Morning Minute: OKX Raises at $25B From Circle, Ripple, and StanChart

OKX announced a fresh financing at a $25 billion pre-money valuation with participation from Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered’s venture arm, and trading firm Qube Research. The size of the new capital infusion was not disclosed. This financing follows an investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) in March at the same valuation.

The roster of backers ties directly to areas where OKX is expanding. Circle issues USDC and Ripple operates payment rails and issues RLUSD, while Standard Chartered is the custodian of assets for BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury product under an arrangement linked to OKX. Qube Research already provides trading capacity to the exchange. OKX founder Star Xu described the company’s strategy as evolving from an exchange into a broader fintech platform where customers can hold, spend, invest, and grow money in one place.

Operational moves accompanying the funding include an ICE-led joint venture, OKXICE, which filed to offer around-the-clock trading in tokenized shares of 63 U.S. companies using OKX’s blockchain and stablecoin settlement. OKX has also launched a consumer app promising 10% yield on dollar stablecoins and said AI now handles roughly 95% of its code, costing about $10 million per month.

Markets were volatile Wednesday after a late selloff. Major cryptocurrencies fell between roughly 3% and 5%, with Bitcoin trading near $83,600 and Ether near $2,580 at the time of reporting. Over the prior 24 hours more than $540 million in long positions were liquidated, led by ETH. Meanwhile, Bitcoin ETFs recorded $119 million in net inflows while Ether ETFs saw $202 million in net outflows. Separately, on the protocol front, Abstract — the Ethereum network used by Pudgy Penguins — said it will shut down on December 15 after its parent company lost tens of millions funding it, and about $47 million reportedly remains on that chain.