OKX has permanently removed 278,999,999 OKB tokens from circulation in an on-chain transaction worth more than $26 billion at current prices. Executed on Friday, it marks one of the most significant token burns in crypto history and caps OKB’s total supply at 21 million.
Historic Burn and Supply Cap
OKX burned over 65 million OKB tokens from buybacks and treasury reserves. The burn reduced the total supply from 300 million to 21 million tokens. The exchange will upgrade the token’s smart contract to permanently disable minting and manual burns. The upgrade will lock the supply cap in code. This aligns OKB’s scarcity model with Bitcoin’s fixed supply approach.
The announcement sent OKB soaring from $46 to an all-time high of $142.88 within an hour. The extreme supply reduction fueled the rally, and expectations for broader utility across OKX’s ecosystem also drove prices higher. At the time of writing, OKB is trading at $92.78, down $6.93 (-6.95%) over the past 24 hours.
Crypto analyst Tokenomist noted on X:
“From 2019 to today, $OKB kept burning. But with 65M tokens gone (~75.6% supply), the latest @okx move sent the price +193%.”
CoinMarketCap also highlighted the move:
“OKB Rockets 170% as OKX Burns 65M Tokens, Caps Supply.”
Weekly Top Gainers
1⃣ @SkaleNetwork: 118.83%
2⃣ @OKX: 111.85%
3⃣ @AerodromeFi: 60.28%
4⃣ @theuselesscoin: 37.66%
5⃣ @SuccinctLabs: 33.75%
6⃣ @RaydiumProtocol: 30.05%
7⃣ @LidoFinance: 28.78%
8⃣ @kucoincom: 28.38%
9⃣ @zora: 27.23%— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) August 15, 2025
OKTChain Phase-Out and X Layer Focus
The tokenomics overhaul coincides with a blockchain strategy shift. OKX will discontinue support for its Cosmos SDK-based OKTChain by Jan. 1, 2026, consolidating resources into X Layer, a zkEVM Layer 2 built with Polygon Labs.
OKT trading ended on Wednesday. Holders can convert OKT to OKB at a fixed rate based on the average closing prices from July 13 to Aug. 12, 2025 — roughly 9.5 OKT per OKB. X Layer will serve as the sole public chain for OKX’s on-chain business, focusing on DeFi, payments, and real-world asset tokenization. It delivers 5,000 transactions per second, near-zero gas fees, and full Ethereum compatibility.
OKX founder Star Xu said on social media, “For a zk-rollup, 5,000 TPS is not a big deal. We will reach higher heights.”
Strategic Significance
Merging OKT into OKB and concentrating on X Layer strengthens OKB’s role as the sole gas token while increasing its scarcity and utility. OKX Pay will adopt X Layer as its default network, with high throughput and low costs to boost competitiveness. Frequent payment activity is expected to drive on-chain volume and feed value back to OKB.
OKX’s regulatory progress adds weight to its long-term plans. This includes U.S. market re-entry, EU MiCA compliance, and potential IPO reports. The record burn and strategic consolidation show OKX’s intentions. The exchange wants to position OKB as a core asset in the “CEX + chain” era.
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Source: https://beincrypto.com/okx-burns-279-million-okb-tokens-worth-26-billion/