OKX Exchange OS on X Layer: Any Builder Can Create a Market

• Major protocol upgrade to X Layer opens permissionless venue deployment for spot, perpetuals, and outcomes markets
• OKX's World Cup outcomes market to be the first live use case
• Day-one ecosystem partners include: GSR, Chainalysis, xStocks, Nansen, Optimism and others

SAN JOSE, CA (May 25, 2026) — OKX, a leading global crypto exchange and Web3 technology company, today announced Exchange OS, a major protocol upgrade to X Layer. Exchange OS is an open protocol, permissionless trading infrastructure that lets any builder deploy and operate their own spot, perpetuals, or outcomes market venue.

Until now, launching a trading venue required either reliance on a centralized platform or rebuilding matching, margining, liquidation, settlement, and risk infrastructure from scratch. Exchange OS moves that entire stack to the protocol layer, shared by every builder, so no one has to choose between control and capability.

Deployment is governed by XIP-Exchange OS — the X Layer Improvement Proposal on Exchange OS — the open framework that defines how anyone stakes assets and launches a venue.

Accounts, balances and margin are unified at the protocol layer, meaning the same capital moves across every market type within a venue. Cross-market capital efficiency and strategy composability are native by design.

What Exchange OS Enables

Exchange OS delivers the missing layer — unifying spot, perpetuals, and outcomes markets in a single account with custom compliance controls. Key capabilities:

• Permissionless deployment via XIP-Exchange OS — any builder stakes assets and launches a venue without platform approval, configuring their own assets, oracles and frontends

• ִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִִBuilder flexibility - Each venue runs in its own risk-isolated group, giving deployers full control over their compliance model, from KYC-verified institutional desks to fully permissionless Web3 venues, all on the same infrastructure.

• Institutional-grade performance — Every venue, whether deployed by OKX or an external builder, runs on the same high-performance matching engine, margin and liquidation infrastructure. That means millisecond matching latency, 300,000 TPS throughput

• Unified accounts — spot, perpetuals, and outcomes positions share one balance; the same capital can simultaneously support positions across multiple market types.

OKX's 2026 World Cup outcomes market* — launching soon — is OKX's own venue built on Exchange OS. OKX built the infrastructure and the first use case at the same time. It's a real-world event market in the same execution environment that will be available to every builder when the protocol opens.

Day-one ecosystem partners

Exchange OS is announced today with partners across trading infrastructure, institutional, DeFi, and Web3:

More partnership announcements will follow as Exchange OS scales.

Roadmap

About OKX

OKX is a fintech company on a mission to modernize money and markets. Today it is trusted by more than 120 million people around the world who use OKX services to invest, transact and trade digital assets across a number of financial instruments including spot, futures, and decentralized markets. As one of the world's largest platforms, OKX is known for its exchange, wallet, and onchain ecosystem used by everyday people and large institutions.

OKX maintains regional offices in the United States, Europe, UAE and Singapore with a number of local offices across São Paulo, Hong Kong, the Republic of Türkiye, and Australia. Over the past several years, it has built one of the world's most comprehensive regulatory compliant, licensed fintech companies.

OKX is steadfastly committed to transparency and security and publishes Proof of Reserves reports on a monthly basis to ensure customer funds are always protected and available to people. To learn more about OKX, download our app or visit: okx.com.

*The OKX World Cup outcomes market is a simulated market and assets have no real world value.

Disclaimer: This announcement is provided for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide any investment, tax, or legal advice, nor should it be considered an offer to purchase, sell, hold or offer any services relating to digital assets. Digital assets, including stablecoins and NFTs, involve a high degree of risk and can fluctuate greatly. You should carefully consider whether trading or holding digital assets is suitable for you in light of your financial condition and risk tolerance. OKX does not provide investment or asset recommendations. You are solely responsible for your own investment decisions. Not all products and features are available in all regions. Certain products, including perpetuals and derivatives, may be restricted or unavailable depending on applicable local laws and regulations.