Overview

OKX, formerly known as OKEx, is a worldwide cryptocurrency exchange and blockchain services company. The platform offers trading in digital assets, as well as services including decentralized finance (DeFi) access through its OKX Wallet. The company was founded by Star Xu and rebranded from OKEx to OKX in 2022.

In March 2026, NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange invested in OKX, pushing the company's valuation to US$25 billion.

History

OKX started as Okcoin, a cryptocurrency exchange founded in 2013 by Star Xu. The platform later expanded internationally and launched as OKEx in 2017 in Hong Kong.

In June 2021, Baidu, Weibo, and other Chinese Internet platforms blocked keywords such as "OKEx", "Binance", and "Huobi". In October 2021, OKX, initially headquartered in Beijing, China, announced that it would stop serving customers in Mainland China due to new regulations. Its founding team has since moved, with few outsourced personnel working in the region.

In January 2022, OKEx rebranded to OKX. In March 2022, OKX rejected calls to ban Russian crypto trading.

Sponsorship and advertising

In September of the same year, OKX and McLaren unveiled a cyberpunk-inspired livery by enhancing the iconic Fluro Papaya colorway with flourishes of pink and cyberpunk-inspired engine illustrations for the 2022 Singapore and Japanese Grands Prix.

Tribeca Festival signed OKX as its new top sponsor in June 2022. At Tribeca events, OKX holds exclusivity for non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces, cryptocurrency exchanges, usage of social tokens, and De-Fi and Game Fi trading categories.

Criticism and controversies

On July 30, 2018, a trader reportedly bought bitcoin futures with a $416 million notional value on margin before being forced by the exchange to liquidate his position at a large loss. The exchange injected 2,500 Bitcoins—worth about $18 million at the time—into an insurance fund to help minimize the impact on clients. However, to cover for the outstanding amount, traders who had made an unrealized profit during the previous week still had to pay a clawback rate of 17 percent, the so-called "socialized clawback".

On October 16, 2020 OKX temporarily suspended withdrawals as the founder cooperated with a police investigation. On November 19, 2020 OKX announced that withdrawals would reopen and will resume on or before November 27.

Legal status

In July 2022, OKX received a provisional virtual asset license in Dubai, which would allow OKX to provide access to some products and services to investors in the United Arab Emirates.

In March 2023, OKX applied for a virtual asset license in Hong Kong, two months before the city officially made crypto trading fully legal.

In April 2025, OKX relaunched operations in the United States and relocated its headquarters to San Jose.