Cryptocurrency exchange OKX is transferring its Australia-focused services to an entity
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX is transitioning its Australia-focused services to a locally regulated entity as part of expansion efforts across the Asia-Pacific region.
Oscar Piastri of McLaren Racing – one of OKX’s main sponsors – officially announced the news at a media event in Sydney on May 14.
“I think Australia is a very underrated market,” Hong Fang, president of OKX, said during an interview with Cointelegraph.
“I think there is a very good, dynamic mix of clients here,” she added. “Good primary clients, investors, are generally educated and sophisticated. “They are interested in technology.”
“I believe we can bring our strong product range to local markets in a very compatible way.”
OKX noted that 170 cryptocurrency pairs will be available to Australian users.
Kennedy noted that options trading will also be available in addition to spot trading.
“Australian crypto users deserve a platform that is secure, easy to use and responsive to their needs, which includes seamless access to banking rails as well as the most popular crypto AUD pairs,” Jamie Kennedy, managing director of OKX Australia, said in a statement. The statement was shared with Cointelegraph.
Fang says Australia offers a “dynamic customer base” for the company, including sophisticated traders and others who are interested in cryptocurrencies but have not yet taken the first step.
OKX told Cointelegraph that it would open an Australian office in March last year, explaining that there was a “huge appetite” for cryptocurrencies and that it saw the country as a “major growth market.”
Australia-focused exchange services have moved since March 20 from a Seychelles-based company to local entities OKX Australia Pty Ltd which handles the cryptocurrency exchange and fiat services side, and OKX Australia Financial Pty Ltd which handles derivatives and margin products.
However, Australian laws stipulate that local users must pass a suitability assessment and meet the definition of a wholesale customer – a legal requirement under the Corporations Act 2001.
Despite the regulatory hurdles, Fang praised Australian regulators for dealing with them in an open and transparent manner.
OKX was also forced to stop offering copy trading, yield products, and the trading of some tokens to comply with local laws. Unsupported tokens have been withdrawn-only since March 20.
Related: Australia’s largest exchange may approve spot bitcoin ETFs this year: report
Fang declined to speak in detail about OKX’s payment and banking partners during its tenure, but told Cointelegraph that they did not expect issues with their partners to occur in a similar manner to what rival cryptocurrency exchange Binance has seen in Australia.
“We put a lot of work in advance (…) and made sure we evaluated this question before launch, and as you know, it’s been over a year. So if we’re doing it now, it means we feel good. Otherwise, we would not have reached the market.”
The exchange is the third largest in the world by volume after Bybit, seeing $2.8 billion in trading volume over the past day, according to CoinGecko.
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Update (May 14, 6:04 AM UTC): Added additional quotes from OKX President Hong Fang.
