Key Takeaways:
- OKX raised funding with Circle, Ripple, QRT, and SC Ventures with a valuation of $25B.
- The deal is a continuation of a previous investment made by NYSE parent ICE.
- The collaboration fortifies OKX’s stablecoin, liquidity, and custody capabilities.
OKX, a crypto exchange platform, garnered four big financial and digital asset firms, bolstering its institutional crypto infrastructure efforts.
Announced on October 6, the investment builds on OKX’s existing partnerships and supports its plans to expand beyond cryptocurrency trading into tokenized assets and financial services.
OKX Attracts Four Investors at $25 Billion Valuation
OKX is also an investment of the Big Four that are done by Circle, Ripple, QRT and SC ventures at the pre-money valuation of $25 billion. The investment comes on the back of an investment in the company in March 2026 by ICE which was part of the deal.
OKX did not reveal the amounts of the investments made nor the slices of ownership awarded to each investor. The four firms have commercial ties with the exchange, unlike a traditional investment deal whereby strangers are opening an investment avenue.
There are USDC infrastructure providers, institutional liquidity providers, stablecoin provider and payment capabilities from Ripple, and custody service providers from Standard Chartered.
According to OKX founder and CEO Star Xu, the firm will create a comprehensive financial platform that integrates digital assets along with services typical of traditional financial institutions.
Ripple’s RLUSD Strengthens OKX Stablecoin Infrastructure
Ripple’s inclusion helps to shore up another financial partnership between the two stablecoins. It has already launched a dollar-backed stablecoin called RLUSD on its centralized order book, which has made its platform capable of supporting trading on the RSG dollar.
Ripple managers said the deal may result in more collaboration in payments, stablecoins, and financial services for institutions, among other things.
The Circle involvement comes after the integration of USDC on the networks of OKX’s trading infrastructure. The partnerships significantly enhance the relationship that the exchange has with two key stablecoin issuers.
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Standard Chartered Supports Tokenized Treasury Collateral
The partnership is joined by Standard Chartered, which joins with its institutional custody capabilities. The bank has already acted as a custodian for BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund in one collateral framework that was created by OKX.
The deal lets eligible institutional clients provide tokenized Treasury assets for the purpose of making trades, while never actually exchanging the asset itself over the exchange.
The architecture intended to bring tokens to crypto trading and reconcile the security and custody of real-world assets and the trading of that currency.
OKX Targets Institutional Trading and Real-World Assets
The investment also equips QRT with liquidity and risk capacity in the OKX markets, while it receives support from a large institutional trading counterparty. The exchange is also taking another step from its initial cryptocurrency business.
The new capital will fuel the growth and tokenisation of real-world assets, possibly linking traditional investment vehicles with blockchain trading platforms, said Xu.
There were not specific investment amounts, tokenized volumes or timeframe provided for the launch of any other products. Currently, the agreement consolidates the stablecoin issuers, institutional trading know-how and bank-level custody on OKX’s burgeoning digital asset platform.
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