On January 24, 2026, Star, the founder and CEO of OKX, attended the "New Year's Eve Dinner" event via video link, sharing his latest thoughts with sincere expression. The OKX "New Year's Eve Dinner" is a special event for industry builders organized by OKX to welcome the Lunar New Year together.
The following is the full text of Star's speech (edited):
Year after year, we hope to continue this event. We look forward to continuing to walk hand in hand with all Influencers, KOLs, and partners on the journey ahead, growing and achieving together in the next decade of the Crypto and blockchain industry.
I’d like to briefly share some of my thoughts over the past year.
Seeing Trends Clearly in the Evolution of the Industry
I have spoken on many occasions about how to view the Crypto and blockchain industry. From the birth of Bitcoin in 2008 to today, the industry has gone through fifteen or sixteen years. Back then, we viewed Bitcoin more as "fun beans" or game coins. At that time, we didn’t truly understand what blockchain was, nor did we know how the industry would develop in the future, where regulation would go, or how far applications would reach—no one knew.
As the industry evolved, Bitcoin, based on blockchain, could only do the simplest thing: issue tokens. Later, Ethereum emerged, stating that blockchain technology could not only issue tokens but also carry various applications "like mini-programs," positioning itself as the "operating system of blockchain."
Over the years, everyone has worked hard, including us at OKX, playing an important role in the Ethereum ecosystem. Today, Ethereum has indeed become the main platform for DApps, with many financial-grade applications built on it. At the same time, Ethereum is continuously evolving towards high performance, and many high-performance chains have emerged in the market, such as Solana. OKX is exploring its own path. Although X Layer is still in its early stages and not yet mature, I believe it will achieve great success in the future.
As the industry developed to a certain stage, it attracted increasing attention from regulatory agencies. Starting from around 2017, regulatory agencies tended to suppress the entire industry, but after several years of development, I have noticed some core trends changing.
The first trend is that regulatory agencies are gradually realizing that the claim "Bitcoin is equivalent to a money laundering tool" is unfounded. Any financial system can be abused; the key is that it has the potential to be abused and therefore requires governance and management. In blockchain activities, illegal behavior actually accounts for a very small portion. It is more like a globalized, open, fair, and transparent financial system.
The second trend is that more and more young people—post-90s, post-95s, and post-00s—have grown up hearing stories about Bitcoin since birth. My own children asked me what Bitcoin was many years ago. The perception of "where to put assets for greater security" is changing across generations. People of my age might say large banks and mature financial systems, with products that are more modern and user-friendly. But if you talk to the younger generation, many of them will feel that using tools like OKX Wallet or Coinbase Wallet to manage assets is safer and more convenient because the chain is transparent, verifiable, and the user experience is getting better.
When it comes to products like stablecoins, people worry about rug pulls. Taking USDG as an example, if it operates under the regulatory frameworks of the EU, Singapore, and potentially the US in the future, logically, this possibility is very small. Looking further at the custody issue: in self-custody mode, if you back up your private key, you can import your assets into any other wallet—you can take your assets away at any time; we simply don’t have the ability to take your assets. The custody part mainly involves the exchange system's custody. OKX has weathered many storms over the years. Whether it's our corporate governance structure, board governance, or the increasing number of compliance licenses we hold globally, I believe we are becoming more正规 and taking on more responsibilities.
Against this backdrop, the industry has experienced very intense collisions over the past four or five years. On one hand, some people question or even oppose cryptocurrencies; on the other hand, more and more people are starting to use Bitcoin or other crypto assets. In this process, Crypto is moving towards a new era.
More importantly, Crypto is aligning with "future trends." Starting from the US, the trend of Crypto entering the mainstream has extended to the world: countries and regions such as the UK, the EU, Japan, and Singapore have begun to see Crypto as an important direction to face, build, and incorporate into their governance frameworks in the long term, even gradually rising to the level of "national" competition and layout.
Adhering to Long-Termism and Protecting the Reputation of the Crypto Industry
So, what I want to tell everyone is: adhere to long-termism.
What did you miss in the past? What will you do in the future? The first thing to answer "what to do in the future" is to, based on trust in the industry, companies, and institutions, eliminate noise and return to the trends themselves. Based on the trends I just mentioned:
First, technological development has evolved from initially only being able to create tokens, to the Ethereum era where DApps could be built; to today, where more complex, more financialized, and larger-scale applications like various RWA (Real World Asset tokenization) can be developed.
Second, changes in demographic structure and intergenerational perceptions. More and more young people are beginning to believe that Crypto is, in some aspects, safer, more trustworthy, and more futuristic than traditional methods.
The third trend is that governments and regulatory agencies around the world are beginning to systematically promote this industry and its related sectors.
Based on these three major trends, you must make a clear plan for yourself for the next five to ten years. This plan cannot be one where you are led by market emotions every day, swayed by various noises. What harms you is not opportunities, but noise. Life must have a basic foundation. I strongly urge everyone to establish their own long-term strategy. I sincerely believe that if you start thinking seriously and taking action now, you will thank yourselves in the years to come.
You will find that everyone comes into this world with their own opportunities. The saying "Heaven has endowed me with talents that must be put to use" holds true. Often, it's not that you are incapable, but that you are disturbed by too many irrelevant voices. You should choose your "vehicle" based on the three points I just mentioned. Once you have chosen your strategy, learn to "power off"—shield yourself from temptations, ignore short-term fluctuations, and even forget about that money for a period of time.
I hope to instill a kind of faith in everyone: faith in the blockchain industry itself, as a member of this industry.
The second thing I want to talk about is based on the current development stage of the entire industry. If you hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, or even larger positions, you must cherish and protect this industry. Because Crypto today is completely different from the past. Over these years, our industry has been questioned,贬低, and even experienced extreme suppression. Besides the industry's own development stage, another important reason is the irresponsible言论 of some so-called "industry leaders," who have long used frivolous and exaggerated language to describe the industry, seriously misleading the public.
When we use words like "100x" and "all-in" to describe the industry we are engaged in every day, you need to think carefully: how will the government and regulators view you? You are defining your own career with "all-or-nothing" and "get-rich-quick fantasies," which essentially harms the industry,贬低 the industry, and at the same time destroys the long-term value of the assets you hold. This is essentially "overturning your own table and smashing your own rice bowl."
On the other side of the world, you see a completely different picture: stablecoin legislation is advancing, representatives of the Crypto industry are entering the White House to sign bills, and a large number of Crypto companies are listed on the NYSE and Nasdaq. In many countries and regions, Crypto has long entered the mainstream, and industry practitioners are gradually standing on the same level as cutting-edge industries like AI and autonomous driving, gaining the respect they deserve.
I want to say that if you only make money in this industry but don't gain respect, such success is very fragile. Wealth that lacks social recognition and institutional support is easily denied and liquidated. Respect is not given by others; it is earned by yourself. The respect for this industry also requires every one of us practitioners to maintain it together.
What we are engaged in is a technology-driven industry that uses technology to eliminate unfairness and allow more people to enjoy better fintech services. Whether enterprises or you KOLs and Influencers, you are essentially participants, builders, and beneficiaries of this industry. Since we are a community, we need to维护 the industry's reputation together and win true respect from the outside world.
Jokes can be made occasionally, but if extreme, emotional vocabulary is repeatedly used on the front page to describe trading and the industry itself, you need to think: how will regulatory agencies view it? How will users and the world view it? Therefore, whether leading enterprises, industry institutions, or KOLs, all have their respective responsibilities. Leading enterprises must have the responsibility of leading enterprises, KOLs must have the self-awareness of KOLs, and platforms also have the responsibility of platforms. Since we are all participants in the industry's红利, we should all the more work together to维护 the industry's reputation in exchange for long-term, sustainable respect.
OKX's Three Major Business Directions for 2026
Next, I would like to talk about some overall plans for OKX in 2026. These plans are also based on the core judgments I mentioned repeatedly earlier: technological development, application development, and the evolution of the regulatory and political environment.
First, at the trading and service level, we hope to provide more diverse, user-friendly, and convenient Exchange services within the global compliance regulatory framework. Whether it's Crypto, stocks, or other asset forms on the market, we will continue to expand service boundaries under the premise of legality and compliance, giving users more choices.
Second, is to bring more assets on-chain. We already have xBTC, and there will be more "X" series products in the future, covering cross-chain assets, RWA, and even real-world assets like stocks. We hope that through OKX's X Layer and Web3 wallet, they will become a unified carrier for multi-assets and a gateway for users to enter the on-chain asset world.
Third, is the OKX Pay payment service. After this product was launched last year, evaluations were mixed, and we admit it is still relatively rough; it will be continuously upgraded in the future. Currently, in many countries and regions such as Brazil, Europe, and Singapore, we have connected with local banking systems. Even in areas where bank card services cannot be provided temporarily, we hope that through a more user-friendly Web3 wallet, ordinary users can complete daily payment needs such as asset management and transferring money to friends or merchants without complex operations. Our goal is to allow OKX to provide entry-level services for ordinary users to easily manage digital assets.
Overall, in 2026, OKX will focus on these three directions: compliant trading services, multi-asset on-chain infrastructure, and payment and wallet experience.
In addition, a very important part is our partners, which includes everyone here. I have set a clear requirement for the company: OKX must get closer to its partners. We will continue to keep a low profile, but low profile does not mean distant. Whether you are a KOL, partner, market maker, or channel partner, we will respect you more and explore more win-win ways together.
We will continue to optimize the KOL Program and Affiliate Program, while building a more professional customer service and account manager system, providing one-on-one communication channels. Any suggestions you have for OKX—including criticisms, or areas where you think competitors are doing better—are welcome to be反馈 at any time. For executable issues, we will also provide responses and improvements within clear timelines through a clearer SLA mechanism; even issues involving long-term principles and core operating logic, we will continue to listen and discuss better solutions with everyone.
Finally, I would like to talk about X Layer and OKB again. From a compliance perspective, OKX only operates with licenses in mainstream countries and regions; we are strictly regulated and have many institutional red lines that cannot be crossed; from the perspective of long-term business operations, we also do not agree with the "killing the goose that lays the golden eggs" model. For MEME, we are not inherently排斥. MEME is essentially a community token. If the community is healthy and transparent, we also welcome cooperation very much. But we will not do projects that are highly concentrated, obviously unfairly designed, and require the platform to "cooperate in creating a 100x myth."
But it can be明确 said that the construction of X Layer and OKB will definitely not stop. X Layer is one of OKX's core infrastructures. In the past, we did not invest enough in the Web3 direction, but starting last year, we have elevated it from the边缘 to a core position. X Layer is our long-term strategic foundation. Its TVL may only be a few hundred million USD now, but our goal is 5 billion, or even 10 billion. In the future, whether exchange users, payment users, or wallet users, a large number of applications will be built on X Layer.
As an ecological token and gas token, OKB has a clear, long-term positioning. There is no question of OKX abandoning X Layer or OKB. As OKX itself, and the entire Crypto and blockchain industry, develop and grow, I believe X Layer and OKB will both become long-term,持续 core strategic components of OKX.
We will continue to invest in ecology and infrastructure construction; it will not stagnate. Whether we go public in the future or not, technology and long-term value are always our core.
