Crypto Exchange OKEx Is Developing Its Own Blockchain

Cryptocurrency exchange OKEx is developing its own blockchain and decentralized exchange, according to a blog post published on March 22.

Per the post, OKEx has been developing its own blockchain dubbed “OKChain,” which is now purportedly in the final development stage. The company expects to put out a testnet in June of this year. OKChain will also serve as the base for OKEx’s decentralized exchange.

Apart from that, the post states that OKEx’s native utility-token OKB will be put onto the ERC-20 blockchain by the end of April, and will be migrated to the OKChain mainnet once the OKChain becomes stable. OKB will reportedly also be used for token pre-sale.

In February, OKEx launched support for Thai baht-crypto trading on its client-to-client platform, with only Bitcoin (BTC), Tether (USDT), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC) being traded with the Thai baht on the exchange’s peer-to-peer platform.

In January, Cointelegraph reported that Star Xu, founder of exchange services provider OKCoin and OKEx, bought a controlling share in LEAP Holdings — a Caymans Island-incorporated construction engineering firm, which is listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

Last December, OKEx launched a new crypto derivative product called Perpetual Swap, which  lets users speculate on the future value of Bitcoin/USD, according to OKEx’s index. OKEx’s perpetual swaps reportedly have no expiration, meaning “positions can be held indefinitely.”

OKEx is currently the world’s eight largest cryptocurrency exchange by adjusted daily trade volumes, seeing about $615 million in trades on the day at press time.