OKX has reportedly expanded its ongoing funding round to bring in a new set of investors with direct relevance to European stablecoin and payments debates, according to Bloomberg reporting dated October 6. Circle, the issuer of USDC, and Ripple, which develops payment services and digital asset infrastructure, have joined the round alongside SC Ventures, the investment and venture-building arm of Standard Chartered, and Qube Research & Technologies, a London-based quantitative asset manager.
The exchange's valuation was maintained at $25 billion through this extension. The amount raised from the new participants was not disclosed.
The round extends a prior investment led by Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, which was announced on March 5 as part of a round dated to March 2026 and also valued OKX at $25 billion. That investment came with a board seat for ICE, though financial terms were not made public at the time.
What ICE and OKX set out to build
The March announcement described joint projects spanning market data, clearing, risk management and digital asset custody. ICE has indicated it intends to use OKX spot prices to launch regulated futures contracts in the United States, tying the exchange's pricing infrastructure to a regulated derivatives market overseen by one of Wall Street's dominant exchange operators.
OKX's push into the US market has been underway since April 16, 2025, when the exchange launched a dedicated US trading platform and wallet. The US operation is headquartered in San José, California, and led by Roshan Robert.
A European dimension to the cap table
For European observers, the presence of Circle and Ripple on OKX's investor list carries particular weight. Both companies sit at the centre of ongoing discussions around the EU's Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation and the broader question of how stablecoins and cross-border payment rails will be supervised on the continent. Circle's USDC and Ripple's payment infrastructure are frequently cited in Brussels and national regulatory circles as test cases for how MiCA's provisions will be applied in practice.
Their equity stakes in one of the world's largest crypto exchanges add a layer of interconnection between stablecoin issuers, payments infrastructure providers and trading venues that regulators have been monitoring as the sector consolidates. Standard Chartered's involvement through SC Ventures brings a traditional banking group with a significant European footprint into the same cap table, while Qube Research & Technologies represents institutional trading capital based in London.
No further details on valuation changes, use of proceeds, or governance arrangements tied to the new investors have been disclosed.
