Star Xu on money laundering

About Star Xu

Star Xu, founder and CEO of OKX, has been promoting a vision of "everything onchain" and self-custody as the future of finance. In a series of speeches at TOKEN2049 in Singapore and in other appearances, Xu argued that the next phase of finance involves individuals holding their own money on blockchain networks rather than relying on institutions. He described decentralized finance (DeFi) as an "open system" that is transparent, supports global code deployment, allows asset migration between providers, and is globalized. Xu stated that self-custody does not mean insecurity or non-compliance, asserting that onchain monitoring technologies can enable crypto companies to perform anti-money laundering work more effectively than traditional banks. He also highlighted the launch of OKX Pay in Singapore, a self-custody wallet with a compliance layer that allows users to pay with stablecoins at merchants such as Grab, and outlined a three-stage roadmap for the X Layer chain focused on stablecoins, major protocols, and developer incentives. In a community speech, Xu emphasized the importance of industry reputation, stating that if the crypto industry "cannot gain respect, the money earned may also be confiscated." He advised holders to maintain a long-term investment strategy, suggesting that holding assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and OKB is foundational to being in the crypto space. Xu also reflected on the industry's evolution, noting that Bitcoin's ETF market cap has surpassed that of gold ETFs and that stablecoins are one of the most successful applications of the past decade. He expressed optimism about Bitcoin's price over the next five to ten years, though he cautioned that this was not financial advice.

Profile compiled from Star Xu's verified public interviews and appearances. See all quotes & transcripts →