OKX Extends Round at $25bn Valuation

OKX has extended its March funding round at the same $25bn valuation. The privately held crypto exchange, citing its own press release, declined to disclose how much new capital it raised.

The new investors are Circle, Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies (QRT) and Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures. Finance Magnates described the $25bn figure as a pre-money valuation, meaning the value before the new money is counted. A round extension is a further close of an existing round, typically on the same terms.

Each investor is tied to a service it already provides to OKX. Circle’s USDC, a stablecoin pegged to the US dollar, is integrated across the exchange. Ripple’s RLUSD stablecoin is available on OKX’s unified order book, the single pool of buy and sell orders. QRT provides liquidity and risk capacity.

The SC Ventures link is collateral. The Standard Chartered group acts as custodian of BlackRock’s BUIDL, a tokenised Treasury fund, which OKX uses as off-exchange collateral. Tokenised means the fund’s units exist as digital tokens, and off-exchange collateral is margin held outside the trading venue.

Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) led the March round with an investment of about $200m, at the same $25bn valuation. ICE and OKX co-founded OKXICE, a planned tokenised-securities venue covering 63 US stocks. It is seeking approval from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) under the five-year innovation exemption, and is neither approved nor trading.

Haider Rafique, Global Managing Partner, said the funding supports long-term market infrastructure. Star Xu framed the extension as strategic alignment rather than a raise driven by a need for funds.

For brokers, exchanges and payment providers that supply a crypto venue with stablecoin rails, liquidity or custody, the deal suggests suppliers may take equity in the venues they serve. No lead investor has been identified for the extension, whereas ICE led March.