OKX announced Tuesday that Circle (CRCL), Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), and SC Ventures by Standard Chartered have invested in the exchange at a $25 billion valuation.
The exchange said the round extends the stake NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) took in March, and it described this week’s valuation as pre-money, before counting the new capital.
Each Investor Already Works With OKX
Each of the four firms already supports one layer of its business, from stablecoin issuance to liquidity, collateral, and custody. QRT, a multi-strategy investment manager, is an institutional counterparty that supplies liquidity and risk capacity to the exchange.
Meanwhile, Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin trades across OKX’s unified order book. RLUSD went live on more than 280 OKX trading pairs in April, including against XRP.
“Our investment reflects our conviction in what they’re building and opens the door to deepen our work together across stablecoins, payments and institutional markets,” said Jack McDonald, SVP of Stablecoins at Ripple.
Standard Chartered’s link runs through BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund. On April 28, OKX, BlackRock and the bank launched a framework that lets VIP and institutional clients post BUIDL as trading collateral. The bank holds those fund shares in custody off the exchange while the clients trade on OKX Middle East.
Tokenized Stocks and a Dollar App
The round landed two days after OKXICE, the joint venture between OKX and ICE, filed with the SEC to offer 63 tokenized NYSE stocks to US users on October 4. Those tokens must carry the same dividend and voting rights as the underlying shares. Listed companies have 30 days to opt out before trading can begin.
OKX also launched OKX Money on Tuesday, a standalone app for saving, sending and spending dollar stablecoins. OKX Money users can fund accounts in more than 50 currencies and hold USDG, USDC or Tether’s USDT. Qualifying customers can earn up to 10% a year on eligible USDG balances, with no staking or lockup. Those USDG rewards, like the app itself, are available only in select regions for now.
Founder and CEO Star Xu said the new capital will help OKX keep growing and tokenize real-world assets.
“The exchange was our starting point, and we are evolving into a broader global financial technology platform,” Xu said.
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