Is OKX's $25 Billion Valuation Really Justified?
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, ICE (Intercontinental Exchange), has recently shown much greater interest in cryptocurrency than in previous years. First, it invested $2 billion in Polymarket, pushing the leading prediction market's valuation to $90 billion. It then quickly invested in the cryptocurrency exchange platform OKX, raising the valuation of this well-known platform in the Chinese-speaking region to around $25 billion.
OKX is about to be listed in the U.S., which is no longer news. ICE's investment, combined with the upcoming U.S. listing, as Fortune puts it, is transforming OKX from an East Asian offshore trading platform to a globally compliant hub operating in the United States.
In simple terms, the United States will be OKX's new home.
What's interesting about this is that the United States, a market that was virtually blank for the world's largest exchange platform, Binance, has now seen several giants gearing up to make a big impact.
Coinbase, the current leading U.S. exchange platform, with BlackRock's support, has a CEO who is tough enough to challenge the entire industry.
Kraken, the second oldest compliant trading platform, is rumored to be going public in the first quarter.
Upbit is also about to be listed in the U.S., with strong earning potential. After being robbed of $36 million, it could recover the amount in just two weeks.
Of course, there are also already listed but relatively low-profile platforms like Gemini, Bullish, and others, as well as the upcoming listing of OKX.
So, is a $25 billion valuation expensive?

According to BlockBeats' analysis of exchange platforms in 2025, OKX's $25 billion valuation doesn't seem expensive.
Coinbase has a spot trading volume similar to OKX but almost no futures trading volume, with a market cap of $55 billion, double that of OKX.
Kraken is lagging behind OKX in both spot and futures trading volumes, with a $20 billion valuation, only 20% lower than OKX's valuation; while Upbit, despite being South Korea's largest, lacks USDT">a futures section, and its earning potential seems far less than OKX's. Upbit has a $10.7 billion valuation, making OKX's valuation more than double that of Upbit's.
Robinhood has 23 million users, but the disclosed Crypto section's trading volume for 2025 is only $82 billion, making it incomparable.
Apparently, looking at the data, 250 billion is underestimated, considering the publicly available user count. OKX is already the largest in terms of users, and this is basically without any U.S. users yet. Considering the user count of Coinbase and Kraken, OKX theoretically has tens of millions of new users to tap into.
This means that the U.S. stock market is about to welcome a user base that will be twice that of Coinbase, with an overall trading volume much larger than Coinbase, yet valued at only half of Coinbase's trading platform.
The listing time for OKX is currently unknown. Based on Polymarket, it seems unlikely to list this year. There have been some rumors suggesting that OKX's listing time might be in 2028, hopefully a year much more promising for cryptocurrency than the present.
The hopefulness depends on the narrative, which is also what ICE values in this investment. Reports indicate that this investment aims to drive the development of blockchain-based stock trading, in other words, stock tokenization.
OKX's founder and CEO, Star, shares the same sentiment. He mentioned that OKX plans to provide its global user base of over 1.2 billion with access to ICE's U.S. futures market and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) tokenized stock market opportunities, exploring a path for the convergence of traditional financial markets and digital asset infrastructure within a compliant framework.
The integration of Tradfi and Crypto is no longer a question of possibility but rather a question of the extent of integration. There was once a platform that saw this trend a few years ago and envisioned that the ultimate competitor in the future must be Nasdaq. Thus, they aimed to create an on-chain Nasdaq, reaching a valuation of 32 billion USD. Unfortunately, they took a wrong step. Nevertheless, an on-chain Nasdaq is Crypto's inevitable path, and now it is a race to see who will secure the leading position in this new narrative.
OKX's growth journey certainly has had many twists and turns, but it remains a great story.
Still, he is a Chinese entrepreneur who has just turned 41 this year, founding the company in 2013, undergoing three rebranding efforts, expanding the business to be regulated by multiple countries, and having to pay a $500 million fine to the U.S. Department of Justice, ultimately culminating in a successful listing in the U.S.
You may also like

Reduced to a hacker's ATM yet standing tall, the theft of Venus reflects the awkwardness of DeFi

Under geopolitical conflicts, a policy window has opened. Can Hong Kong seize this wave of RWA opportunities?

For Web3, this time Cai Wensheng is determined to get his hands dirty

Ethereum Foundation Sets Up a "Dead Man's Switch," Will the Community Buy It?

ConversationArthur Hayes: AI Will Spark Financial Crisis, Wait for Central Bank Money Printing Before Buying Bitcoin

From Power to Chip: How the Average Person Can Participate in the Wealth Opportunities of the AI Era

Venus Exploit Post-Mortem: How to Profit in a Flash Loan Window?

Oil Price Surges, Inflation Rekindled: Will the Fed's Next Move Be a Rate Hike?

The Rise of Crypto Passive Income: How Auto Earn Unlocks the Hidden Value of Idle Crypto
Discover how Auto Earn helps investors turn idle crypto into crypto passive income. Learn why Auto Earn is becoming a popular strategy in the evolving Web3 economy.

Tron Industry Weekly Report: Risk aversion intensifies but Strategy increases BTC holdings, detailed explanation of the Agent payment protocol PAN Network based on x402 and ERC-8004

March 16 Key Market Intel - A Must-See! | Alpha Morning Report

Google's biggest acquisition ever, why Wiz?

「1011 Insider Whale」 Agent Garrett Jin: After the Houthi blockade, who will run out of steam first?

Vitalik Revisits Ethereum Beacon Chain Architecture, Claude's Off-Peak Transaction Limit Doubled, What Are English-Speaking Communities Discussing Today?

$90 Million Black Hole: War, Power, and the Crypto-Tragedy of the Middle East

The price difference exceeds 50%, and the pre-market arbitrage market for cryptocurrency stocks will become a new business in the crypto bear market

How to Trade Crude Oil: Market Volatility Creates New Opportunities for Crypto Traders
Oil prices are back in focus as geopolitical tensions and supply shifts reshape global markets. Learn how crude oil trading works and explore a $30,000 trading campaign on WEEX.

OpenClaw and AI Bots: From AI Trading to BTC Liquidations in the Crypto Gold Rush
AI crypto trading bots like OpenClaw and AI trading apps are reshaping digital markets. From BTC liquidations to crypto bubble charts, automated trading is expanding alongside free crypto airdrops, affiliate programs, LALIGA partnerships, and tokenized gold markets.