Is OKX Safe? OKX Review 2026: Licences, Reserves, Security Record

Is OKX safe? On the public record: the latest report on OKX's official proof of reserves page (snapshot 2026-10-03, UTC+8) shows BTC at 110% and USDT at 105%, and all 22 listed coins are at 100% or above. Its European company, OKX Europe, holds an EU MiCA licence from Malta's MFSA, and OKX also holds Dubai VARA, Singapore MAS, Australian AFSL and US state money transmitter licences (checked 2026-10-24; licence check dates in each section). On the global site you contract with Aux Cayes FinTech in Seychelles. In February 2025 that company pleaded guilty in the US to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agreed to pay more than US$500 million; in October 2020 OKX, then called OKEx, paused withdrawals for about six weeks after a private key holder became unreachable.

This review covers, as of 2026-10-24: licences and regulators, proof of reserves, security record, legal entity, products, fees and fees after rebate, KYC and restricted regions, pros and cons, who it suits, and what you get by signing up through Fee Otter and how existing users can rebind. OKX's licences, reserve ratios and rules change, so check the official pages again before a big decision.

Quick verdict

• Reserves: zk-STARK zero-knowledge proofs, major coins all above 100%, report dates not fixed, and no accounting firm signs off.
• Licences: local companies hold licences in the EU (MiCA, including operating a trading platform), Dubai, Singapore, Australia and the US, but each licence belongs only to that local company.
• Record: a US guilty plea in 2025; a withdrawal pause of about six weeks in 2020; in December 2023 an old contract of its Web3 DEX aggregator was exploited, and OKX said it would compensate affected users.
• Fees: regular users pay 0.08% maker / 0.10% taker on spot and 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker on perpetuals. Sign up with code FEEOTTER for a 20% automatic rebate + exclusive rewards; contact support for the exclusive rewards.
• Restrictions: no service in Canada, Hong Kong, Japan, India, Malaysia, parts of the US and others; in the UK, South Korea, Australia and Brazil only some products are restricted.

OKX at a glance

Sources: OKX terms of service (contracting entity and dispute clauses in crypto exchange legal entities, rechecked 2026-10-24), OKX fee page (spot 2026-10-24, futures 2026-10-19), OKX proof of reserves page (2026-10-24), OKX FAQ on reducing trading fees.

Licences and regulators: which company, which licence

Of the 15 exchanges we cover, only OKX lists its regional companies one by one in its global terms and says which users each serves. Where you live decides which company you contract with:

The MiCA licence belongs to OKX Europe Limited and covers users living in the European Economic Area. If you live elsewhere and sign up on the global site, you contract with Aux Cayes FinTech in Seychelles and are not protected by EU or Singapore regulation.

Country details are in crypto exchange licences by country and MiCA-licensed exchanges.

Legal and regulatory record

• US guilty plea (2025-02): Aux Cayes FinTech pleaded guilty in the US to operating an unlicensed money transmitting business and agreed to pay more than US$500 million in penalties and forfeiture (SDNY press release).
• Malta (2025-04): according to Cointelegraph, Malta's Financial Intelligence Analysis Unit (FIAU) fined OKX's European company about €1.1 million for anti-money-laundering failures found in a 2023 compliance review.

Neither case involved a hack. Past cases of what users got back after an exchange failed are in crypto collapse history.

Proof of reserves

We read the official OKX proof of reserves page on 2026-10-24. The latest snapshot is 2026-10-02 16:00 UTC, which is 00:00 on 10-03 in UTC+8:

Amounts are in units of each asset; reserve ratio = total wallet assets ÷ user assets, rounded to whole percent on the official page. All 22 coins in this report are at 100% or above, and the page shows US$29.4 billion in primary assets. ETH reads 100%; the raw figure is about 100.25%. The previous report (2026-09-08) had BTC at 109% and USDT at 105%.

OKX's zk-STARK proves three things: total user assets equal the sum of every account, no account balance is negative, and every account is included. Wallet addresses carry an "I am an OKX address" message signed with the private key. No accounting firm is listed on the page, and custodian balances have to be confirmed with the custodians. Three ways to verify it yourself are in OKX proof of reserves, and other exchanges are compared in crypto exchange proof of reserves compared. A ratio of 100% or more only means the wallets covered user assets at the snapshot; it is not a financial statement and not deposit insurance.

Security record: what has happened?

None of the 12 incidents in our exchange hacks and who got repaid is a theft from OKX exchange accounts, though that only means we found no record backed by an official or mainstream source. Protection you can switch on yourself: a withdrawal allowlist, a 24-hour lock on new addresses, and Offline Mode, launched in July 2026, which blocks withdrawals during a window you set of up to 12 hours (OKX announcement).

Products: what you can do on OKX

• Spot and margin: spot maker is 0.08%, below the common 0.1%.
• Futures and options: perpetual and delivery futures and options, see the OKX futures guide.
• Copy trading and bots: OKX copy trading, OKX trading bots.
• Earn: see OKX Earn. Exchange earn products are not bank deposits and carry no deposit insurance.
• Web3 wallet and Jumpstart: a self-custody wallet and token events, see OKX Jumpstart and wallet.

Fees and what you pay after the rebate

Source: OKX fee page, spot checked 2026-10-24, futures 2026-10-19. The table counts only the 20% automatic rebate; exclusive rewards depend on the promotion, so ask support. OKX's FAQ says there is currently no OKB fee discount and fee tiers follow 30-day volume and assets; VIP thresholds are in OKX VIP tiers, and other ways to cut fees in the OKX fee discount guide.

KYC and restricted regions

OKX has one personal identity verification: basic details, a government-issued ID and a face scan, and you must be 18 or older. Results usually arrive about 30 seconds after upload, or within 24 hours if the case needs further review. Until you pass, you can't deposit, withdraw or trade. Later, OKX may ask for proof of address or source of funds depending on your region and activity. The 24-hour withdrawal limit follows your fee tier; for regular users it is 10 million USD. Details are in OKX KYC verification and crypto exchange sign-up requirements.

Per the OKX Risk & Compliance Disclosure (updated 2026-07-08), there is no service at all in Afghanistan, Canada, Cuba, Hong Kong, Iran, India, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, North Korea, Syria, Crimea, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine, certain US jurisdictions (including all US territories) and Uzbekistan. Some products are restricted in Australia (derivatives and CeFi), the Bahamas (retail products), Brazil (derivatives and P2P), Eritrea (P2P), Russia (fiat payments), South Korea (derivatives and P2P) and the UK (derivatives, CeFi and P2P). Indonesia is not listed, but crypto trading there may only be carried out by OJK-licensed firms, and OJK's Satgas PASTI task force included OKX in its June 2026 list of entities submitted for blocking (OJK press release, 2026-06-22). The big four are compared in restricted countries of the big four exchanges.

OKX pros and cons

Who is OKX for?

It suits people living in the EEA, Dubai, Singapore, Australia or other places where a local OKX company is licensed; spot traders who mostly place limit orders; and people who want an exchange and a Web3 wallet in the same app.

It doesn't suit people in no-service regions such as Hong Kong, Japan, India, Malaysia or Canada, or anyone who wants a platform token to discount fees. The referral code can only be entered at sign-up and cannot be added afterwards, so fill it in before you register. Keep only the money you are actively trading on an exchange, and move long-term holdings to your own wallet.

Signing up for OKX through Fee Otter: 20% automatic rebate + exclusive rewards

Sign up with code FEEOTTER and OKX automatically refunds 20% of the trading fees you pay to your account. There are also exclusive OKX rewards and promotions through Fee Otter; contact support for those.

1. 1

   Sign up with the code

   follow the OKX registration guide and register through our link, which has code FEEOTTER built in.
2. 2

   Complete KYC

   you need to pass verification before depositing and trading.
3. 3

   Bind your UID on Fee Otter

   submit your numeric OKX UID on the rebate platform so you can see every credit on the dashboard and support can apply for exclusive rewards for you.
4. 4

   Already have an account

   OKX does not allow adding a code later, so use one of the three routes in the OKX rebind guide: the 180-day idle recall, the official rebind application, or closing the account and registering again.

A worked example: in one month you trade 200,000 USDT of perpetuals with market orders, so the fee is 200,000 × 0.05% = 100 USDT. OKX refunds 20 USDT automatically, and you pay 80 USDT net, or 0.04% of volume. With limit orders instead, the same volume costs 40 USDT in fees, 8 USDT comes back, and you pay 32 USDT. Rates and rebate details are in the OKX fee rebate guide.

Risks to keep in mind

A proof of reserves is a snapshot at one moment, and it can't show what happens between reports. A licence only protects users who contract with that local company. Leveraged futures can wipe out your margin very quickly. This review reflects 2026-10-24, and OKX's licences, fees, reserve ratios and restricted regions can all change.

FAQ

Is OKX safe?

On the public record: the 2026-10-03 snapshot shows BTC at 110% and USDT at 105%, with all 22 coins at 100% or above; its European company holds a MiCA licence, and OKX also has VARA, MAS, Australian and US licences. But the global site's contracting company pleaded guilty in the US in 2025, and withdrawals were paused for about six weeks in 2020. How safe it is for you also depends on which company you contract with and how long you leave assets there.

What country is OKX based in?

On the global site you contract with Aux Cayes FinTech Co. Ltd. in Seychelles. The EEA, the US, Australia, the UAE, Singapore, Brazil and other markets are served by regional companies, each listed in the terms.

Has OKX been hacked?

We found no official or mainstream record of a theft from OKX exchange accounts. In December 2023 an old OKX DEX contract was exploited, with losses estimated at about US$2.7 million, and OKX said it would compensate affected users. The 2020 withdrawal pause was caused by an unreachable private key holder, not a hack.

Does OKX have an EU MiCA licence?

Yes. OKX Europe Limited received a MiCA licence from Malta's MFSA on 2025-01-27, covering the whole European Economic Area and including operation of a trading platform.

What are OKX's fees and rebate?

Regular users pay 0.08% maker / 0.10% taker on spot and 0.02% maker / 0.05% taker on perpetuals. Sign up with code FEEOTTER for a 20% automatic rebate + exclusive rewards; contact support for the exclusive rewards.

Can I use OKX without KYC?

No. Without identity verification you can't deposit, withdraw or trade.

Further reading

• How to register on OKX
• OKX rebind guide
• OKX proof of reserves
• OKX KYC verification
• OKX deposits and withdrawals
• Is Binance safe? 2026 review
• Binance alternatives
• Binance vs OKX fees and rebates

Data checked: 2026-10-24

Compiled from OKX's website, terms of service, fee page, proof of reserves page, help centre and risk disclosure, plus the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, ESMA, VARA, MAS, OJK and major news outlets; checked 2026-10-24, with some items carrying the check dates shown in the linked guides. For information only; not investment advice, and no return is promised. Licences, fees, reserve ratios, rebates and restricted regions are set by the exchange and regulators and can change at any time; the official pages as they stand prevail.