OKX cryptocurrency exchange announced its official debut in the United States (US), with a regional HQ in San Jose, California, on Wednesday, paving the way for a new dispensation guided by intentional regulatory compliance, innovation, and customer trust. Roshan Robert, the newly appointed OKX US CEO, responded to FXStreet’s exclusive follow-up questions, seeking to put into perspective the expansion, specific strategies, the regulatory landscape in the US, competition, priorities, short-term and long-term plans, among other vital nuances of operating a cryptocurrency exchange in a fast-paced global market.
OKX’s expansion to the US occurred two months after the company settled with the Department of Justice (DoJ), paying $500 million in fines for operating illegally in the region under a subsidiary without a money transmitter license. However, Robert underscores regulatory compliance as a core strategy in the expansion to the US. OKX US is a licensed entity in the country, grounded in regulatory compliance and transparency principles.
As the US entity’s CEO, Robert prioritizes three key objectives: alignment with state and federal requirements, product innovation, and establishing customer trust from the ground up.
“Success means becoming a trusted leader in the US crypto space – known for innovation, compliance, and a superior user experience,” Robert said, adding, “we’re here to grow responsibly, expand access to digital assets, and help drive long-term adoption among both retail and institutional users.”
The exchange believes the US crypto market is ripe for “compelling new alternatives,” singling out key features of the OKX trading platform such as deep liquidity, low trading fees, and efficient fiat access and transfers. According to Robert, the high point of this expansion is the ability to provide affordable “institutional-grade infrastructure to deliver a best-in-class experience.”
OKX US is hitting the ground running with the launch of the new OKX Wallet, an all-access Web3 application. This new platform lets users track markets and discover trending digital assets. The application allows users to build their portfolios, earn rewards for holding long-term positions, use trading bots, and trade futures, among other key features.
“The wallet provides access to all kinds of crypto and digital assets across more than 130 blockchains, including a range of decentralized crypto markets with NFTs, meme coins and new trending digital assets,” Robert explained.
OKX has intentionally addressed security, compliance, and trust by restricting leadership and continuously improving controls. For instance, legally separated regional entities operate under the global OKX company, ensuring that different regions are managed according to local regulations, market needs and customer protection.
“I’m committed to lead with integrity, ensuring we meet the high standards of US users, partners, and regulators,” Robert said in the comments.
OKX is a top-five centralized cryptocurrency exchange with a daily trading volume exceeding $2 billion. The entity was established in 2017 and incorporated in Seychelles. According to CoinGecko, OKX lists over 300 coins and more than 700 trading pairs.
Token launches influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.
A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.
Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence crypto assets mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.
Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs.