OKX Brings in Circle and Ripple After ICE Deal
Circle, Ripple, and ICE are investing in OKX, which is focusing on tokenized stocks and stablecoins. The joint venture with the NYSE parent is still waiting on SEC guidelines.
Key Takeaways
- OKX has brought in Circle, Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies, and SC Ventures as new investors, alongside ICE's earlier investment.
- OKX's valuation remains $25 billion (€22.2 billion) before the investment, while the company continues to evolve into a broader financial technology platform.
- OKX and ICE have filed a joint venture for 24/7 trading in tokenized U.S. stocks through X Layer and stablecoins.
OKX has attracted new investors as the crypto exchange keeps moving toward a broader financial technology platform. Circle, Ripple, Qube Research & Technologies, and SC Ventures are joining in, after an investment from Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, was announced earlier. The valuation remains at $25 billion (€22.2 billion) before the investment.
From Exchange to Platform
According to founder and CEO Star Xu, the exchange was the starting point, but OKX wants to grow into a platform where customers can store, spend, invest, and grow their money. That puts the company in line with a broader trend in the crypto market, where exchanges are no longer just about trading tokens, but also about payments, stablecoins, stocks, derivatives, and tokenized assets.
The new investors fit that direction. Circle is the issuer of USDC, Ripple provides payment infrastructure and issues the RLUSD stablecoin. SC Ventures is Standard Chartered's venture arm, while Qube Research & Technologies is already connected to OKX as an institutional counterparty for liquidity and trading capacity.
Tokenized Stocks in Sight
The partnership with ICE carries extra weight because of the plans around tokenized stocks. OKX and ICE filed a joint venture this week to set up tokenized stock trading within a framework from the U.S. regulator SEC. The plan is to offer 24/7 trading in tokenized stocks of 63 U.S. companies through OKX's X Layer blockchain and stablecoins such as USDC, USDT, and USDG.
In September 2026, the SEC introduced an Innovation Exemption that gives blockchain platforms room, under certain conditions, to trade tokenized U.S. stocks. That temporary rule runs for five years and is meant to give regulators time to assess the market and possibly create new rules. In that model, the stocks keep their dividend and voting rights, which brings the project closer to traditional securities trading than to a pure crypto product.
Why This Matters
For European crypto followers, this move shows how quickly the line between crypto and traditional markets is blurring. If tokenized stocks gain traction through a regulated framework, that could also say something about the role of stablecoins as a settlement tool outside regular crypto trading. At the same time, the question remains whether institutions see enough liquidity and technical compatibility to use a platform like this broadly.
