OKX to provide access to some products and services to investors in the United Arab Emirates.

In December 2022, The Bahamas Economic Affairs Minister Michael Halkitis announced that OKX plans to increase its staff in The Bahamas to roughly 100 employees over the next three years. OKX plans to use The Bahamas as a regional hub for investors within the Caribbean and Latin America.

In January 2023, OKX released its proof of reserves report showing it has the largest clean asset reserves of all large crypto exchanges. The cleanliness of assets is a metric developed by CryptoQuant to measure the reliance of an exchange on its native token.

In February 2023, OKX, along with other exchanges, applied for licenses in Hong Kong. The licenses are a new requirement to operate in the city that go into effect in June. The new rulebook allows investors to trade larger tokens while offering safeguards like knowledge tests, appropriate risk profiling and reasonable limits on exposure. In an interview with Bloomberg, OKX President Hong Fang said OKX will continue building banking relationships in Hong Kong and different jurisdictions. According to Fang, OKX's business strategy will focus on building technology and maintaining long-term consistency instead of short-term trading profit.

In March 2023, OKX applied for a virtual asset license in Hong Kong, two months before the city officially made crypto trading fully legal. OKX also announced plans to open an office in Australia.

In April 2023, OKX joined Copper's ClearLoop Platform, allowing Copper's clients to trade on the OKX exchange while their digital assets remain within Copper’s infrastructure. In April 2023, OKX incorporated in France and has since announced plans to build out its European hub in Paris. In April 2023, OKX enabled the viewing and transfer of Bitcoin Ordinals (NFTs with data such as images or videos attached) within the OKX wallet.

In May 2023, OKX announced that it plans to open an office in Turkey in the coming months.

In June 2023, OKX became the first client to use Komainu Connect, a Nomura-backed regulated settlement and custody system that offers 24/7 trading. OKX received a license to offer spot trading in Dubai.

In July 2023, OKX's offshore market share rose to 11%, nearly doubling from January.

In August 2023, Hong Kong began issuing licenses under a new system to regulate crypto exchanges offering trading in tokens like Bitcoin and Ethereum. OKX has reported it will apply for a license. OKX also partnered with CoinRoutes to provide clients with a full range of API-enabled trading services. The CoinRoutes interface measures trading performance using algorithms, market data, and a proprietary transaction cost analysis feature.

In September 2023, OKX published its eleventh Proof of Reserve (PoR) report. The report shows the exchange holds a BTC reserve ratio of 102%. It also discloses the collateralization ratios for Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether, and USD Coin (USDC) deposits.

2024–2025

In November 2024, OKX announced that they would be offering instant denominated deposits and withdrawals in Singapore dollars to Singaporeans, with the funds transfer service facilitated by DBS Group.

In early 2025, OKX produced ''Mild Mild West'', a short film, in partnership with Tribeca Film Festival and Darren Aronofsky. Due to acquiring several regulatory licenses, OKX was ranked by ''Forbes'' as one of "The World’s Most Trustworthy Crypto Exchanges." It relaunched in the United States in April 2025 and relocated its headquarters to San Jose.

Sponsorship and advertising

In March 2022, Manchester City announced a partnership with OKX as their official cryptocurrency partner and later in July, as the training kit sponsor for the men's and women's team. In February 2023, OKX announced a partnership with Manchester City players İlkay Gündoğan, Jack Grealish, Rúben Dias and Alex Greenwood to endorse a new fan offering based on exclusive ‘immersive metaverse experiences’ for the rest of the season. In July 2023, OKX signed a new deal reportedly worth £55 million over three years to replace Nexen Tire as Manchester City's new shirt sleeve sponsor.

In May 2022, OKX signed a multi-year sponsorship deal with McLaren as a primary partner. In September of the same year, OKX and McLaren unveiled a cyberpunk-inspired livery by enhancing the iconic Fluro Papaya colorway with flourishes of pink and cyberpunk-inspired engine illustrations for the 2022 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix. The sponsorship deal was expanded in March 2023, making OKX an official primary partner of McLaren. The expanded deal includes increased branding presence on the McLaren F1 Team's race cars and OKX supporting the McLaren Shadow esports team. OKX partnered with McLaren to race a "stealth mode" livery that switches McLaren’s usual colourway and augmenting black against their classic papaya trim for the 2023 Singapore and Japanese Grand Prix.

Furthermore, OKX made its strong first time appearance in the 2025 Dakar Rally as Guerlain Chicherit and Alex Winocq secured the second place on the stage 1 and stage 3.

Tribeca Festival signed OKX as its new top sponsor in June 2022. At Tribeca events, OKX holds exclusivity for non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces, cryptocurrency exchanges, usage of social tokens, and De-Fi and Game Fi trading categories.

OKX is sponsoring the Tribeca Film Festival again in 2023. In 2023, OKX created a "Tribeca Festival NFT Pass" and an "NFT Lab" for attendees. The "NFT Lab" allows people to mint their own NFTs and make an NFT for free using generative AI.

OKX debuted a multi-million dollar brand campaign in September 2022. The "What is OKX?" campaign featured professional football manager Pep Guardiola, Formula 1 driver Daniel Ricciardo and Olympic snowboarder Scotty James. The campaign’s focus was to expand awareness of OKX beyond Asia.

OKX has also partnered with the Australian Olympic Team.

In June 2023, OKX signed a sponsorship deal with LIV Golf team Majesticks GC through the 2024 season.

Criticism and controversies

On July 30, 2018, a trader reportedly bought bitcoin futures with a $416 million notional value on margin before being forced by the exchange to liquidate his position at a large loss. The exchange injected 2,500 Bitcoins—worth about $18 million at the time—into an insurance fund to help minimize the impact on clients. However, to cover for the outstanding amount, traders who had made an unrealized profit during the previous week still had to pay a clawback rate of 17 percent, the so-called "socialized clawback".

On October 16, 2020 OKX temporarily suspended withdrawals as the founder cooperated with a police investigation. On November 19, 2020 OKX announced that withdrawals would reopen and will resume on or before November 27.

See also

* List of cryptocurrency exchanges
* Cryptocurrency
* Blockchain
* List of Bitcoin companies

References

External links

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{{Cryptocurrency exchanges

Bitcoin companies
Bitcoin exchanges
Cryptocurrency exchanges
Internet properties established in 2017