Crypto exchange OKX has completed a new strategic investment from Circle, Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies and Standard Chartered's venture arm SC Ventures, the company announced on X, bringing several of its existing infrastructure partners directly onto its shareholder register at a $25 billion pre-money valuation.

The October 6 transaction extends a funding round led earlier this year by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. OKX did not disclose how much capital the four new investors committed. The valuation remains unchanged from the March deal with ICE, which subsequently expanded into the 50-50 OKXICE joint venture targeting regulated crypto derivatives and tokenized securities in the United States.

Investors Already Power Key Parts of OKX Infrastructure

Each of the new investors already maintains an operational relationship with OKX spanning stablecoins, liquidity, payments or institutional infrastructure. Circle's USDC stablecoin is integrated throughout the exchange, while Qube Research & Technologies, a quantitative trading firm, serves as an institutional counterparty providing liquidity and risk capacity. Ripple's RLUSD stablecoin is available through OKX's unified order book, building on an earlier RLUSD liquidity expansion covering spot markets and derivatives collateral.

Standard Chartered provides custody for BlackRock's BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund within collateral infrastructure developed with OKX. The new investment therefore ties capital ownership more closely to services the exchange already uses across stablecoins, liquidity and tokenized assets.

OKX founder and CEO Star Xu said the capital would support further growth and the company's plans to tokenize real-world assets as it expands beyond its original exchange business.

The funding arrives seven months after ICE's initial investment in OKX established the same $25 billion valuation and opened a broader partnership around regulated market infrastructure.

OKX Money Targets Stablecoin Savings and Payments

Alongside the new capital, OKX launched OKX Money, a standalone application designed around saving, transferring and spending dollar-backed stablecoins.

Customers in participating markets can fund accounts using more than 50 supported currencies before converting into USDC, USDT or USDG. Supported stablecoins can be exchanged without conversion fees.

Eligible users can earn up to 10% APY on qualifying USDG balances without a staking requirement or lockup. Virtual and physical cards provide a spending route, with OKX charging no foreign-exchange fee or conversion markup when purchases are made in another currency.

The product is initially aimed at markets where access to dollar-denominated savings can be limited by local banking infrastructure, currency volatility or foreign-exchange costs. Availability, rates and individual features vary by jurisdiction and customer eligibility.

The expansion also places stablecoin payments alongside OKX's growing tokenized-asset strategy. The exchange and ICE have been developing regulated infrastructure connecting traditional markets with onchain trading, while tokenized equities have become a larger part of OKX's planned U.S. product stack. The concrete signals to follow from here are the OKXICE joint venture's progress toward regulated U.S. crypto derivatives and tokenized securities, and how quickly OKX Money extends beyond its initial markets.

OKB traded near $134 on October 7, up roughly 1.4% over 24 hours at the latest OKX reading. The token remained more than 10% higher over seven days as the exchange announced the funding, OKX Money and its latest institutional expansion.

Source: Crypto Adventure