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How to Prepare for a Major Compliance Failure Settlement: The OKX Approach

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Confidential protocols put in place to deal with news of regulatory failings by one of the top-five crypto exchanges, OKX, suggest that the company likely has been expecting a settlement with U.S. authorities for some time.

This happened on Monday when OKX announced a $500 million-plus settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice after failing to secure a money transmitter license and allegedly facilitating $5 billion in «suspicious transactions and criminal proceeds.»

OKX’s meticulous planning makes for some fascinating reading. The secret crisis management document seen by CoinDesk refers to a messaging “SWAT Team” that can be mobilized to implement various ways the firm’s top executives can communicate a settlement via social media and when speaking to reporters.

Well in advance of Monday’s large fine and forfeiture, OKX had produced specific guidance with regards to settling with the DOJ, as well as the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC, or sanctions watchdog), for example.

A favored approach is to point out that the entire crypto industry has been broadly under intense scrutiny and that OKX is cooperating fully with regulators, the document said. This was echoed in Monday’s press release which said OKX “appreciates” the DOJ’s “collaboration.”

Since the administration of President Donald Trump took over last month, the main focus for regulatory agencies in the crypto arena has been to reverse their previously aggressive enforcement stance, with the SEC dropping ongoing litigation and closing investigations. But not so in the case of OKX, which, like Kucoin with its recent $300 million penalty and Binance back in 2023, has been forced into costly settlements.

The guidance refers to what is expected from OKX founder Star Xu, President Hong Fang and other executives when it comes to “their social media actions in two scenarios: 1) Leak before OFAC settlement, 2) upon OFAC settlement.”

Also, on the issue of OFAC, if executives are asked if OKX has served sanctioned markets, one suggestion is to say: “Customers from sanctioned markets slipped through when we had immature compliance controls and systems […] It is a very small and insignificant part of the Okcoin or OKX customer base.”

Indeed, Monday’s press release from OKX acknowledged that U.S. customers were able to trade on the global exchange.

«The total number of U.S. customers involved – which are no longer on the platform – amounted to a small percentage of the Company’s worldwide customer population,» the release said.

Brand awareness

Another priority for OKX is how the firm choreographs its big-ticket sponsorship arrangements with the likes of Manchester City football club, F1 team McLaren and the Tribeca Film Festival. The firm estimates that around $100 million per annum has been spent on these partnerships over the past three years.

The action plan for brand partners involves the OKX marketing chief giving each partner a phone call “at the last hour before the news breaks.”

The recommended strategy here is to say OKX has prepared for a regulatory review, given the heightened scrutiny on crypto firms. If asked why the exchange did not share information about this before, the document states that these are pending inquiries and non-public matters. There is also a bullet point suggesting the CMO and OKX’s head of legal “review clauses in our brand partner contracts again.”

Don’t mention OKB

Another detail that gets attention in the OKX planning document is the exchange’s native cryptocurrency, OKB. An obvious concern in the aftermath of FTX is any suggestion that OKB has been used as collateral or to finance any operations of OKX, as was the case with FTX’s FTT token.

Of course, the OKB exchange token hasn’t been subject to anything like the iniquities of FTX’s exchange token. However, it was involved in a sudden flash crash in January 2024, after which OKX quickly offered to compensate users who had lost out. The token, which has a relatively thin trading volume and liquidity, saw 10 dormant wallets become active and begin trading just before the crash, according to Marina Khaustova, COO Crystal Intelligence, a blockchain analytics firm.

Not long after the OKB crash, OKX executives Tim Byun, the former CEO of OKcoin and head of global government relations, and Head of Product Wei Lan were let go by OKX. A source familiar with the situation said Byun was «sacrificed» following the OKB crash.

Unsurprisingly, the OKX comms protocol emphasizes that execs should “refrain from mentioning OKB and reference this only if asked.”

Media management

Another part of the puzzle is how the exchange should deal with media inquiries. Should OKX receive emails or a phone call from a journalist looking for comment about ongoing investigations, the SWAT Team and PR team should go into action to “buy time by offering up leadership schedules”

Meanwhile, the plan is “to contact key friendly publications for a parallel story to seed in a complimentary narrative to the originating story,” the document states.

“1. Push for delay 2. Confirm friendly publications 3. Asynchronously queue up internal / external comms, so we hit send as the story comes out,” it said.

OKX did not provide a comment by press time

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Bitcoin’s Breakout Signals BTC Potentially Rallying to $90K-$92K: Technical Analysis

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This is a daily technical analysis by CoinDesk analyst and Chartered Market Technician Omkar Godbole.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) recent range play resolved bullishly early Monday, shifting focus to the $90,000-$92,000 range, which was previously a strong support zone.

The leading cryptocurrency by market value rose past $87,000, convincingly breaking out of a week-long consolidation between $83,000 and $86,000. The renewed willingness among the bulls to lead the price action indicates the resumption of the recovery from the April 7 lows under $75,000.

It also means potential for a continued move higher to the $90,000-$92,000 range, which acted as the floor, arresting price drops from December to early February. The support zone was eventually breached in late February, spurring a rapid decline to under $75,000.

BTC's hourly and daily charts. (TradingView/CoinDesk)

The range breakout is seen on the hourly chart (left).

It follows the recent invalidation of the bearish trendline, characterizing the sell-off from record highs, as seen on the daily chart. BTC has also surpassed the 30-day exponential moving average (EMA) of price highs, indicating a bullish shift in momentum.

The focus, therefore, is on the $90,000-$92,000 range, the former support zone from early this year. Those tracking moving averages should note that the 200-day simple moving average (SMA) is now located at $88,245.

The bullish outlook risks invalidation should prices fall all the way back to $85K by the day’s end (UTC).

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Stablecoin Giant Circle Is Launching a New Payments and Remittance Network

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Circle, the firm behind the $60 billion USDC stablecoin, is launching a new payments and cross border remittance network on Tuesday — the company’s “next product move” — from its plush New York City headquarters, high on the 87th Floor of One World Trade Center.

The launch event is aimed at banks, fintechs, payment service providers, remittance providers and USDC strategic partners. It will feature Circle CEO Jeremy Allaire sharing his vision for the stablecoin giant’s next move within the payments space, according to an invite seen by CoinDesk.

New and incipient regulations around the globe are opening up the stablecoin space, where Circle has shared the limelight with larger rival Tether. It makes sense then that Circle — a firm that has successfully pivoted during its years in the crypto space — should look to consolidate its position and return to its roots as a payments company.

“Circle is launching a payments network that is initially targeting remittances but is ultimately aiming to rival Mastercard and Visa,» said a person familiar with the plans.

Stablecoins have reached an adoption level where the technology could disrupt global money transfers in a way similar to WhatsApp and international calls, VC firm Andreessen Horowitz said in recent report.

In a recent interview, crypto custody tech specialists Fireblocks pointed to billions being moved around by payments services providers doing things like cross border payments using stablecoins like USDC and USDT.

Circle was in the news most recently, after the firm announced plans to go public in the U.S., only to postpone the date of its IPO thanks to choppy and uncertain market conditions.

Circle did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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BNB, SOL, XRP Spike Higher as Bitcoin ‘Digital Gold’ Narrative Makes a Comeback

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Surging gold prices and bitcoin’s (BTC) relatively strong price action amid a global market sell-off have some traders revisiting the latter’s role as “digital gold” — a big narrative in bitcoin’s early years but one that has lost steam in recent times.

BTC zoomed above $87,000 in Asian morning hours, with Cardano’s ADA, BNB Chain’s BNB, XRP and ether (ETH) adding as much as 1.5%. The spike reversed all declines since Thursday, with tokens such as Solana’s SOL up 5.2% in the past week.

The tariff-driven trade wars have sparked fears of inflation and currency devaluation, prompting comparisons of the asset to gold’s historical role as a hedge.

“Although bitcoin has had a close correlation with U.S. equities, it seems to be changing with a stronger tie to the rise of the price of gold, which has been a safe haven while equities have plummeted,” Nick Ruck, director at LVRG Research, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message on Monday.

“Bitcoin crossed $87,000 as a sign of renewed investor confidence as the market continues to stabilize after panicking over tariffs. It’s also worth noting that Bitcoin’s digital gold narrative is taking off as both assets have grown in tandem,” Ruck said.

Gold set fresh highs Monday with a push above $3,380 per ounce, bringing year-to-date gains to 25%. Bitcoin has dropped more than 20% from a January peak of $108,000, though Monday’s push over $87,000 sent the asset to its highest level since Donald Trump’s “liberation day” in early April.

Pressure on the greenback has continued to grow as the dollar index (DXY) crashed to a three-year low, with some pointing out that most bad news has been “priced in” and that bitcoin could see upside in the coming days.

“Trump’s inclination to remove Jerome Powell as Fed Chair and force interest rate cuts is causing people to sell the U.S. dollar and U.S. government debt, moving to other safe haven assets such as gold, European bonds, and now, Bitcoin,” Jeff Mei, COO at BTSE, told CoinDesk in a Telegram message Monday.

“After all, when rates are cut, more money flows into the money supply, devaluing the U.S. dollar. In general, downward pressure on the US dollar is growing and this could be a driving catalyst for Bitcoin to become a safe haven asset,” Mei added.

Meanwhile, here’s a machine’s view of the markets today, powered by the CoinDesk Markets AI bot.

ADA Price Analysis

  • Cardano’s ADA is above 63 cents with strong technical indicators pointing to continued upward momentum despite macroeconomic headwinds.
  • Price action formed a clear ascending channel with strong support at $0.612, which successfully held during multiple retests.
  • Notable volume spike occurred on 2025-04-21 00:00 when volume reached 68M (3x average), propelling price through key resistance at $0.630.
  • Fibonacci extension levels suggest 64 cents as the next target, with an overall range of 0.031 (5.1%), indicating substantial volatility.
  • RSI remains below overbought territory despite the rally, suggesting potential for continued upward momentum.
  • Consolidation near previous resistance suggests accumulation rather than distribution.

XRP Price Analysis

  • XRP’s decisive breakout signals a potential end to months-long sideways trading, with technical indicators pointing to further gains ahead.
  • Fibonacci retracement levels suggest potential continuation toward $2.15, with the 61.8% extension pointing to $2.18 as the next target if bullish momentum persists.

SOL Price Analysis

  • SOL breaks decisively above $135 resistance, surging 10.2% to establish new support levels with strong volume confirmation
  • Key technical battle emerges between $129 support and $144 resistance zones, with on-chain data showing 5.75% of realized volume concentrated at these critical levels
  • Price action formed a clear ascending channel with higher lows and higher highs, particularly evident in the April 19-21 rally.
  • Volume significantly increased during upward movements, confirming the strength of the bullish trend.
  • The 48-hour momentum indicators show bullish divergence with price maintaining strength above the 20-hour moving average.

BNB Price Action

  • BNB breaks $600 barrier with 3.2% surge as large holders accumulate during market volatility.
  • Recent quarterly token burn removed 1.57 million BNB worth over $1 billion, supporting price momentum.
  • Open interest in BNB rose 3.3% to $760 million despite negative funding rates, with 68% of traders betting on continued price increases.
  • BNB broke out of its consolidation range with a 3.2% surge from $592.63 to $601.74.
  • Price action shows clear bullish momentum with increasing volume, particularly during the breakout candle where volume spiked to 55,661 units.
  • Fibonacci extension targets suggest potential continuation toward the $605-610 zone if current momentum persists.
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