OKX locks in $25bn valuation with fresh investments from Circle, QRT, Ripple, and Standard Chartered

OKX, a major crypto exchange and blockchain technology firm, has extended its March funding round by securing fresh capital from four strategic partners: Circle, Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), Ripple, and Standard Chartered's venture arm SC Ventures. While the exact amount raised in this follow-on remains undisclosed, the extension maintains the $25 billion pre-money valuation established during the initial raise. The round demonstrates sustained institutional confidence in OKX despite the company's public statement that additional capital was not a necessity.

This latest funding follows OKX's March investment from Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which invested at the same $25 billion valuation. That partnership granted ICE a board seat and licensing rights to distribute OKX spot cryptocurrency prices, with plans to launch regulated futures products alongside the exchange. The expanded investor base signals deepening integration across major fintech and blockchain ecosystems.

Each new investor assumes a distinct operational role within OKX's platform. Circle enables users to access USDC stablecoin functionality, QRT contributes expertise in market expansion, product development, and liquidity provision, while Ripple integrates its RLUSD stablecoin into OKX's unified order book. Standard Chartered provides custody services for the BUIDL fund, leveraging its traditional banking infrastructure to support crypto-native products. According to OKX leadership, the round "deepens our relationships with four partners that each serve a critical role in the ecosystem."

OKX founder and CEO Star Xu framed the investment as foundational to a broader strategic pivot. "We want to build the financial technology platform for the next generation, one that combines crypto technology with the standards people expect from global financial institutions," Xu stated. He added that the capital enables OKX to accelerate growth and move into tokenizing real-world assets, positioning the platform beyond its exchange origins as a comprehensive global fintech solution.