Crypto exchange OKX secured new funding at a $25 billion valuation from a consortium including stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group, payments firm Ripple, Standard Chartered's investment arm SC Ventures, and quantitative hedge fund Qube Research & Technologies (QRT).
The valuation has remained flat since a March round when Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, invested approximately $200 million.
Haider Rafique, OKX's global managing partner, said the new funding strengthens the exchange's long-term market infrastructure. QRT, which operates a crypto fund holding about $1 billion, cited confidence in "the long-term growth of digital assets and 24/7 markets," according to Thomas Eaton, a quantitative trading director at the firm.
OKXICE LLC, a joint venture between ICE and OKX, announced plans to seek SEC approval to offer tokenized stock in 63 U.S. public companies, including Nvidia, Apple and Coca-Cola.
The offering will operate under an SEC innovation exemption introduced in September. The exemption allows qualifying venues to trade tokenized equities on public blockchains for up to five years without registering as national securities exchanges, provided the tokens carry the same rights as ordinary shares—dividends, voting capabilities—and exclude price-tracking synthetics.
The exemption caps the number of stocks each venue can list and grants issuers a 30-day objection window, giving companies veto power over tokenization of their shares.
OKX already trades perpetual futures on Magnificent Seven stocks and the S&P 500, providing derivatives exposure to traditional equity benchmarks.
