OKX has blocked some employees in Hong Kong from using Claude after Anthropic briefly suspended the cryptocurrency exchange's corporate account, according to Bloomberg News. The restriction was put in place in early August and has led many OKX staff to shift to other AI platforms.

Anthropic, the US-based developer behind Claude, does not allow the AI assistant to be used in Hong Kong or mainland China, both of which are absent from the list of territories where the company says its services are supported. The company, founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers and backed by investors including Amazon and Google, competes with OpenAI and Google in supplying AI models to businesses. As a result of the regional policy, OKX employees in the specified region have had to resort to alternative AI platforms for their work.

OKX Claude Restrictions Push Employees Toward Other AI Models

Following the suspension, OKX began routing the impacted employees to other AI solutions. The episode illustrates a wider difficulty for global organizations, which must navigate differing access policies set by AI service providers from one country to another.

OKX is one of the largest customers of AI, and is expected to spend roughly $6 million to $8 million per month on various leading AI services.

OKX is not alone in restricting the use of Claude in Hong Kong. Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan have similarly restricted their employees from using the AI service. Banks have policed staff access to external AI tools before — JPMorgan curbed employee use of ChatGPT in 2023 over compliance concerns, an early example of how tightly financial institutions control which chatbots may handle work-related information.

These restrictions are indicative of the problems faced by US-based AI firms as they attempt to spread their services across regions. For OKX, the episode also underscores the importance of having a backup AI system in place.

Hong Kong Strengthens Its Crypto Market Rules

The move comes as the territory continues to develop a regulatory framework for digital assets. Under the new regime, licensed crypto exchanges are permitted to sell perpetual contracts to professional traders, while brokers are allowed to lend cryptocurrencies as margin to clients based on certain criteria. The rules build on the licensing system that Hong Kong's Securities and Futures Commission introduced for virtual asset trading platforms in 2023, when the city also began letting licensed platforms serve retail investors.

Hong Kong has emerged as a critical market for cryptocurrency firms looking to gain access to the Asian region through regulation. Its strategy has been to bring cryptocurrency services within a clear legal framework while keeping some restrictions on risky products, an approach that sets the territory apart from mainland China, where crypto trading remains broadly banned.

OKX's recent AI access problem may be unrelated to its cryptocurrency business, but it highlights other challenges that foreign firms might face while doing business in the region.

OKX Sees Strong Growth in Crypto Card Payments

Even as AI access rules tighten, OKX continues to push the integration of cryptocurrencies into everyday transactions. According to the company's statement, card-based transaction volume in Europe rose by 280% compared with last year's summer figures, while the number of transactions climbed by 178%. Clients regularly used OKX cards for ordinary expenditures, including buying food, traveling, and making other routine purchases. The card push draws on a clearer European rulebook: the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, fully applicable since the end of 2024, allows licensed firms to operate across member states, and OKX holds a MiCA license through Malta.

Across the industry overall, spending with crypto-based cards has hit an all-time high of $759 million in July. The record figure reflects the increasing interest in services that allow people to pay for goods and services using cryptocurrencies, and it comes as card networks such as Visa and Mastercard have partnered with crypto firms on programs that let cardholders spend digital asset balances.

The OKX Claude situation and the growing adoption of crypto card payments represent two separate trends currently influencing the exchange. The Claude restrictions highlight how access to some artificial intelligence tools is becoming increasingly limited in certain regions, while crypto payments continue to gain traction among consumers. As the OKX Claude situation develops, the exchange will need to monitor both trends carefully as it expands into various markets around the world, with AI providers' lists of supported territories and the rollout of Hong Kong's new trading permissions among the factors worth watching.