By Key Points
- OKX Burns OKB Tokens in $26B Shock Move, Cutting Supply 93%
- Supply capped at 21M; price jumped 193% to $142.88
- OKTChain to shut down by Jan 2026, shift to X Layer zkEVM
- OKB becomes the sole gas token in the unified OKX ecosystem
In a historic move, OKX burns OKB tokens worth over $26 billion, permanently slashing its supply. The exchange executed an on-chain burn of 278,999,999 OKB, reducing the total supply from 300 million to just 21 million tokens.
This aggressive move sets a fixed cap and mirrors Bitcoin’s hardcoded scarcity model, now locked in by an upgraded smart contract that disables any future minting or manual burns.
Source: Techtoken
According to OKX, more than 65 million tokens used for buybacks and held in treasury reserves were included in the burn. This single act wiped out over 75% of OKB’s supply, marking one of the largest burns ever seen in the crypto space.
The announcement caused a major price rally. OKB jumped from $46 to $142.88, an explosive 193% increase in just one hour. While the token has since cooled to $92.78, it remains well above its pre-burn levels.
Crypto analyst Tokenomist shared on X:
“From 2019 to today, $OKB has kept burning. But with 65M tokens gone (~75.6% supply), the latest @okx move sent the price +193%.”
Top Token Burns (Last 30 Days)
🔥 $7B+ Burned$OKB (75.65%) – $6.9B$BONK (0.61%) – $17M$APT (0.10%) – $299K$NEAR (0.15%) – $173K$WOO (0.10%) – $137K
(% of released supply) pic.twitter.com/99KfkdEPKL
— Tokenomist (@Tokenomist_ai) August 15, 2025
CoinMarketCap also highlighted the event, calling it one of the most significant price movers of the day.
By eliminating token inflation and setting a strict supply cap, OKX is turning OKB into a deflationary asset, reinforcing long-term value for holders.
This deflationary trend mirrors similar patterns seen in Bitcoin’s supply dynamics and further supports growing demand for scarcity-driven digital assets.
Weekly Top Gainers 🔥
1️⃣ @SkaleNetwork: 118.83%
2️⃣ @OKX: 111.85%
3️⃣ @AerodromeFi: 60.28%
4️⃣ @theuselesscoin: 37.66%
5️⃣ @SuccinctLabs: 33.75%
6️⃣ @RaydiumProtocol: 30.05%
7️⃣ @LidoFinance: 28.78%
8️⃣ @kucoincom: 28.38%
9️⃣ @zora: 27.23%
🔟 @AIOZNetwork: 24.06% pic.twitter.com/bBqMzbGVY8— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) August 15, 2025
OKTChain Shutdown, X Layer Takes the Lead
The massive token burn isn’t just about price action, it’s part of a broader strategy. OKX is moving away from its Cosmos SDK-based OKTChain, which will be fully discontinued by January 1, 2026.
All resources will now be focused on X Layer, OKX’s Ethereum-compatible zkEVM Layer 2 blockchain built with Polygon Labs.
With OKT trading officially ended, holders can convert their OKT to OKB at a fixed exchange rate of approximately 9.5 OKT per OKB, based on the average market prices from July 13 to August 12, 2025.
🔥 @OKX has permanently removed 278,999,999 $OKB tokens from circulation#OKX has burned 278,999,999 $OKB tokens from circulation, worth approximately $26.75B. Following Wednesday’s announcement, OKX burned about 65.26M tokens from buybacks and reserves, cutting OKB’s total… pic.twitter.com/gqje8SAveS
— PHOENIX – Crypto News & Analytics (@pnxgrp) August 15, 2025
Why the pivot to X Layer?
Because it offers:
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5,000 transactions per second (TPS)
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Near-zero gas fees
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Full EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine) compatibility
X Layer will now serve as the sole public chain powering OKX’s future in DeFi, tokenized assets, payments, and on-chain services.
OKX founder Star Xu emphasized performance isn’t the end goal:
“For a zk-rollup, 5,000 TPS is not a big deal. We will reach higher heights.”
This shift also positions OKB as the exclusive gas token for the X Layer chain, increasing its real-world utility and embedding it deeper into OKX’s ecosystem.
As major exchanges evolve their ecosystems, the competition between Bitcoin and Ethereum’s options market is also heating up, hinting at a more mature and utility-based future for digital assets.
#OKB Supply Now Capped at 21M After OKX Burns 279M Tokens Worth $26B.
Crypto exchange OKX has permanently burned 279 million OKB worth $26 billion, drastically reducing the token’s circulating supply.
It fulfilled the planned token incineration today, on-chain data from… pic.twitter.com/6M8Tss0XzB
— TheCryptoBasic (@thecryptobasic) August 15, 2025
Why This Matters for OKB and the Broader Crypto Market
The fact that OKX burns OKB tokens and shuts down OKTChain isn’t just a technical update; it sends a strong market signal. The burn is more than a supply move; it’s about repositioning OKB as a utility-driven, high-performance asset in a unified CEX + blockchain model.
This has three major implications:
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Increased Scarcity:
A 279M token burn makes OKB significantly scarcer. With no future minting allowed and a hardcoded cap at 21M, the value proposition for long-term holders strengthens, especially if on-chain activity increases. -
Expanded Utility:
OKX Pay will soon default to X Layer as its main network. With OKB as the sole gas token, everyday use, payments, DeFi, staking, and NFT activity will directly support OKB’s demand and relevance. -
Regulatory Alignment:
OKX is also making moves globally. From EU MiCA compliance to rumors about U.S. re-entry and a possible IPO, the exchange is working to secure its position in regulated markets. That adds institutional weight behind the OKB token and OKX’s new chain strategy.
This move reflects a trend among leading exchanges: controlling both the platform (CEX) and the underlying chain (Layer 2), allowing for deeper integration, better performance, and tighter tokenomics.
With Binance pushing BNB Chain and Coinbase building Base, OKX’s X Layer + OKB combo is its answer to the evolving Web3 landscape.
This also comes amid a surge in AI and crypto collaborations, and increasing concerns over cybersecurity threats from North Korea — showing how centralization, speed, and security are becoming the pillars of next-gen blockchain networks.
And while speculative attention remains on meme coins and small caps, projects with solid fundamentals, like SKALE’s rising trading volume — show that the market still rewards utility, scalability, and ecosystem focus.
With deflationary pressure, increased utility, and ecosystem alignment, OKB could now be more than just a utility token; it’s potentially becoming the economic engine of the OKX universe.
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