OKX Adds Four Investors at a $25B Pre-Money Valuation

OKX said on Oct. 6 it completed a strategic investment from Circle, Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), Ripple and SC Ventures, Standard Chartered’s venture arm, at a $25 billion pre-money valuation. The investors already connect to parts of OKX’s stablecoin, liquidity, payments and custody infrastructure, according to OKX’s announcement. The exchange did not disclose the amount raised or the investors’ stakes.

OKX described the financing as an extension of the strategic investment round led in March by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The new investors link the equity raise to services used on or alongside the exchange: Circle issues USDC, Ripple’s RLUSD is available on OKX’s unified order book, QRT is an institutional counterparty, and Standard Chartered serves as custodian for BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund.

What does the $25 billion pre-money valuation tell us?

It gives the stated value of OKX before this round’s new capital is added. Because OKX has not disclosed the proceeds or the securities issued, the announcement does not reveal the post-money valuation, the ownership percentages sold, or how much any investor committed. A valuation alone cannot supply those figures.

The valuation matches the price for the ICE-led round in March, according to Blockhead’s report on the extension. Blockhead reported that the earlier investment was roughly $200 million, but neither that figure nor the terms of the current extension were disclosed by OKX in its announcement. The equal stated valuations show no change in the price assigned to OKX between the two rounds; they do not establish how much the company raised in total.

How do the investors connect to OKX’s operations?

The announcement ties each investor to a different operational layer. Circle issues USDC, which OKX identifies as part of its stablecoin infrastructure. Ripple’s RLUSD trades across OKX’s unified order book, bringing the issuer into the venue where the token is listed. QRT provides liquidity and risk capacity as an institutional counterparty and works with OKX on products and markets, the exchange said.

Standard Chartered’s role in the arrangement is custody. OKX said the bank serves as custodian for BUIDL, BlackRock’s tokenized Treasury fund, which sits at the center of a collateral framework launched with OKX and BlackRock. The announcement does not specify new contractual terms for these relationships or say that the investment changes how any of the services operate.

What does OKX say it will do with the capital?

OKX founder and chief executive Star Xu said the capital would support growth and the tokenization of real-world assets. That is the company’s stated use of proceeds; OKX did not publish a spending schedule, target assets, launch dates or additional technical details in the announcement.

The raise therefore adds four strategic investors at the same pre-money valuation as the March round, while bringing existing infrastructure relationships into the shareholder base. Whether that alignment produces new products or changes how OKX handles stablecoin settlement, institutional liquidity or tokenized-asset collateral remains unspecified. The announcement confirms the investment and the stated valuation, but leaves the financing size and resulting ownership structure undisclosed.

References

• OKX’s announcement — okx.com
• Blockhead’s report on the extension — blockhead.co