OKX doesn’t plan to rush into public markets in the US, even as the crypto exchange pushes deeper into global expansion and tokenized finance.
“We will go public when we are confident we can return shareholder value,” Haider Rafique, the firm’s general manager and chief marketing officer, said during a conversation at the Digital Asset Summit in New York on Thursday. “If we’re not sure we can do it, I don’t think there’s going to be any desire for us to go into the public markets.”
The stance comes as OKX recently secured a strategic investment tied to Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, in a deal that valued the company at $25 billion. Rafique said the firm deliberately priced the round conservatively. “I think we’ve underpriced ourselves when you look at our revenue growth, when you look at our licenses and our assets,” he said, adding that the move was “very deliberate” and tied to long-term shareholder returns.
The comments reflect a broader concern about how crypto companies have fared in public markets. Rafique pointed to at least one major IPO that has struggled since going public. “I bought a stock … and that one stock has a negative return of 50%,” he said. “It’s not a good thing. It’s actually bad for the category.”
Although he did not name the company, Coinbase (COIN) — the largest US-listed crypto exchange — has been subject to volatility since its debut in 2021 and is currently trading nearly 50% lower than its IPO. Other crypto-linked listings have also struggled to maintain consistent investor returns, raising questions about how public markets value the sector.
Rafique warned that repeating past patterns could further damage the industry. “If we treat the public the same way we treated ICOs and the 5 million tokens that were put on the market last year… then I think we’re doomed as an industry,” he said.
Instead, OKX positions itself as a long-term developer. The exchange, founded in Asia, has grown into one of the largest global crypto trading platforms, particularly in derivatives, where Rafique said it is among the best venues. Unlike US-focused rivals like Coinbase and Kraken, OKX operates across multiple regions, including Europe, Latin America and Asia, giving it a broader liquidity base.
The global footprint is central to its strategy as it sees further expansion into the US. Rafique said international exchanges provide structural benefits, including deeper liquidity across time zones. “Our overall order book is going to be a really strong competitive advantage,” he said, especially during off-hours in the US markets.
The company is also betting on tokenized financial assets and blockchain-based infrastructure as the next phase of growth. Its partnership with ICE is expected to support efforts to bring stocks and other traditional assets onchain, with OKX acting as a distribution layer for these products.
For now, though, Rafique said the focus remains on building before the IPO. “We want to build this company over 20, 30 years,” he said, framing the IPO decision as one tied to durability rather than timing.
