OKX Restricted Countries & Regulations Explained

Residents of 12 countries and territories, three regions of Ukraine and parts of the United States cannot use OKX's global exchange. In seven other countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, accounts are available with certain products switched off.

Restrictions change as OKX gains or gives up licences. Texas residents gained access in September 2026, 19 months after the operator's guilty plea in a US criminal case. Canada and Hong Kong remain closed.

According to Intercontinental Exchange's investment announcement, OKX serves more than 120 million people. It is one of six exchanges in our live funding rates comparison, which tracks the fees traders pay each other to hold perpetual futures. These leveraged contracts follow a coin's price and never expire.

Which countries does OKX restrict?

Residents of OKX's published Restricted Locations cannot hold accounts on its global exchange.

Section 3 of the OKX Risk and Compliance Disclosure, last updated on 8 Jul 2026, contains the list. It allows OKX to restrict or prohibit access to all or part of its services from these locations.

OKX does not explain each entry. Comprehensive US sanctions cover several listed locations, including Cuba, Iran, North Korea and the three Ukrainian regions, according to Willkie Farr & Gallagher's US sanctions guide.

Licensing decisions account for other entries. Citing new regulations, OKX told Canadian customers it would stop opening accounts on 24 Mar 2023, according to a Fintech Futures report on the customer letter.

In Hong Kong, OKX withdrew its trading platform licence application in May 2024. It said exchange services for residents would end by 31 May 2024, The Block reported.

How the OKX list treats the United States

The US entry includes some jurisdictions within the country and every US territory. It names Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and the US Virgin Islands.

This wording applies to the global exchange. A separate company, OKX INC., serves Americans. Its own licence page lists a Puerto Rico money transmitter licence, the permit required for businesses that move customers' money.

Where OKX restricts specific products

A second list names seven countries where customers can open accounts but cannot use particular services.

The disclosure identifies the affected products. Derivatives, including futures and options, are contracts whose value follows an asset's price. P2P stands for peer to peer and refers to a marketplace where customers trade directly with each other.

"Cefi" means centralised finance, though OKX does not specify which products that label covers. The disclosure also treats these seven countries as examples from a longer, unpublished set.

Countries absent from both lists may still have different product access. Listing notices, including OKX's March 2026 announcement of stock perpetuals, direct users to check availability in the app for their region.

Which OKX company serves each region

Where you live determines which OKX company holds your account. The products available depend on that company's licence.

The OKX US licences page, updated on 15 Sep 2026, provides the US details. FinCEN is the US Treasury bureau responsible for policing money laundering rules. BitGo's announcement of 30 Sep 2026 names the Singapore and Dubai entities.

Aux Cayes, the Seychelles company listed for the UK, pleaded guilty in the United States. According to OKX's UK product page, it still contracts with UK customers.

How OKX enforces its country restrictions

Eligibility depends on identity documents and residence. OKX's restrictions therefore follow the person.

The disclosure says OKX verifies every customer's identity and screens customers against sanctions lists from the United States, the United Nations and Hong Kong. It monitors accounts for suspicious activity and may vary pricing according to a user's residence or location.

Identity verification, known as know your customer (KYC), was a weak point in the past. Although OKX had barred US persons by policy since 2017, people in the United States could easily open and use accounts, according to the US Department of Justice's announcement of the guilty plea.

Does a VPN change OKX eligibility?

A virtual private network (VPN) changes the internet address visible to a website. It does not alter a person's residence or identity documents, which OKX uses to determine eligibility.

The Justice Department said OKX blocked US internet addresses but knew that cheap, widely available VPN software could bypass that block.

Countries that block OKX themselves

Thailand does not appear among the Restricted Locations. However, Thailand's Securities and Exchange Commission announced that access to OKX and four other exchanges would be blocked from 28 Jun 2025 because they were operating without a licence.

OKX regulation in the United States

A US company established after a criminal conviction gives Americans access to OKX with a narrower product range.

On 24 Feb 2025, Aux Cayes FinTech Co. Ltd, the Seychelles operator of the global exchange, pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. The Justice Department said it agreed to pay more than $504 million through a $420.3 million forfeiture and a fine of about $84.4 million.

The plea also requires OKX to retain an outside compliance consultant until February 2027.

Which US states OKX serves

The licence page says OKX INC. does not serve residents of New York, American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands or the US Virgin Islands. Its state licences cover token-to-token and US dollar-to-token services. These are spot trades, where a coin is bought and delivered immediately.

Under Money Transmission License #3574 from the Texas Department of Banking, OKX opened to Texas residents in September 2026.

What the ICE joint venture would add

Expanding the US product range depends on approvals that remain outstanding. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange, invested in OKX on 5 Mar 2026 at a $25 billion valuation, according to ICE's March announcement.

The companies announced a joint venture on 22 Jun 2026. Subject to regulatory approval, it is expected to operate as a US-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant. The first allows a firm to trade securities for customers. The second allows it to hold customers' futures accounts.

The venture is intended to give US and overseas OKX customers access to ICE futures and tokenised New York Stock Exchange shares. Tokenised shares are shares recorded on a blockchain.

During the same period, US rules on perpetual futures changed. On 29 May 2026, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the US derivatives regulator, approved the first US Bitcoin perpetual contract.

Kalshi lists that contract. We cover its position in our guide to Kalshi's restricted countries.

OKX regulation in the European Union

A Malta company holding the EU's crypto licence serves EU residents through a version of OKX built around EU product rules.

OKX Europe Limited received its licence from the Malta Financial Services Authority on 27 Jan 2025, according to OKX's page on its EU authorisation. It was issued under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA), the EU's law for crypto firms. Through an arrangement called passporting, one national licence can be used across the European Economic Area.

Licensing became compulsory this year when the grace period for firms operating under older national rules ended on 1 Jul 2026. Unlicensed providers must close their EU business, the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) said in its statement of 23 Jun 2026. The statement also says firms based outside the EU cannot serve or solicit EU clients.

How OKX offers leveraged contracts in the EU

MiFID II, the EU rulebook for investment firms, governs leveraged crypto contracts. On 24 Feb 2026, ESMA said products marketed as perpetual futures are likely to fall under national restrictions on contracts for difference. These leveraged contracts pay the change in an asset's price.

OKX launched X-Perps in Europe seven weeks later, on 15 Apr 2026. Issued through a second Malta company, OKX Europe Markets Limited, the contracts expire after five years and offer retail and institutional traders up to 10 times leverage.

Leverage measures position size relative to margin, the money a trader puts up to open the position. With 10 times leverage, even a small price move represents a large share of that money.

These figures exclude fees. Once losses approach the margin, an exchange forcibly closes the leveraged position. This is called a liquidation, an event tracked across futures markets by our live crypto liquidations dashboard.

The Dutch fine for operating before registration

The EU has also penalised OKX's Seychelles operator. On 27 May 2025, De Nederlandsche Bank, the Dutch central bank, fined Aux Cayes €2.25 million for offering crypto services in the Netherlands without registration between July 2023 and August 2024.

Aux Cayes had moved its Dutch customers to a registered company within the OKX group, prompting the bank to reduce the fine.

OKX restrictions in the UK and Australia

British and Australian residents can hold OKX accounts, but leveraged products are unavailable to almost everyone.

What OKX offers in the UK

Spot trading is available to UK customers, alongside pound deposits and withdrawals and simple conversion tools. OKX's UK product page marks perpetual futures, dated futures, margin trading and options as unavailable. This applies to ordinary users and verified wholesale clients, a category for large or professional investors.

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), the UK's financial regulator, has banned the sale of crypto derivatives to retail consumers since 6 Jan 2021.

Applications for authorisation under the UK's full crypto regime opened on 30 Sep 2026. The regime takes effect on 25 Oct 2027, according to the FCA's guidance announcement. From that date, firms conducting the newly regulated activities will need FCA authorisation.

What OKX offers in Australia

Australian customers can trade spot through a company registered with AUSTRAC, the national financial intelligence agency. Access to derivatives and margin products is limited to verified wholesale clients as defined in the Corporations Act 2001, according to OKX Australia's responsibility report.

OKX Australia Financial Pty Ltd provides those products under an Australian financial services licence issued by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

Our guide to Hyperliquid's restricted countries covers a decentralised exchange whose list omits the UK and Australia while excluding the United States.

The risks of using OKX from a restricted country

An account opened from a restricted location can be restricted or closed. OKX's disclosure permits it to restrict or prohibit use from those places.

OKX also says it continuously monitors accounts and reports suspected suspicious activity to local regulators.

The company holding an account determines the protections available. ESMA's June statement says clients of firms without an EU licence do not receive MiCA's safeguards, including its rules on client assets. UK customers contract with a Seychelles company. In Thailand, the regulator told users to deal with their assets before the June 2025 block.

A leveraged position can also lose the entire amount put up as margin. At 10 times leverage, a price move of roughly 10% is enough. For a given entry price, leverage and margin, our liquidation price calculator shows where a position would be closed.