2026 notes
- Binance BTC perpetual daily average through mid-September was roughly $11.6B, which annualizes to about $4.25T.
- ETH remains lower, consistent with prior years.
- The 2026 figures are partial-year annualized estimates, so full-year totals could differ depending on activity in Q4.
- OKX remains an estimate based on its typical share of overall derivatives volume.
BTC continues to lead, with volumes in 2026 tracking below the 2024–2025 peaks on an annualized basis so far.
Privately owned OKX, a US cryptocurrency exchange, recently raised an undisclosed investment round at $25 billion valuation. The October 6 close adds four strategic investors: Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures, and London quant hedge fund Qube Research & Technologies (QRT). It extends a March round in which NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange put about $200 million into OKX at the same valuation. If observers think OKX must be an expansive operation they are correct. The company serves 100 million customers in 180 countries through 4k employees.
Let us explain.
The investor group reflects existing commercial relationships. Circle’s USDC and Ripple’s RLUSD already trade on the platform; Standard Chartered has served as an institutional custodian; and QRT supplies liquidity while running its crypto-focused Moebius fund (approximately $1 billion in assets). The financing also coincides with OKXICE, the joint venture with Intercontinental Exchange that has filed with the SEC to offer tokenized trading in an initial set of 63 NYSE-listed stocks under the regulator’s innovation exemption. That venue is not yet approved or live. OKX has also launched OKX Money, a consumer stablecoin app focused on savings, payments, and cross-border use.
CEO Star Xu described the round as strategic rather than a capital necessity: “We did not raise capital because we needed it. We chose to bring in strategic partners who share our long-term vision for stablecoins, payments, institutional markets, and the next generation of financial infrastructure.” Haider Rafique, OKX’s global managing partner, said the proceeds will support long-term market infrastructure and the company’s shift toward a broader global financial-technology platform. OKX serves 100 million customers across 180 countries with about 4,000 employees.
Tell us more.
Founded in 2013 by Star Xu, OKX has long ranked among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges by trading volume, with strength in derivatives. The platform offers spot trading alongside perpetual swaps, futures, options, margin, expiry contracts, and related products, supported by deep liquidity and tools for both retail and institutional users. Its native utility token is OKB. The firm also operates the OKX Web3 Wallet for self-custody and decentralized applications, plus the X Layer blockchain. In recent years OKX has expanded beyond pure trading into stablecoin payments, savings products, and institutional market infrastructure that combines crypto technology with conventional financial standards. The company positions these moves as part of a shift toward institutional-grade market infrastructure that blends crypto technology with conventional financial standards.
How does OKX work?
At its core, OKX is a centralized exchange that matches buyers and sellers of digital assets. Users deposit cryptocurrencies or supported fiat and trade pairs such as BTC/USDT or ETH/USDT; the most common pairs are pre-populated and number in the hundreds. Once confirmed, transactions are recorded on the underlying blockchain, creating a permanent, publicly verifiable record. Unlike traditional bank-mediated finance, crypto transfers settle peer-to-peer on a decentralized ledger, while the exchange itself supplies the order book, custody for non-wallet users, and additional services such as lending, staking, and structured products. OKX is designed to support sophisticated investors and novices.
What are OKX product strengths?
Derivatives and unified account: OKX is built for active trading. Its unified margin account lets users share collateral across spot, perpetuals, futures, and options—a feature institutions like and many retail-focused platforms only partially match.
Web3 wallet: The OKX Wallet (multi-chain support, DEX aggregation, self-custody tools) is frequently cited as one of the stronger integrated non-custodial offerings among major centralized exchanges.
TradFi expansion: Through its joint venture with NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (OKXICE) and recent strategic investors (Circle, Ripple, Standard Chartered’s SC Ventures), OKX is pushing further into stablecoins, payments (OKX Money), and tokenized stocks than most pure crypto peers.
Proof of reserves: It publishes regular zk-STARK-based reserve reports.
OKX is weighted towards derivative trading for Bitcoin and Ethereum. Why?
OKX focuses on Bitcoin and Ethereum derivatives because that is where most crypto trading activity and fee revenue are concentrated. Derivatives (especially perpetual futures) account for the large majority of global crypto volume, often 70–90% on major centralized exchanges. Spot trading is smaller by comparison. Within derivatives, liquidity and volume are heavily skewed toward BTC and ETH. These two assets have the deepest order books, the most active professional and retail traders, and the highest open interest. Altcoin derivatives exist, but they are thinner and contribute far less to overall turnover.
For an exchange, derivatives generate higher volume with lower capital requirements from users (via leverage), produce more frequent trading, and yield substantial fee income even at low per-trade rates. BTC and ETH perpetuals in particular offer the best combination of volume, tight spreads, and risk that market makers and liquidators can manage at scale. OKX’s unified account and portfolio-margin encourages activity in these core contracts by letting traders share collateral across products. In summary, OKX is weighted toward BTC and ETH derivatives because that is the largest, most liquid, and highest-revenue part of the crypto market.
What about stablecoins?
USDC (Circle) ranks second to USDT (Tether) by market capitalization but has led in adjusted on-chain transaction volume for much of 2025–2026. USDT remains the clear leader by circulating supply, at roughly $184 billion versus about $73 billion for USDC as of early October 2026, and still holds roughly 60% of the stablecoin market by market cap. On adjusted on-chain transfer volume, however, USDC has overtaken USDT: in the first half of 2026 it accounted for about 70% of adjusted stablecoin transaction volume versus roughly 25% for USDT, according to Visa and Allium data, and for full-year 2025 Artemis reported approximately $18.3 trillion for USDC versus $13.3 trillion for USDT. USDC also shows far higher velocity, with each dollar of supply turning over many times more frequently, driven largely by DeFi activity, flash loans, and institutional flows. In centralized exchange trading, USDT still dominates most spot and derivatives pairs, especially on large offshore venues, while USDC’s share of pure exchange volume is smaller though it has grown in regulated and institutional contexts. USDT leads in market size and traditional exchange pairs, while USDC leads in adjusted on-chain volume and velocity, reflecting somewhat different roles despite both being dollar-pegged stablecoins.
