Circle and Ripple Back OKX at $25 Billion Valuation

OKX added Circle, Ripple, QRT and Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures as investors in an extension of its March funding round.

Key points

Circle, Ripple, QRT and Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures invested in OKX at a $25 billion pre-money valuation.
OKX did not disclose the amount raised, and the transaction extends a March round led by NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange.
The investors already connect to OKX through stablecoins, liquidity, payments and custody, reinforcing its push beyond crypto trading.

Crypto exchange OKX has completed a strategic funding extension backed by Circle, Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies and Standard Chartered’s venture arm, SC Ventures. OKX said the transaction values the company at $25 billion before the new capital is included. The amount invested was not disclosed. The October 6 announcement adds four financial-infrastructure partners to the exchange’s shareholder base as it expands into stablecoin payments, tokenized assets and services aimed at institutional markets. It also links the capital raise to businesses that already supply important parts of OKX’s trading and settlement stack.

A second step after the ICE investment

The financing extends a March round led by Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange. ICE invested at the same $25 billion valuation, according to OKX and independent reporting. The unchanged valuation means the latest announcement should not be read as a new price increase for the company. It instead broadens the group of strategic investors. Bloomberg reported that the March investment was roughly $200 million, while OKX declined to say how much the new participants committed.

Each investor already fills a role

The investor list reflects services that OKX already uses or wants to deepen. Circle issues USDC, which is integrated across the platform. Ripple supplies payments and stablecoin infrastructure, including RLUSD availability through OKX’s order book. QRT is an institutional counterparty that provides liquidity and risk capacity. Standard Chartered serves as custodian for BlackRock’s BUIDL tokenized Treasury fund under a collateral arrangement involving OKX. Those relationships give the deal an operational dimension beyond a conventional capital raise.

The exchange is widening its financial ambitions

OKX founder and chief executive Star Xu said the company wants to evolve from an exchange into a broader financial-technology platform where customers can hold, pay, invest and grow funds. That strategy overlaps with a wider move by major crypto platforms into payments, brokerage-style products and real-world asset tokenization. It also follows OKX’s work with ICE on a proposed around-the-clock venue for tokenized U.S. shares, although that separate project remains subject to the applicable U.S. regulatory framework.

Why the partners matter

Bringing issuers, liquidity providers and custodians closer to a trading platform could help reduce the number of disconnected systems institutions use for settlement and collateral. Stablecoin issuers benefit from distribution, exchanges gain settlement assets, and banks can supply custody controls expected by regulated firms. However, investment does not guarantee that integrations will attract customers or produce efficient markets. Tokenized securities and round-the-clock trading still depend on reliable liquidity, compliant custody and rules that institutions can treat as durable.

What remains unknown

Neither OKX nor the investors disclosed ownership percentages, individual commitment sizes or a timetable for deploying the capital. The $25 billion figure is a private pre-money valuation, not a public-market price or a measure of customer assets. The clearest near-term signal is strategic alignment: companies responsible for dollar stablecoins, payments, market liquidity and bank-grade custody are putting capital behind the same exchange. Investors and customers will still need evidence on product adoption, regulatory approvals and the economics of the resulting services. The practical test will be whether that alignment produces usable products and sustained institutional participation rather than only closer corporate ties.

Sources

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