OKX says trading activity increased after its 2025 expansion into the United States and the European Economic Area, tying the uplift to entry into newly licensed markets. The company is positioning the results as proof that regulated access can translate into stronger retail and institutional engagement.
Growth signals and the compliance-led expansion playbook
OKX reported a 262% jump in global decentralized exchange (DEX) volume and a 16% rise in centralized trading volume in its licensed markets, alongside daily active wallets doubling year-over-year. OKX also pointed to an average of 190,000 new wallets created per day as a tangible sign of rising participation under clearer regulatory conditions. In the same update, it cited rankings that placed it fourth for liquidity and traffic, second in derivatives, and third in spot trading as evidence of improved depth after licensing.
In the EEA, OKX said it secured Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) authorization from its Malta hub in January 2025, enabling passporting across 28 countries. That MiCA status underpins OKX’s claim that it can offer regulated services across the bloc without separate local licenses in each jurisdiction. Under that framework, OKX said it rolled out spot trading, OTC services, and bot trading, listing more than 240 cryptocurrencies and about 300 trading pairs, including over 60 euro-based pairs. It also highlighted the launch of 10x leverage spot margin trading for the EEA and the establishment of regulated platforms in Germany and Poland as concrete steps to deepen local market access.
In the U.S., OKX said it relaunched operations in April 2025 with a “compliance-first” posture and linked improved clarity to the GENIUS Act’s July passage, which it described as a federal framework for stablecoin issuance and usage. OKX framed the U.S. strategy around lower fees, deeper liquidity, and a U.S.-oriented Web3 wallet that includes a DEX aggregator and AI-driven smart routing. At the same time, it acknowledged uneven regulatory risk by pointing to a recent blocking in Belarus over advertising violations. The company also cited broader market context, noting stablecoins above $310 billion globally with USD-pegged tokens at roughly 85% of supply, and flagged moves toward chartering crypto-native trust banks as institutional enablers.
OKX concludes that its 2025 push into the U.S. and EEA coincided with measurable gains in volume, wallet growth, and rankings. The message to the market is that licensing and compliance are being treated as commercial differentiators that can reduce counterparty risk and make the platform more attractive to institutional clients.