Global digital currency exchange OKEx has partnered with peer-to-peer platform Paxful as it seeks to give its users more fiat-to-digital currency on-ramps. The partnership will bring financial inclusion to regions that OKEx doesn’t have a wide reach in and further push the adoption of digital currencies around the world.
Through the partnership, OKEx will directly integrate the Paxful Virtual Bitcoin Kiosk into its platform. This is a web-based platform that exchanges integrate to enable their users to fund their accounts with digital currencies. It will allow OKEx users around the globe to fund their accounts in more than 160 fiat currencies.
Such partnerships are the best way to grow the digital currency ecosystem, Jay Hao, the OKEx CEO believes. Speaking exclusively to CoinGeek, he said, “We, as an industry, are still very small and to reach mass adoption, we must do so by working together. The partnership with Paxful creates a win-win opportunity.”
OKEx will now be able to serve users in regions where it doesn’t have a strong presence in, giving them access to its “superior technology, high liquidity, security, and a range of trading features as well as access to high-interest accounts.”
Paxful users stand to gain just as much, now able to access OKEx’s superior features.
Hao told CoinGeek, “Paxful users will be able to access spot, margin, and derivatives trading on OKEx. They will also be able to take part in options trading through the OKEx DEX. This will open up a world of opportunity for them.”
He cautioned Paxful users to first educate themselves on all the features, such as margins, leverage, liquidation and so on. He reminded them that they will also be bound by the exchange’s terms and conditions just like its existing users.
OKEx has grown to become one of the world’s largest exchanges, processing $2.1 billion and $636 million in the past 24 hours in its spot and derivatives platforms respectively. Strategic partnerships have been one of its key growth strategies. In early 2020, it partnered with CoinDCX, India’s largest exchange, making its entry into one of the world’s fastest growing digital currency market.
Hao stated, “Strategic partnerships have always proven to be a good way to gain a foothold into a local market. We are able to benefit from the on-the-ground knowledge of the market of our partners while giving their users exposure to our technology and products, so this is one way to expand. But, we also have today the largest and most diversified suite of products at OKEx, this is one of our main advantages over competitors.”
OKEx has also continued innovating and providing its users with a cutting-edge experience. Having launched BTC and ETH options trading, it went on to build its own public chain, OKChain, in January. It has also launched Beacon, a masterclass and mentorship program in Europe. The exchange is looking to help those affected by the economic crisis caused by the pandemic to start a career in blockchain. Hao and other top-ranking executives at the exchange will personally mentor some of the participants.
On the pandemic’s effect, Hao stated, “I think, like most companies in this space, the pandemic has not hit our industry too badly. Even when we experienced the brutal sell-off in March, we have seen bitcoin’s resilience since then and OKEx, as an exchange held up incredibly well, working seamlessly even at the peak of the unexpected high trading volume (we were processing almost 100,000 trades per minute).”
Hao concluded by calling out to anyone interested in working at the forefront of the digital currency industry to join the exchange. “We expect to increase our team by 100% over the next two years so are always on the lookout for top talent.”
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