Crypto exchange OKX has secured strategic investments from Circle, Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), and SC Ventures by Standard Chartered at an unchanged $25 billion pre-money valuation. Announced by Chief Executive Officer Star Xu on Oct. 6, the funding extends a March round led by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which invested about $200 million.
Strategic Partners Target Stablecoin and Payment Infrastructure
The exchange did not disclose the capital raised in the transaction, emphasizing that investors were selected for strategic alignment rather than funding needs. The investor lineup creates operational ties across several product layers: Circle issues USDC, Ripple provides its RLUSD stablecoin to OKX's unified order book, QRT acts as an institutional liquidity counterparty, and SC Ventures links the exchange to Standard Chartered, which serves as custodian for BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund. The strategic backing follows earlier collaboration with ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, where OKX and ICE filed an SEC application to trade 63 tokenized NYSE stocks.
"We didn’t raise capital because we needed it," stated Xu. "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." Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire noted that the investment deepens their existing work on USDC and onchain infrastructure.
Launching OKX Money for Non-Crypto Consumers
Alongside the corporate funding, OKX launched OKX Money on Tuesday, a standalone consumer app designed to let users save, send, and spend dollar-backed stablecoins without interacting directly with blockchain interfaces.
Key features of the OKX Money platform include:
- Account funding across more than 50 supported fiat currencies holding USDG, USDC, or USDT.
- Yields of up to 10% annually on qualifying USDG balances without staking requirements or lockups.
- Loyalty rewards of up to 10% cashback on card purchases with 0% foreign-exchange conversion fees.
- Initial distribution targeting markets across more than 30 jurisdictions, where 70% of target users have never used a crypto app.
Why It Matters
This expansion underscores a clear pivot by major exchanges to capture everyday banking and payment volume through stablecoins rather than relying solely on trading fees. By abstracting away complex blockchain interfaces, OKX is positioning itself to compete directly with traditional fintechs, remittance providers, and digital banks. If successful, converting zero-crypto retail users into stablecoin holders will expand the addressable market for issuers like Circle and Ripple while embedding Standard Chartered deeper into digital asset rails.
