OKX achieves milestone year in global expansion and innovation, despite challenges

Registration app downloads, millions of users, and new in-app features mark a year of recovery and fuel OKX’s success.

With millions of new users and an impressive 122% year-on-year increase in app downloads, OKX’s 2024 has been a transformative year characterized by resilience and innovation. “Despite the challenges, 2024 remains a year of focus, innovation and resilience,” said OKX CEO Star Xu. he said.

The company highlighted significant achievements, including a 991% increase in OKX Wallet users globally through December and a 20x increase in daily trading volume on the decentralized exchange. This expansion underscores the overall resurgence of the crypto industry, which the CEO described as a “major milestone for the industry.”

Despite continued success, OKX has faced several challenges, particularly in the areas of platform security and regulatory oversight. Following reports of the security flaw, OKX has recently witnessed massive withdrawals, with consumers withdrawing almost $837 million in a single week.

Questions about the platform’s overall security mechanism and stories of SIM swapping attacks, in which hackers gained access to users’ accounts, were the catalysts for these withdrawals.

Unlike decentralized exchanges, where users have control over their transactions and assets, OKX, founded in 2017, is a centralized exchange, meaning it is managed by a single organization. A more streamlined and user-friendly experience is made possible by centralization, but this also means that OKX stores and manages user funds and personal data itself. A single attack could take down the entire platform, affecting hundreds or even millions of users and making centralized exchanges more susceptible to attacks.

Decentralized exchanges, on the other hand, divide authority among multiple participants, which can provide extra security since there is no single central target for attack. The downside is that DEXs often have more complex procedures and user interfaces.

For OKX, this concentration of power turned out to be both an advantage and a disadvantage. Despite offering more efficient services due to centralization, recent security breaches show that the platform has become a prime target for hackers, placing the responsibility for user protection squarely on the platform.

To improve user experience, OKX introduced an enhanced “lightweight mode” for intuitive trading in its app, improved cross-chain support on more than 100 blockchains, and added more than 200 new features to its services. “This year, we are working to optimize the use of the app and improve the seamless experience of crypto assets on OKX,” the CEO said.

OKX accelerated its global expansion by establishing localized operations in Brazil, Singapore and Australia in 2024. The company’s commitment to compliance and transparency is demonstrated by obtaining four key regulatory licenses in key regions: Singapore, UAE, European Economic Area and Australia.

With its industry-first Proof of Reserve tool and nearly 500 compliance experts, OKX continues to set the standard for maintaining user trust. “To date, more than 2 million users have used our Proof of Reserve verification tool,” the CEO said.

As OKX continues to expand into new international markets, its rebranding and focus on global compliance underscores increasing competition among centralized exchanges. OKX’s rivals such as Binance have also faced regulatory challenges.

However, despite ongoing regulatory scrutiny, OKX remains a major player in the space, maintaining its dominance as one of the largest exchanges in the world. This intensifies competition for market share; OKX aims to strengthen its position and capitalize on recent expansion initiatives.