Jessy, Jinse Finance
On August 13, 2025, the price of OKB skyrocketed more than 180% in a short time, rising from about $47 to a peak of $141, setting a new historical high.
This market movement was triggered by OKX's announcement of the destruction of 65 million OKB and the locking of the total supply at 21 million. At the same time, OKX conducted a technical upgrade of the X Layer chain, significantly optimizing transaction speed and costs, while retiring the old OKTChain and converting OKT tokens into OKB.
Why is OKB being burned? Is it because OK has to divest from OKB for compliance before its listing? How will the future development of X Layer be? Does OKB still have upward momentum?
Destruction is to shed the platform token identity for compliance listing.
OKX announced the destruction of over 65 million OKB, permanently locking the total supply of OKB at 21 million. This move is the most direct reason for the surge in token prices.
At the same time, OKX announced that the X Layer chain completed an upgrade called 'PP upgrade', integrating the latest Polygon CDK technology, enhancing the network to 5,000 TPS, reducing gas fees to nearly zero, and significantly improving Ethereum compatibility, integrating into OKX Wallet, Exchange, and OKX Pay. In addition, OKTChain will be retired, and OKT trading will stop on August 13; OKT will be automatically exchanged for OKB at an average price.
This large-scale destruction is not the first time OKB has undergone token destruction. The destruction mechanism of OKB has been set since its inception. Early destructions were mainly based on trading fees from the OKX platform, with a certain percentage of profits repurchased and destroyed every quarter. For example, in the recent two quarters, on June 19, 2025, the 28th round of destruction destroyed 42,437,632 OKB, and on March 14, 2025, the 27th round of destruction destroyed 31,158,862 OKB.
In addition to regular destruction, OKB has also undergone several large-scale destructions in history. For instance, in 2020, OKX announced the destruction of uncirculated OKB, gradually reducing the total circulating supply in the market. These destructions aimed to increase the scarcity of OKB, thereby enhancing its value. This latest destruction of 65 million tokens is the largest in history, directly pushing OKB to a total supply of 21 million, the same as Bitcoin.
The project chooses to actively burn tokens, generally to adjust the total supply through token destruction, thereby controlling inflation and managing market value. However, this destruction of OKB is not just for market value management; that is merely a superficial reason. Many in the industry believe that this large-scale destruction and ecological integration is a strategic preparation by OKX for future listing plans.
For example, the platform token HSK of Hashkey Exchange has now shifted to its public chain token, also seeking a listing.
Permanently locking the total supply of OKB at 21 million and separating it from the operations of the OKX platform is seen as an important step for OKX in terms of compliance. After this series of actions, OKB has shifted from a platform token to a public chain token of X Layer.
Previously, there were reports that OKX was planning to list in the U.S., which means it must meet strict regulatory requirements. If the platform token is directly tied to the company's operating profits, it will undoubtedly be viewed as a security by U.S. regulators, thus posing significant obstacles to the listing.
Through this operation, OKX positions OKB as an ecological token rather than merely a platform equity token, which undoubtedly better meets compliance requirements.
The future of OKB depends on X Layer.
The year 2025 is actually a year for OKX to restart compliance in the U.S.
It established a U.S. subsidiary OKX.US and registered as a Money Services Business (MSB), launching legal operations in accordance with federal and state compliance requirements. The U.S. headquarters is located in San Jose, California, and Roshan Robert was appointed as the CEO of OKX USA. On April 15, 2025, the CEO of OKX USA officially announced that the OKX centralized cryptocurrency exchange and OKX Web3 wallet officially launched in the U.S., and existing OKCoin customers will be seamlessly migrated to the OKX platform.
In terms of compliance measures, it has added KYC verification processes, implemented geographical restrictions, and launched an automated review system for anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism. Additionally, it continues to seek compliance with licenses and actively engages with FinCEN, CFTC, and SEC. These actions indicate that OKX is seeking long-term compliance development in the U.S. There are reports that it is pursuing a listing in the U.S. The divestment of OKB from the platform undoubtedly clears further obstacles for its listing.
So, does OKB, as the ecological token of X Layer, have a future?
Currently, OKX's upgrades and ecological integration of X Layer indicate that it may become a focus for future development. X Layer, as OKX's self-developed L2 network, has a strong technical foundation. It inherits the high performance and high security of the OKX exchange and has significantly optimized transaction speed and costs after the upgrade.
At present, X Layer can directly utilize the existing traffic of OKX, which may provide a significant advantage for its early development. At the same time, OKX may continuously inject funds and resources into the X Layer ecosystem through investments, incubation, and other methods to attract more quality projects.
OKB may become an important payment and trading medium in the X Layer ecosystem. Users may use OKB for trading, paying DApp service fees, etc. Of course, OKB may also be used as ecological incentives, governance voting, and more.
However, the current L2 track is highly competitive, with leading L2 platforms like Arbitrum and Optimism forming strong ecological barriers. X Layer also needs to continue innovating to stand out in the competition. According to DeFiLlama data, X Layer currently ranks 122nd among public chains, far behind leading Layer 2s.
Therefore, the future market value of OKB also depends on how much effort OKX puts into preparing to elevate X Layer to a certain height, and what position OKB occupies within this ecosystem.
Currently, OKB indeed resembles a meme fueled by emotional speculation, especially after it is no longer a platform token and has transformed into a public chain token. Although it has destroyed 3/4 of its tokens, we can no longer price it as a platform token.