OKX just raised money it says it didn't need, from companies it already pays.
On Oct 6, CEO Star Xu confirmed a strategic round at a $25B pre-money valuation, extending the March round led by ICE, the NYSE parent. The new backers: Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered's SC Ventures and hedge fund Qube Research & Technologies. The amount wasn't disclosed. $OKB jumped about 7.7% on the news.
Xu's framing is unusual: OKX didn't bring them in for cash, but for partners who share its long-term plans.
Look at who those partners are:
- Circle issues USDC, which OKX lists and distributes.
- Ripple issues RLUSD, which OKX lists and distributes.
- QRT is an institutional trading counterparty on OKX.
- Standard Chartered is custodian for BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized fund.
So the round mostly turns suppliers into shareholders. That aligns incentives, but it also blurs lines. When an exchange decides which stablecoin gets the best placement, the best yield campaigns or the default trading pair, two of its newest investors are stablecoin issuers.
The undisclosed amount matters too. A "$25B valuation" with no published check size tells you more about positioning than about price discovery.
The fair counterpoint: strategic money from regulated partners can make an exchange safer and more institution-ready, and with ICE already on the cap table, OKX is clearly building toward TradFi-grade infrastructure.
Is this OKX building a Wall Street-ready exchange, or stablecoin issuers buying a seat at the distribution table?
Like and follow for more takes on the deals behind the headlines.
#OKX #Stablecoins
On Oct 6, CEO Star Xu confirmed a strategic round at a $25B pre-money valuation, extending the March round led by ICE, the NYSE parent. The new backers: Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered's SC Ventures and hedge fund Qube Research & Technologies. The amount wasn't disclosed. $OKB jumped about 7.7% on the news.
Xu's framing is unusual: OKX didn't bring them in for cash, but for partners who share its long-term plans.
Look at who those partners are:
- Circle issues USDC, which OKX lists and distributes.
- Ripple issues RLUSD, which OKX lists and distributes.
- QRT is an institutional trading counterparty on OKX.
- Standard Chartered is custodian for BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized fund.
So the round mostly turns suppliers into shareholders. That aligns incentives, but it also blurs lines. When an exchange decides which stablecoin gets the best placement, the best yield campaigns or the default trading pair, two of its newest investors are stablecoin issuers.
The undisclosed amount matters too. A "$25B valuation" with no published check size tells you more about positioning than about price discovery.
The fair counterpoint: strategic money from regulated partners can make an exchange safer and more institution-ready, and with ICE already on the cap table, OKX is clearly building toward TradFi-grade infrastructure.
Is this OKX building a Wall Street-ready exchange, or stablecoin issuers buying a seat at the distribution table?
Like and follow for more takes on the deals behind the headlines.
#OKX #Stablecoins
