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Fintech & Digital PaymentsNews|October 8, 2026, 03:34 PM
MARKET SIGNAL:

OKX Draws Circle and Ripple Backing at $25 Billion Valuation

BySendTech Times Fintech DeskNewsroom-edited, source-reviewed coverage
Newsroom brief

OKX took undisclosed new investment from Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered’s venture arm and Qube Research as it pushes beyond exchange trading into tokenized shares, stablecoins and consumer finance.

Verified against source materialEdited by SendTech Times Fintech DeskSource: Decrypt
OKX Draws Circle and Ripple Backing at $25 Billion Valuation
Image source: Decrypt

Decrypt reported that OKX added Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered's venture arm and Qube Research as investors at a $25 billion pre-money valuation, giving the exchange a new set of strategic backers for its push into broader financial services.

OKX did not disclose how much capital the group provided.

The pricing matches the valuation used in March when Intercontinental Exchange, the company behind the New York Stock Exchange, invested in the crypto platform.

The backers map onto the infrastructure OKX wants around its exchange business.

Circle brings the issuer behind USDC.

Ripple brings a payments network and the RLUSD stablecoin.

Standard Chartered is tied to custody for BlackRock's tokenized Treasury fund through an OKX arrangement, while Qube Research is already a trading-capacity client.

That roster turns the funding into more than balance-sheet support.

Star Xu described OKX as moving from an exchange starting point toward a financial technology platform where customers keep, use and invest money inside one service.

The investment round gives the company allies in payments, stablecoins, custody and market liquidity.

The most direct product test is OKXICE, its venture with Intercontinental Exchange.

A Sunday filing sought approval for 24-hour trading in tokenized shares of 63 U.S. companies, with activity running over OKX's own blockchain and settlement handled through stablecoins.

A consumer push is developing alongside the market-infrastructure plan.

OKX introduced an app offering 10% returns on dollar stablecoins, and Xu put the company's use of artificial intelligence in software development at about 95% of code with monthly spending of $10 million.

Those moves leave OKX with a practical adoption problem rather than just a capital problem.

Macquarie's concern was that tokenized equities need sufficient liquidity to keep prices dependable even in off-hours trading, and temporary Securities and Exchange Commission rules may leave institutions hesitant to plug into the system.

Retail users are expected to carry early demand, based on Macquarie and TD Securities.

The material unknown is whether that retail start, combined with OKX's new strategic investors, can create enough durable liquidity for tokenized shares when traditional institutions remain cautious.

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