In August 2025, the token of the OKX alternate, referred to as OKB, went on a historic run. And the token achieved its new peak in 2025, leaping greater than 400% in only one week, breaking $250. However this wasn’t only a random spike. It mirrored a deliberate shift in how the OKX staff is reshaping the token’s mannequin and long-term technique.
Provide Driver: Overhaul of Tokenomics
The OKX staff had constructed OKB, launched in 2018, as a utility token that provided privileges of buying and selling and rewards for customers. The privileges included discounted charges for buying and selling, rewards for staking, and participation in Jumpstart. His preliminary tokenomics mannequin had a most provide cap of 300 million and a buyback-and-burn system that was funded by alternate buying and selling income on a quarterly foundation. This mannequin was a mix of BNBs in its earlier levels, which had a gradual deflationary impact.
Supply: Coingecko
Within the lead-up to August 2025, the worth of OKB hovered within the $40-50 vary, and the buying and selling quantity was $50-80 million, which is a far cry from different alternate tokens like BNB , which averaged $800-1200 million a day, and MX, which was at $15-20 million a day.
For extra: OKX Referral Code 2025: “12554491” ($10,000 USDT SignUp Bonus)
Nonetheless, following the announcement in August 2025, all the things shifted. For the primary time ever, in a single week, OKB’s market cap surged in worth to six billion, surpassing market cap benchmarks thought of as an achievement alongside main blockchains. The token surged 400%, far surpassing the common efficiency of token alternate.
We’re making a strategic improve to @XLayerOfficial, aiming to construct a number one public chain centered on DeFi, funds, and RWAs.
Key updates:1️⃣ Underlying tech – PP upgrade2️⃣ Ecosystem growth strategy3️⃣ Deep integration with OKX Pockets, OKX Trade & OKX Pay4️⃣… pic.twitter.com/OU4EpKtuJz
— OKX (@okx) August 13, 2025
On August 15, 2025, a burn of 65.26 million tokens brought about a provide shock that single handedly brought about OKX to be eternally fastened at 21 million. This was the only largest burn within the historical past of cryptocurrency. There was a radical shift within the worth of OKB. Beforehand, OKB’s worth was tied to the corporate’s income based mostly buybacks and burns. Now, its worth is on the asset’s fastened provide and scarce premium akin to BTC.
Throughout this time, the market was additionally responding positively as the common cryptocurrency token’s worth surged 400%, with a complete buying and selling quantity of $80 million per day. There’s a uncommon market matching this sort of liquidity development. The one time it’s comparable is when Binance launched the BNB Chain in 2021.
For extra: OKB Token ATH, Pumps 400% After 65 Million Token Burn Occasion
Demand Driver: The X Layer Improve
In 2023, OKX entered the Ethereum Layer-2 competitors with Polygon by launching an L2 chain based mostly on zkEVM. It makes use of zero-knowledge proofs for cost-effective and scalable transactions with OKB serving because the native token. Initially named OKX’s L2, the chain was rebranded to X Layer in April 2024 and quickly gained infrastructure companions. It consists of a few of the large names, similar to The Graph, QuickSwap, Curve, and Wormhole. All of those protocols served as the bottom layer of the expansion of the early ecosystem.
As of August 18, 2025, X Layer had recorded 13.06 million transactions with a complete transaction quantity of 1.33 million OKB (roughly $150 million) and 378,000 OKB (round $43 million) bridged to the community. OKX’s Star famous how X Layer’s current upgrades reset the home windows with 5,000 TPS, near-zero charges, and a provide locked at 21 million on OKB. Star described the chain’s mannequin as “one chain, one token” designed for DeFi, international funds, and real-world property (RWA) supporting the ecosystem.
Contemplating the X Layer nonetheless lags behind its rivals, having solely $6.5M TVL as of August 2025. As compared, different blockchains similar to BNB Chain, Arbitrum, and Polygon held $7.3B, $12.1B, and $5.6B, respectively. X Layer’s each day transaction quantity continues to be within the a whole lot of 1000’s, a stark distinction to the 5-12 million each day transactions rival networks are processing.
Protocols on X Layer
A few of these gaps stem from three distinctive challenges:
There are solely seven main protocols reside and operational for a given area, which creates a restricted DeFi stack compared to different, absolutely operational chains that host dozens of protocols. There’s a niche in conversion for funds; for instance, OKX’s alternate person base of 60 million solely accounts for a fraction of lively, on-chain individuals. There’s a niche in stablecoin issuance relative to different chains, which leaves Actual World Property (RWAs) underdeveloped. For instance, TRON has over $80B in USDT provide and Solana minted $5.5B USDC in only a month.
In abstract, whereas X Layer has the alternate person base and the infrastructure to scale, the gaps in DeFi breadth, funds, and stablecoin in liquidity should be resolved to be at par with the opposite L2 ecosystems.
Desk: Comparability OKTChain and X Layer
Strategic Comparability: OKB and BNB
The technique shift of OKB is similar to the event path of BNB. Each began as alternate utility tokens and later turned fuel tokens of public blockchains. The important thing distinction is tokenomics: BNB continues with quarterly burns tied to Binance income, decreasing provide over time however not fixing it completely; OKB instantly adopted a tough cap of 21 million, much like Bitcoin.
Supply: DefiLlama
The numbers make the distinction clear. BNB Chain instructions round $7.3 billion in TVL, processes about 12 million transactions a day, and carries a market cap of $130 billion. As compared, OKB’s ecosystem remains to be tiny—with simply $13.9 million in TVL and just a few hundred thousand each day transactions. It’s early days for X Layer, however with OKX’s 50 million international customers behind it, there’s at the least a path the place it may attempt to mirror the expansion story that made BNB Chain so dominant.
For extra: BNB Chain Gaming and NFT Ecosystem in 2025
Supply: DefiLlama
Threat Dialogue
Though the market reacted positively, three key dangers stay. The primary one to think about is about short-term volatility. RSI indicators for OKB went above 85, displaying overbought circumstances. On-chain information from Nansen reported greater than 20 million OKB (~$3.5 billion) deposited to CEXs inside 3 days after the burn — a robust signal of profit-taking exercise.
In terms of Layer-2 competitors, X Layer remains to be a small participant. Its TVL is simply $13.9 million, a fraction of what rivals like Arbitrum ($12B), Optimism ($6.7B), and Polygon ($5.6B) are holding. Until it may rapidly appeal to extra dApps and liquidity, preserving long-term demand for OKB will likely be an uphill battle.
On the regulatory facet, OKX is beneath actual strain. The alternate has already confronted a $500 million tremendous within the U.S. and restrictions in a number of main markets. In consequence, it poses a fantastic problem to OKX to usher in builders and customers to construct momentum on X Layer.
Conclusion
The current surge in OKB reveals what occurs when a giant provide minimize — like an enormous token burn — traces up with a brand new supply of demand from a Layer-2 improve. Collectively, these strikes have utterly reshaped how the market sees OKB. What was only a utility token for the OKX alternate is now being handled as a scarce asset with actual on-chain use instances.
For OKB to carry onto its new standing, the actual check will likely be X Layer’s development. It must scale as much as billions in TVL, usher in hundreds of thousands of lively on-chain customers, and present it may navigate powerful regulatory hurdles around the globe. With out that, the current rally could not final. With it, OKB has a shot at changing into a real “second BNB” and preserving its worth over the long term.
