OKX Hits $25 Billion Valuation via Strategic Round; CEO Insists Capital Wasn’t the Driver

• OKX recently raised its valuation to $25 billion following strategic investments from Circle, QRT, Ripple, and Standard Chartered.
• CEO Star Xu clarified the round was driven by partnership alignment, not a need for capital.

OKX CEO Mingxing “Star” Xu announced a significant milestone as the exchange secured strategic backing from a blend of crypto-native and traditional finance institutions, lifting the company’s valuation to $25 billion. Xu emphasized, however, that the infusion was not born of necessity.

Aligning with Long-Term Vision

Xu explained that the primary objective was onboarding partners who share OKX’s long-term roadmap as the financial landscape continues to evolve.

“We didn’t raise capital because we needed it,” Xu stated. “We chose to bring in strategic partners who share our long-term vision for stablecoins, payments, institutional markets, and the next generation of financial infrastructure.”

The CEO added that despite 13 years in the industry and a position among the world’s leading crypto platforms, the sector remains in its early stages. “There’s more to build,” he noted.

OKX and ICE Joint Venture

The funding news follows closely on the heels of OKX’s joint venture with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), parent of the New York Stock Exchange, forming OKXICE LLC. An October 4 filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) reveals the venture aims to launch a tokenized stock exchange.

As an extension of the ICE-led round, OKX secured strategic investments from the following entities:

• Circle: A leading internet financial platform and issuer of USDC, the world’s largest regulated stablecoin.
• QRT: A global multi-strategy investment manager and major institutional counterparty to OKX.
• Ripple: A crypto-native firm providing institutional-grade blockchain solutions spanning cross-border settlement, treasury and liquidity management, blockchain infrastructure, and stablecoin payments.
• Standard Chartered: A long-standing OKX partner acting as custodian for the BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund launched alongside the exchange and BlackRock.

OKXICE initially plans to offer trading in tokenized shares of Microsoft and Tesla. The initiative leverages the SEC’s recently released Innovation Exemption framework, which grants temporary relief to firms facilitating on-chain tokenized stock trading via automated market makers (AMMs) within a five-year window.

According to CoinMarketCap data, OKX currently holds over $21.87 billion in total assets and recorded approximately $2.22 billion in trading volume over the last 24 hours.

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