OKX completed a new round of financing at a valuation of US$25 billion, with four partners taking sh

OKX completes a new round of financing at a valuation of US$25 billion, and four major partners join

According to Cryptopotato, OKX announced on Tuesday that it has completed strategic investments from Circle, Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies and SC Ventures, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank, with a pre-investment valuation of US$25 billion. The exchange did not disclose the specific investment amounts and shares held by these four companies.

The financing is an extension of OKX's financing round in March led by the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. It is worth noting that these four investors are not new faces-they have previously provided OKX with services such as stablecoins, liquidity, collateral or custody infrastructure.

Key Facts

OKX announced this round of financing on Tuesday, with a pre-investment valuation of US$25 billion, unchanged from the previous round of valuation led by ICE in March.

Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin was launched in April in more than 280 trading pairs on OKX, including trading pairs for XRP.

Under the framework reached with OKX and BlackRock on April 28, Standard Chartered Bank is responsible for hosting BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized treasury bonds, which can be used as margin by OKX customers.

OKXICE, a joint venture established by OKX and ICE, filed an application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on October 4 to provide 63 tokenized NYSE stocks to U.S. users. Listed companies have 30 days to opt out of the plan.

On the same day, OKX also launched the "OKX Money" stand-alone application for saving, sending and consuming U.S. dollar stablecoins. Eligible customers receive up to 10% annualized revenue, applicable to eligible USDG balances.

Existing business connections between the four partners

These four investors did not work together from scratch. Circle issues USDC stablecoins, which are widely used in OKX's trading products; in September this year, the two companies expanded USDC's trading scope in the spot, leveraged and futures fields, and OKX introduced the USDC leveraged growth plan funded by Circle. A month ago, Circle deployed native USDC on Layer X of its Ethereum-compatible Layer 2 network and used it with its cross-chain transport protocol.

Ripple's cooperation is mainly conducted through RLUSD, which is traded in OKX's unified order book. Jack McDonald, senior vice president of stable coins at Ripple, said the investment "reflects our confidence in the business that OKX is building and opens the door to our in-depth cooperation in stable coins, payments and institutional markets."

QRT is a multi-strategy investment management company that serves as institutional counterparties to provide liquidity and risk tolerance to the exchange. Thomas Eaton, the company's director of quantitative transactions, attributed the decision to confidence in long-term growth of digital assets and the all-weather market. Decrypt pointed out that QRT was born out of Credit Suisse and currently manages a cryptocurrency fund with a size of approximately US$1 billion.

Standard Chartered Bank's participation is achieved through BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized treasury bond fund. Under the April 28 framework agreement, VIP and institutional clients can use BUIDL as collateral for transactions, while Standard Chartered holds the fund shares outside the exchange, and transactions are run in the OKX Middle East. OKX is responsible for margin management and clearing, and customers retain ownership of BUIDL and its earnings. Alex Manson, CEO of Standard Chartered Bank SC Ventures, said that institutional participation in digital assets requires infrastructure support including institutional-level custody.

Why it matters

This round of financing has kept OKX's book valuation at US$25 billion, seven months after ICE (owner of the New York Stock Exchange) took a stake at the same valuation and won a seat on the board of directors in July. Early shareholders do not receive a premium, and new funding comes from counterparties that have established business relationships with OKX before the equity partnership. This structure connects exchanges more closely with the banks, stablecoin issuers and trading companies they rely on-a model that is critical for any institution considering whether to route collateral, clearing or liquidity through OKX.

Events worth noting

OKXICE's application with the SEC is the most straightforward test case: 63 tokenized NYSE stocks face a 30-day window chosen by the issuer and are not allowed to start trading until the window closes. How regulators handle this innovative exemption path-introduced shortly after the Senate Clarity Act stalled in September-will determine whether the model can be extended beyond stocks.

FAQs

How much did Circle, Ripple, QRT and SC Ventures invest?
OKX did not disclose the investment amount of any company or the proportion of shares they held by each company. The company only confirmed that this round of financing was completed at a pre-investment valuation of US$25 billion.

Why is OKX still valued at US$25 billion?
The new investment is an extension of the same round led by ICE in March (which was also valued at $25 billion), so despite new capital entering seven months later, prices have not changed.

What benefits does Standard Chartered Bank gain from its relationship with OKX?
Standard Chartered Bank has served as the custodian of the BlackRock BUIDL Fund, which is used as collateral for OKX transactions. Standard Chartered holds shares outside the exchange, while institutional clients trade in the OKX Middle East.

How does OKX intend to use the new funds?
OKX CEO Xu Xin said the funding will support the exchange's continued growth and drive its plan to advance real-world asset (RWA) tokenization beyond its core trading business.

When will RLUSD be available on OKX?
Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin was launched in April in more than 280 trading pairs on OKX, including trading pairs for XRP.

Have these four investors previously been associated with OKX?
Yes. Each provides support at different levels of the business, from Circle's USDC integration, Ripple's RLUSD order book, QRT's institutional liquidity, to Standard Chartered Bank's custodian role.