OKX lands Circle, Ripple and StanChart investment at $25B valuation

OKX has secured fresh investment from Circle, Ripple, quantitative manager Qube Research & Technologies (QRT) and SC Ventures, Standard Chartered's venture arm, as it pushes beyond crypto trading into a broader financial-technology platform. The amount was not disclosed; the round extends ICE's March investment and values OKX at $25 billion pre-money.

• CEO Star Xu said the exchange is "evolving into a broader global financial technology platform" spanning crypto, payments and tokenized assets.
• The funding comes as OKX and NYSE parent ICE pursue OKXICE, a 24/7 venue for tokenized U.S. stocks backed one-for-one by underlying shares and settled in stablecoins (USDC, USDT, USDG).
• Macquarie expects early OKXICE demand to skew retail, citing the SEC exemption's temporary nature and integration costs as hurdles for institutions.