Modernizing Money with Onchain Payments: OKX Pay and Card
Written by Star Xu, CEO and Founder of OKX
The World’s First Compliant DeFi Pay & Card in Europe
Today, we are introducing OKX Pay and OKX Card in Europe, what we believe to be the world’s first compliant DeFi Pay and Card solution in the European Union. With OKX Pay, users will also be able to engage with DeFi protocols and real-world asset (RWA) applications, subject to regulatory permission and local requirements, alongside everyday payments.
This launch reflects where the crypto industry is today. After years focused on trading and infrastructure, the next phase of product–market fit, is about everyday utility. Payments are an obvious place to start.
Crypto payment apps have existed for years, yet adoption for daily use remains low. Not because the idea failed, but because existing digital payment apps work well enough. People tolerate transaction caps, cross-border friction even within Europe, and settlement fees that can quietly reach 1–5%.
For crypto payments to succeed, they cannot be marginally better. They must be materially better.
Why Crypto Payments Are Finally Ready
Until recently, that wasn’t possible. Volatility, complex self-custody, poor UX, and lack of regulatory clarity held crypto payments back. Today, those constraints are easing. Stablecoins have matured, wallet infrastructure has improved, user expectations are higher, and Europe now provides the regulatory clarity needed to build responsibly at scale.
Stablecoins are the foundation of this shift. They settle faster and cheaper than traditional rails, remove cross-border limitations, and operate 24/7 with instant finality for users and merchants. When combined with strong compliance and consumer protections, they represent an evolution of digital money.
How OKX Pay and OKX Card Work in Practice
With OKX Pay, users can deposit euros, convert them into fiat-backed stablecoins, and use them for everyday activity, paying for coffee, parking, bills, or splitting expenses with friends. Where permitted, they can also access DeFi and RWA use cases within a compliant framework.
With OKX Card, those stablecoins can be spent anywhere Mastercard is accepted, with real-time conversion to euros at the point of sale. It is a euro-denominated virtual debit card connected directly to OKX Pay, designed to be simple, transparent, and usable in the real world.
This is not about modernizing money overnight. It is about building responsibly, within Europe’s regulatory framework, and delivering real utility without compromising compliance or consumer protection.
OKX Pay and OKX Card operate through our regulated European entity and are designed to meet Europe’s high standards for security, transparency, and consumer protection. Europe has led the world in defining how digital finance should be regulated, and we believe it can also lead in showing how compliant DeFi works in everyday life.
What Makes OKX Pay Unique
Beyond payments, OKX Pay is designed to be a gateway to onchain finance, not a closed system. Where regulatory permissions allow, users will be able to use their OKX Pay balance to engage with DeFi protocols and real-world asset (RWA) applications, from onchain markets to tokenized assets, within a controlled and compliant framework.
This matters because it moves crypto payments beyond spending alone. It allows users to hold, transact, and deploy capital from a single interface, while maintaining regulatory oversight and consumer protections.
Our approach is deliberate: expand access responsibly, align with regulators, and unlock real onchain utility without compromising trust.
This launch is only the beginning. As we expand OKX Pay and OKX Card across Europe, we will continue to broaden functionality in line with regulatory permissions and market readiness.
Our goal remains the same: to modernize money and markets while making it safe for people to participate.
Experience the freedom of compliant DeFi payments.