Stablecoin issuer Circle has forged a significant partnership with leading cryptocurrency exchange OKX to drastically enhance liquidity for conversions between its USDC stablecoin and the U.S. dollar. This collaboration marks a major step towards reducing friction in fiat-to-crypto on- and off-ramps, making it easier and more cost-effective for users to move between traditional currency and the digital dollar.
As part of the new partnership, OKX is rolling out zero-fee USDC conversions with USD. "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," Kash Razzaghi, Circle's Chief Business Officer, told.
Jason Lau, OKX's Chief Innovation Officer, emphasized that this upgraded USDC liquidity leverages OKX's extensive bank partnerships and robust compliance framework. This synergy allows users to swap USD and stablecoins "without any friction or fees, for the first time."
Despite the accelerating adoption of stablecoins, the process of converting between stablecoins and traditional fiat currencies has historically been fraught with friction, including network transaction fees and complexities associated with bank-to-exchange intermediation, as noted by Ashley Lannquist, a former digital finance analyst at the International Monetary Fund.
While this partnership doesn't directly impact blockchain network transaction fees, it aims to dismantle significant infrastructure challenges that have hindered seamless conversions. "Until this partnership with Circle, there was always some friction when swapping between stablecoins and USD," Lau explained, pointing to issues like orderbook depth, trading fees, and product design. "Users would see a swap between USD and stablecoins much like any other asset swap. 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."
OKX currently supports USDC across 12 networks out of the 23 total supported by Circle, including major blockchains like Ethereum, X Layer, Aptos, Arbitrum One, Avalanche C-Chain, Base, Optimism, Polygon, Polygon (USDC.e), Solana, Sui, and OKT Chain.
To deliver deeper USDC liquidity to its global user base of 60 million customers, OKX has cultivated strong relationships with multiple partners across banking and payment networks. Lau stated that OKX's primary on-ramp solutions are anchored by key partners such as Standard Chartered Bank, DBS, Bank Frick, and global payment solutions like Apple Pay and PayPal. The enhanced USDC liquidity will be accessible to "any user that has access to USD and USDC" in their OKX account, and will be available across various OKX products and services, including trading, sending, and holding USDC.
Importantly, while expanding its offerings for USDC, OKX is not neglecting other major stablecoins. The exchange continues to support deep liquidity for Tether USDt (USDT), the largest stablecoin by market capitalization.
July 2025, Cryptoniteuae