OKX exchange obtained a payment institution license from Malta, complying with the European Union regulatory criteria that will take effect come March. On-chain compliance is needed, as the traditional financial infrastructure does not support the modern speed, says OKX compliance chief.
Cryptocurrency exchange OKX is positioning itself in the European market well in advance, as the regulations are about to take effect. In light of the regulatory requirement coming up in March, the OKX exchange obtained the payment institution license in Malta.
PI make OKX fully MiCA compliant
Securing the license makes OKX eligible to continue offering stablecoin-related payment services across the EU in full compliance with the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation and the Second Payment Services Directive (PSD2), said the company.
As the updated version of the PSD2 framework recognizes crypto-asset service providers engaging in payment activities involving stablecoins as electronic money tokens (EMTs), these EMTs are required to hold a PI or an electronic money institution certificate.
Speaking to the media, Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, stated that securing a Payment Institution license ensures that real-world payment products, such as OKX Pay and the OKX Card, which are already launched, operate on a fully compliant footing.
On-chain rails enforce rules at modern-day commerce speed
Meanwhile, OKX Chief Compliance Officer Jonathan Brockmeier stressed the importance of on-chain compliance by comparing traditional finance with modern decentralized finance (DeFi). He explained how the legacy compliance infrastructure was not built for the modern financial markets that move at internet speed.
In his words, “Beneath modern banking interfaces sits infrastructure designed for a slower era: settlements take days, reconciliations take weeks, and payments pass through multiple intermediaries, each maintaining its own ledger and controls. This friction is often justified as safety, but in practice it delays visibility into risk.”
On the other hand, he sees on-chain compliance rails as a safety upgrade that supports innovation while improving transparency, audibility, and resilience. Legacy banking defaults to opacity.
“On-chain rails are transparent by design. To us, this is the only technology capable of enforcing the rules at the speed of modern commerce.”
