OKX, the Seychelles-based exchange that has operated since 2017, pleaded guilty today to running an unlicensed money transmitting business in the United States on Monday.
The crypto platform has agreed to pay over $504 million in penalties, which is the largest enforcement action against an offshore crypto exchange since Binance’s historic settlement last year.
Judge Katherine Polk Failla had OKX admitting to knowingly violating anti-money laundering (AML) laws and allowing over $5 billion in criminal transactions to move through its platform, according to a statement from the DOJ.
OKX’s secret US business and its $1 trillion violation
The plea deal, announced by Acting US Attorney Matthew Podolsky and FBI Assistant Director James Dennehy, confirms that OKX processed over $1 trillion in transactions from US users while ignoring federal regulations for years.
Between 2018 and early 2024, OKX actively recruited US users, including large institutional traders, generating hundreds of millions in trading fees.
OKX was required by law to register as a Money Services Business (MSB) with FinCEN, which would have forced it to comply with AML rules, report suspicious transactions, and verify customer identities. Instead, the DOJ said OKX chose not to, allowing its platform to become a hotspot for illicit finance.
“For over seven years, OKX knowingly violated anti-money laundering laws and avoided implementing required policies to prevent criminals from abusing our financial system,” Podolsky said in a statement. “As a result, OKX was used to facilitate over five billion dollars’ worth of suspicious transactions and criminal proceeds.”
The FBI’s Dennehy described OKX’s actions as deliberate: “For years, OKX flagrantly violated US law, actively seeking customers in the United States—including here in New York—and even going so far as to advise individuals to provide false information to circumvent requisite procedures.”
Even though the exchange supposedly banned US IP addresses, OKX executives knew users were bypassing the system using VPNs—and did nothing about it, said the DOJ.
OKX employees helped users bypass KYC restrictions
Court documents also alleged that OKX staff helped US customers evade compliance checks. Some employees openly advised traders on how to fake their identity and bypass Know-Your-Customer (KYC) restrictions.
In April 2023, an OKX employee allegedly told a US customer exactly how to lie:
“I know you’re in the US, but you could just put a random country and it should go through. You just need to put Name, nationality, and ID number. You could just put the United Arab Emirates and random numbers for the ID number.”
In January 2024, the same OKX representative was still offering workarounds, telling one user that:
“Any workaround on KYC outside of the US to make it potentially work?”
OKX is also accused of failing to verify submitted documents, meaning that anyone could open an account with completely fake details. Federal prosecutors say that until late 2022, OKX allowed users to trade, deposit, and withdraw funds without completing any KYC process.
OKX enabled $5 billion in suspicious transactions
The Bank Secrecy Act requires financial institutions linked to the US to monitor transactions, report suspicious activity, and prevent illegal money movement. OKX did none of this.
Until May 2023, OKX failed to use standard monitoring tools to track transactions for money laundering or sanctions violations. As a result, the exchange became a prime destination for illicit finance.
Government investigators analyzed third-party transaction data and found that OKX enabled more than $5 billion in suspicious and illegal transactions.
Meanwhile, OKX continued expanding its presence in the US, sponsoring events like the Tribeca Film Festival and hiring American affiliate marketers to promote the exchange. OKX users were even offered rewards for recruiting new customers, further fueling the platform’s illegal growth in the country.
In its statement, the DOJ said that one OKX customer even posted a publicly available tutorial showing US traders exactly how to register using a VPN. OKX did not intervene.
Prosecutors also said that OKX focused on large US trading firms, offering deep liquidity and competitive rates. One single institutional trader moved over $1 trillion in trades on OKX—despite the exchange’s “official” policy banning US traders.
The deal also forces OKX to retain an independent compliance monitor through February 2027, to make sure the exchange follows proper KYC and AML rules. Podolsky said the penalties send a clear message:
“Today’s guilty plea and penalties emphasize that there will be consequences for financial institutions that avail themselves of US markets but violate the law by allowing criminal activity to continue.”
OKX received a 25% reduction in its fine because it cooperated with authorities late in the investigation. But that doesn’t erase seven years of illegal activity.
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