OKX has raised fresh capital at a $25 billion valuation from Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered's SC Ventures and QRT as it expands into tokenized stocks and institutional markets.
OKB$135.46+6.84%Crypto exchange OKX has raised fresh capital at a $25 billion valuation, bringing in investors from both the crypto and traditional financial sectors.
The round includes Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered's investment arm SC Ventures, and Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), according to Bloomberg. OKX has not disclosed how much money it raised.
The new funding comes as OKX expands its market infrastructure and moves deeper into tokenized stocks, institutional trading and other financial products.
OKB, the exchange's native token, also jumped on the news, briefly reaching nearly $142 before giving back some of its gains.
The latest funding round keeps OKX valued at $25 billion, the same valuation set in its March funding round.
In March, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, invested about $200 million in OKX. The investment also created a broader strategic relationship between the two companies.
The latest round extends that funding effort with several new investors.
Circle and Ripple bring major crypto-industry backing, while SC Ventures adds a connection to one of the world's largest banking groups. QRT, a London-based quantitative investment firm, also joined the round.
OKX said the new capital will focus on strengthening its long-term market infrastructure.
The company did not provide a detailed breakdown of how the money will be spent.
The funding arrives just as OKX is making a major push into tokenized U.S. stocks.
OKX and ICE formed OKXICE, a joint venture that is seeking to launch a permissioned, on-chain trading venue for tokenized U.S. stocks.
The platform plans to offer more than 60 U.S.-listed companies, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Coinbase and Circle. The proposed venue would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week on OKX's X Layer blockchain.
The joint venture recently notified the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of its plans under the regulator's new Innovation Exemption.
Related: OKX and ICE Plan 24/7 Tokenized Stock Platform.
The timing makes the new funding particularly relevant. OKX is raising capital while simultaneously building infrastructure aimed at connecting crypto markets with traditional equities.
The OKX-ICE plans follow the SEC's September decision to create temporary exemptions for certain platforms trading tokenized U.S. stocks.
The exemption allows qualifying trading venues to operate without registering as traditional exchanges under specific conditions. It also allows certain liquidity providers to avoid dealer registration requirements.
The rules require tokenized stocks to provide the same shareholder rights as the underlying securities, including rights to dividends and voting.
They also exclude synthetic products that simply track a stock's price without representing ownership of the underlying security.
That framework gives OKX and ICE a clearer path to build a regulated tokenized-equity market in the United States.
The participation of Circle and Ripple is notable because both companies are building infrastructure that connects crypto with traditional finance.
Circle is the issuer of USDC, one of the largest dollar-backed stablecoins.
Ripple has expanded beyond XRP payments into areas including stablecoins, institutional finance and digital-asset infrastructure.
Their investment therefore adds another layer to OKX's strategy of building financial infrastructure around digital assets.
Standard Chartered's SC Ventures brings a similar traditional-finance connection. The bank has increasingly explored blockchain and digital-asset applications through its investment arm.
The combination gives OKX backing from both sides of the market as it expands beyond its core crypto-exchange business.
OKX's native token OKB reacted quickly to the funding announcement.
The token briefly climbed to nearly $142 before giving back part of the move. It was trading around $136, still more than 7% higher.
OKB was also up more than 13% over the previous week.
The move shows that traders viewed the funding round as positive for the broader OKX ecosystem.
However, the funding itself does not guarantee that OKB will continue rising. The token's future performance will also depend on OKX's business growth and the adoption of its expanding products.
The latest investment highlights how OKX is trying to evolve from a crypto exchange into a broader financial-market infrastructure provider.
Its relationship with ICE already covers regulated crypto futures, tokenized equities and institutional market infrastructure. ICE said its investment was intended to explore areas including clearing, risk management, custody and market connectivity.
The new funding now adds Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered and QRT to that broader expansion story.
If OKX successfully launches its tokenized-stock venue, it could give the exchange a direct role in markets that traditionally sit outside crypto.
That would make the $25 billion valuation more than a measure of its existing exchange business. It would also reflect expectations around the financial infrastructure OKX is trying to build.
The immediate focus will be on how OKX uses the new capital and whether its tokenized-stock plans move forward.
The OKXICE venue still requires regulatory steps before it can begin operating. The proposed platform also gives companies the ability to object before their shares are offered in tokenized form under the SEC's framework.
For OKX, the latest funding provides fresh backing at a time when the company is expanding into new parts of financial markets.
Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered and QRT have now joined ICE as major investors or partners around the exchange.
OKX has maintained its $25 billion valuation while attracting a mix of crypto and traditional finance investors. The next test is whether its push into tokenized markets can turn that capital into a larger financial platform.
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