OKX Secures $25 Billion Investment from Ripple Circle and Standard Chartered

Cryptocurrency exchange OKX has secured strategic investments from Ripple, Circle, Qube Research & Technologies, and SC Ventures by Standard Chartered at a $25 billion pre-money valuation. This funding aims to strengthen OKX's institutional ties as it expands into stablecoins, payments, and tokenized real-world assets.

OKX founder and CEO Star Xu stated, "The exchange was our starting point, and we are evolving into a broader global financial technology platform." The latest investment follows a strategic round led in March by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange.

Each investor brings key pieces of the institutional crypto stack to OKX. Circle, the issuer of USDC, Ripple, which provides payments and liquidity infrastructure, Qube Research & Technologies, an institutional counterparty offering liquidity and risk capacity, and Standard Chartered, which serves as custodian for BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund, all play crucial roles in supporting OKX.

On Tuesday, OKX launched OKX Money, a standalone platform allowing users to convert over 50 local currencies into dollar-backed stablecoins. Targeting regions like Latin America, Africa, South Asia, and the Middle East, the platform supports USDC, USDT, and USDG, aiming to address currency volatility, banking access, and cross-border settlement costs. OKX Money also offers cards without foreign-exchange markup and up to 10% annual yield on eligible USDG balances.