SINGAPORE
OKX Founder and CEO Star launched the OKX NOW Global Product & Ecosystem Conference on Oct. 6, announcing a strategic pivot from cryptocurrency exchange to global financial technology platform.
Star's keynote centered on three converging forces reshaping financial services: the internet's transformation of information flow, crypto's redefinition of value movement, and AI's capacity to scale intelligence.
The CEO framed the move as a direct response to legacy finance constraints. Domestic payments carry fees of 0.5 to 1 percent, while cross-border transfers frequently incur several percentage points—some small remittances cost up to 10 percent. Traditional markets operate on limited hours, excluding weekend and after-hours transfers. Personalized private banking remains exclusive to the wealthy, leaving most users with negligible returns in standard accounts.
Star positioned crypto as a generational social experiment. The space emerged from 2008 to 2013 driven by cryptographers and engineers building value-transfer systems without intermediaries.
OKX's expanded offerings will include fund custody, payments, investment and wealth management. The conference showcased product demonstrations, executive panels and the OKX Dev Day 2026 hackathon finale, with discussions emphasizing all-weather markets, asset tokenization and programmable infrastructure development.
