Stablecoin issuer Circle has partnered with major cryptocurrency exchange OKX to deepen liquidity for conversions of its USDC stablecoin with the US dollar.
OKX is rolling out zero-fee USDC (USDC) conversions with USD as part of a new partnership with Circle, the companies announced in a joint statement on Wednesday.
“The most significant update is that users can now directly convert USD to USDC and back within the OKX platform, offering a seamless and transparent on and off-ramping experience,” Circle’s chief business officer Kash Razzaghi told Cointelegraph.
According to OKX’s chief innovation officer Jason Lau, the upgraded USDC liquidity builds on OKX’s deep bank partnerships and compliance approach, which allow users to swap USD and stablecoins “without any friction or fees, for the first time.”
Friction in swapping stablecoins and USD
Despite rising stablecoin adoption, there are still many frictions, such as network transaction fees and bank-to-exchange intermediation, according to Ashley Lannquist, a former digital finance analyst at the International Monetary Fund.
Out of 23 total networks supported by USDC, OKX features 12 networks, including Ethereum, X Layer, Aptos, Arbitrum One, Avalanche C-Chain, Base, Optimism, Polygon, Polygon (USDC.e), Solana, Sui and OKT Chain.
While not affecting network fees, the partnership between Circle and OKX aims to remove some infrastructure challenges.
“Until this partnership with Circle, there was always some friction when swapping between stablecoins and USD,” Lau said.
He referred to issues related to orderbook depth, trading fees and product design. “Users would see a swap between USD and stablecoins much like any other asset swap,” he said.
“Now, with this partnership with Circle, we’ve enabled 1:1 USD-to-USDC conversions and integrated with banking partners to streamline fiat on- and off-ramps so that both retail and institutional users will be able to better benefit,” Lau said.
OKX’s banking partnerships
In order to offer deeper USDC liquidity to its global user base of 60 million customers, OKX has been working with multiple partners across banking and payments networks.
“OKX’s primary on-ramp solutions currently center around key partners like Standard Chartered Bank, DBS, Bank Frick and global payment solutions like Apple Pay and PayPal,” Lau said.
Lau mentioned that the upgraded USDC liquidity would be available to “any user that has access to USD and USDC” in their OKX account.
Related: Tether USDT challenges Circle’s lead on BitPay payments in 2025
Circle’s Razzaghi mentioned that the new conversion capabilities will be available across multiple OKX products and services, involving trading, sending and holding USDC.
OKX supports deep liquidity for Tether USDt
While expanding liquidity for USDC, OKX does not overlook scaling rival stablecoins, including Tether USDt (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization.
“OKX has long supported deep liquidity and access for stablecoins, especially USDT, which remains the most actively used and traded stablecoin on the platform, evidenced by over $330 million in daily volume for pairs like ETH/USDT,” OKX’s Lau told Cointelegraph.
Beyond USDT, OKX continues working with multiple stablecoin issuers to improve liquidity, he added.
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