Bitcoin Magazine

OKX Gets New Funding From Circle, Standard Chartered at $25B Valuation

Crypto exchange OKX has raised new funding at a $25 billion valuation, the company said on Tuesday, revealing investment from top digital asset companies. 

The crypto exchange said in an announcement that stablecoin giant Circle, fintech firm Ripple and British bank Standard Chartered’s investment arm, SC Ventures, all participated in the fundraise. 

We're announcing a strategic investment from @Circle, QRT, @Ripple and SC Ventures by @StanChart at a $25 Billion pre-money valuation.

This is how we're aligning critical builders behind our vision for the next generation of onchain markets.

— OKX (@okx) October 6, 2026

Earlier this year, the Intercontinental Exchange invested in the digital asset firm in a move to accelerate tokenization. The two’s joint venture, OKXICE, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sunday to launch a tokenized securities platform ​for around-the-clock trading of U.S. ​stocks. 

“Through strategic investment and partnership, OKX is aligning some of the most critical builders of financial infrastructure behind its vision for the next generation of onchain markets,” OKX said in a statement. 

OKX CEO and founder Star Xu said that the capital would help the company tokenize real-world assets. 

“The exchange was our starting point, and we are evolving into a broader global financial technology platform,” he added. 

A number of top Wall Street firms are increasingly interested in the technology that powers Bitcoin. While traditional finance titans like BlackRock and Franklin Templeton for years have used blockchain rails to tokenize money funds. Tokenization has become a bigger buzzword on Wall Street since the U.S. elected pro-crypto president Donald Trump. 

The president has appointed regulators that have taken a more friendly stance toward watchdogging the crypto space. The SEC in September approved tokenized stock trading. 

Other big deals between TradFi and the crypto space include the S&P 500 in January giving crypto platform Trade[XYZ] the green light to debut a new derivative contract on decentralized exchange Hyperliquid, allowing traders to trade the stock index 24-7. 

This post OKX Gets New Funding From Circle, Standard Chartered at $25B Valuation first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

Bitcoin Magazine

Morgan Stanley Has ‘Digital Asset Lab’ To Test Crypto Products: Report

Wall Street giant Morgan Stanley has launched a “digital asset lab” to test crypto products, according to reports. 

Bloomberg on Tuesday reported that the bank was using the lab to test products like stablecoins, tokenized assets and decentralized finance apps. 

Morgan Stanley is one of many banks delving deeper into the crypto world. The traditional finance titan became the first bank to debut a bitcoin exchange-traded fund in April. 

The fund, the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust, now manages over $871 million in assets, according to its website.  

Citing an interview with Megan Brewer, who is head of firmwide market innovation and labs at the bank, Bloomberg reported that the lab gives Morgan Stanley a “secure, compliant and segregated environment to be able to test and explore some of these new areas of digital assets.” 

The report added that the lab’s team is working to test products like tokenized deposits, central-bank digital currencies and tokenized money market funds.

Morgan Stanley has a number of so-called labs to test out new products, the report continued. 

Morgan Stanley has been making big crypto moves for years now. Back in 2021, it started offering wealthy clients exposure to bitcoin via funds such as those by Galaxy Digital.

Last year, the bank’s CEO and Chairman, Ted Pick, said that the bank was working with regulators to see how they could offer crypto products safely.

Back in April, the bank’s head of digital assets, Amy Oldenburg said client education — not product design — is the central challenge facing Bitcoin adoption.

Top banks worldwide are working on offering products that use Bitcoin’s underlying technology. These products include everything from tokenized equities and stablecoins to bitcoin custody and trading platforms. 

This post Morgan Stanley Has ‘Digital Asset Lab’ To Test Crypto Products: Report first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Mathew Di Salvo.

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