A letter from OKX CEO Star:
Today, we officially launched the first version of OKX Pay to over 100 million global users. As the industrys first truly non-custodial and compliant payment application, OKX Pay will be embedded in the OKX App and is currently open to some markets, and is expected to be fully launched within a few months.
OKX Pay is an important step in our vision of Integrating Crypto into Life. Next, lets take a look at how OKX Pay can achieve this vision. Imagine: easily achieve non-custodial, conveniently complete payments, and earn passive income at the same time; in Web3 payment applications, have a smooth user experience like Web2 applications.
First, we need to review the development of custody and payment. Self-custody wallets have appeared since the beginning of the industry. “Not your keys, not your money” is a great concept. However, due to the overly complex user experience, it is still a challenge to use self-custody wallets smoothly. For example, once the private key is lost, the related crypto assets are completely lost.
It is estimated that of the total supply of 21 million Bitcoins, approximately 3 million to 4 million have been permanently lost, accounting for approximately 14% - 19% of the total; based on the current price of approximately US$90,000 per coin, its value is approximately US$195 billion to US$260 billion.
Common reasons for asset loss:
Lost or forgotten mnemonics or private keys
Hardware wallet failure and no backup
Mistakenly sending assets to the wrong chain (e.g. sending BTC to an ETH address)
Device or hard drive damage (e.g. the landfill and 8,000 Bitcoins story)
Smart contract vulnerabilities may mistakenly send tokens to the destruction address
There are challenges in the crypto payment space. In the early days, people tried to use Bitcoin for payments. Remember the story of Laszlo Hanyecz buying a pizza with 10,000 Bitcoins? At todays prices, thats equivalent to about $900 million.
Although we now have a mature stablecoin ecosystem like USDT and USDC, there are still obstacles to using stablecoins to transfer money to friends or make payments at PoS terminals as easily as using bank cards or traditional payment applications. In addition, the lack of real-name authentication (KYC) on crypto wallets makes it difficult for crypto payments to integrate into the mainstream financial system.
At present, some institutions in the industry use centralized wallets to solve this problem. However, in our opinion, this approach is still not enough to promote the large-scale popularization of encrypted payments.
Through OKX Pay, we hope to make it easier for users to use their crypto assets without custodial fees. Our solution is different. Let’s take a closer look at our solution:
1. We use a sharded private key management method, splitting the private key into two parts, one half is stored in the users Passkey, and the other half is stored by OKX. This brings the following benefits:
If you forget your password, you can easily recover your wallet through the ZK email recovery function
No need to write down your private key on paper or store it in a hardware wallet, Passkey wallet is safe enough
The security of funds is guaranteed, and no one can use it without your authorization.
2. We are committed to making crypto payments as simple as sending messages. OKX Pay will focus on stablecoin payments, initially supporting USDT and USDC, and will gradually support more stablecoins in the future. Advantages include:
With just a few steps, you can easily transfer money to anyone in the world
You can transfer money to individuals individually or to multiple people at once.
Zero fees for all transactions
Nearly real-time settlement, with no limit on transfer amount (subject to compliance and risk control).
3. We are about to launch a new feature called Passive Income, where your deposit will automatically earn income, the main advantages include:
Deposits can earn interest through low-risk on-chain protocols
No manual operation is required, the system automatically finds high-quality agreements and completes the pledge operation
Deposits can be withdrawn at any time without lock-up
Eliminates the ongoing management required by most staking solutions
The core of OKX Pay is to achieve a non-custodial experience that does not require users to manage their own private keys - this has always been an important barrier that prevents many people from participating in the crypto field. At the same time, OKX Pay is equipped with an industry-leading compliance and risk control system.
In terms of compliance, OKX Pay protects the safety of users and assets through mechanisms such as KYC, AML and Multisig. At the same time, OKX cannot use any funds without the users authorization.
If users forget their passwords, there is no need to worry. OKX Pay can recover them through the AA and ZK Email functions, making it as easy to retrieve your wallet as resetting your bank account password.
In terms of transaction experience, OKX Pay relies on the X Layer public chain, and the transaction cost is zero. X Layer is OKXs second-layer network based on ZK, built using Polygons CDK technology. From the date of launch, users can also automatically earn income for their held funds through the Smart Earning Coins function.
Building the future
OKX Pay is much more than a payment product. I firmly believe that it has great potential and significance.
OKX Pay and X Layer have built the core infrastructure together, and we firmly believe that all financial institutions will need to provide non-custodial service versions in the future, covering payment and remittance functions. Financial institutions will be able to develop and deploy dApps to allow their customers to use OKX Pay. As more and more people get used to using crypto assets for transactions, the demand for such services will inevitably surge. We are fully prepared to meet this demand with OKX Pay, which provides an extremely fast, efficient, compliant and secure experience.
In the future, all financial institutions will provide non-custodial services, including payment and remittance, under a compliant system. OKX Pay and X Layer are building infrastructure for this future, and it is expected that hundreds of millions of people will embark on the journey of encryption and Web3 in the future.
The crypto industry is accelerating towards the mainstream, and OKX Pay will become an important driving force for this change.
*OKX Pay is not currently available in all jurisdictions.
