OKX has broadened its institutional shareholder base at a flat $25 billion valuation, adding investors from stablecoins, global banking and quantitative finance. The financing includes Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures and Qube Research & Technologies (QRT), according to Bloomberg, though the size of the round was not disclosed.
The deal extends a financing that began in March, when Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) invested roughly $200 million at the same valuation. ICE later disclosed it agreed on March 3 to acquire about 900,000 Series C preferred shares in OKX parent OKC Holdings Corporation for that amount, leaving ICE with less than 1% ownership. The relationship has already progressed into market infrastructure: OKX and ICE are developing OKXICE, a proposed platform to bring tokenized U.S. equities onto blockchain rails.
OKX’s latest round does not automatically create commercial agreements, but the investor roster touches areas increasingly relevant to the exchange’s expansion. Circle brings USDC and stablecoin payment infrastructure, Ripple offers digital-asset payment rails and issues RLUSD, SC Ventures connects to Standard Chartered’s venture and innovation ecosystem, and QRT adds a systematic trading-market perspective. Combined with ICE, the shareholder base now spans digital dollars, banking, quantitative trading, exchanges, clearing and market data.
Stablecoins could be the first area to watch. OKX’s tokenized-market ambitions may eventually require efficient cash legs, deep liquidity and stronger links between crypto-native and traditional financial systems. Circle and Ripple both operate infrastructure addressing parts of that problem. However, no announcement indicates that USDC or RLUSD will receive a new role on OKX; any deeper integration would be disclosed separately.
The unchanged $25 billion valuation provides only limited information. Without details on round size, share classes and investor protections, calling it a positive or negative flat round would go beyond the disclosure. The stronger signal is that OKX has widened its institutional backing without resetting its headline valuation.
Mastercard’s engagement with OKX adds another signal of banking-crypto convergence. Raj Dhamodharan, an executive at Mastercard, joined a panel hosted by OKX to discuss the future of financial systems and how digital assets can intersect with traditional banking for customer benefit. The conversation underscores a broader industry shift toward interconnected financial infrastructure.
