OKX DEX After the service is suspended, who can catch this "sky user"?

Author: flowie, ChainCatcher

OKX DEX After the service was suspended, the on-chain players led by P players began to look for alternatives.

Some smart DEXs also began to use all their strength to try to catch this "wealth that is so popular", and this battle to grab traffic began.

But compared with traffic competition, this shutdown may once again make the exchange and even all Crypto products ponder a more severe dilemma. How can we get ashore smoothly when compliance becomes stricter?

Why does OKX DEX shut down service ?

Although OKX DEX claims to be shutting down services because of its upgrade, various clues in the market may currently point to EU regulation.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that in Bybit's $1.5 billion theft case, the hackers used OKX wallets during cross-chain transfer and money laundering, and the amount involved reached $100 million, causing the EU to start investigating OKX when investigating the case.

Although the OKX CEO explicitly tweeted that the statement that "hackers cleaned up the 100 million US dollars of cryptocurrency they stole through the OKX Web3 platform" in Bloomberg's report was incorrect and misleading, and said that OKX also freezes several times after the attack and also provides technical operational support.

However, with the sudden shutdown of DEX services today, many crypto KOLs are pointing to related to EU regulatory investigations.

AB Kuai.Dong also stated that after the OKX DEX was closed, it is rumored that many exchanges are also working overtime to rectify their business and isolate the exchange and wallet business and operating entities.

****Friends are robbing each other, who can catch this "splashing

user"?****

OKX has seized a huge market share through its first-mover advantage and huge manpower and material investment. However, within a few hours after the DEX service was shut down, it was snatched by friendly merchants.

Binance is quick-witted this time. Binance Lianchuang Heyi interacted in major KOL comment sections and recommended his own Binance Wallet.

Binance official also tweeted: "It's too late to explain that I'll update Binance to the latest version first, something big happened." Then the coin was officially announced that within 6 months, the exchange fee for the wallet was exempted.

In the new version of Binance, Binance alpha sector assets can be traded on the Binance main site, and the asset page also has a "alpha" sub-version.

Bitget, which does not integrate wallets and exchanges, has gained an advantage in this regulatory storm. Bitget Wallet also responded quickly, launching a week-long recharge incentive campaign for a $90,000 prize pool.

As a popular product in this meme cycle, GMGN has attracted mainly PC users in the past, but GMGN also has mobile devices and has become one of the "substitutes" recommended by community users.

In addition, compared with exchange wallets that focus on exemption from procedures or bonus incentives, UniversalX, a chain abstract trading product under Particle Network, may focus on KOL recommendations.

Many KOLs on Twitter have first recommended UniversalX as a substitute for OKX DEX, many of which have attached detailed usage tutorials, and the slogan of "using UX, can A8" is also popular.

However, according to the current feedback from some users, many of the product experiences of some "substitutes" have "complaints" and there is a lot of room for improvement.

For example, for Binance and UniversalX, which are more popular today, some Twitter users said that although the transactions were smooth during the Binance alpha sector, they were clipped off by 1,200U. UniversalX has also been complained many times before that the transaction was not smooth.

It is difficult to comply with regulations. How should

CEXs who are being hit "get ashore"?

Mainstream exchanges led by OKX, Binance, etc. have invested huge manpower and financial resources in compliance in the past.

In 2024 alone, the OKX compliance team added more than 300 new people, and by the end of 2024, the global compliance team had nearly 500 people. OKX also has an on-chain investigation team of more than 150 people, responsible for the deployment of anti-money laundering and sanctions tools.

Binance has even spent a lot of money on compliance, with compliance spending exceeding US$200 million in mid-2024. By the end of 2024, Binance's compliance team is expected to have 700 people.

Major exchanges are also seeking compliance licenses in various regions around the world. But OKX, which may be investigated by the EU this time, is still the only exchange (the other one is Crypto.com) that has obtained the EU's Crypto Asset Market Regulation (MiCA) license, and is still targeted by regulators.

Perhaps because the CEX business has always faced compliance issues, OKX took the lead in trying out the strategic layout on the chain through wallets, which has also attracted many exchanges to follow suit.

But judging from the closure of OKX DEX this time, the exchange's main business wants to be completely compliant, and at the same time, the chain must be decentralized without permission, and supervision still faces challenges.

For the exchange, in the contradiction between global expansion demand and regulatory compliance in various regions, how to go ashore in compliance will still be a realistic dilemma.

The exchange or the founders behind it are also seeking various ways to seek "get ashore".

Binance, which has been hit hard by regulation, recently chose to build a local umbrella by embracing the UAE's sovereign wealth fund to cope with compliance pressures.

Coinbase, Karken, Gemini and other local exchanges in the United States are seeking shelter through political donations, and on the other hand, they are also actively seeking listing. Karken and Gemini have been recently exposed to preparing for IPO plans.

Previously, after clearing out Chinese users, Huobi founder Li Lin sold all the Huobi shares he held to Hong Kong Baiyu Capital, and got rid of it with his own loss.

However, the shutdown of OKX DEX not only sounded the alarm for the exchange again, but also made any Crypto product with a centralized entity need to think about potential regulatory pressure.