Disclaimer
I’ll start by saying explicitly this is not an endorsement of legitimacy or the upstanding business of OKX. That’s been a bit of a rocky road for OKX, having been shut down by US regulators due to loose identity verification procedures (hard to believe in the crypto world, right?) This post also absolutely does not mean I am a believer in or supporter of crypto. But I am a believer in a good deal.
So what’s the deal?
There have been a few variants of interesting sign-up promotions with OKX over the past few months. All of them include some sort of free crypto and/or stable coin. The ones most interesting have been the following:
- New customer offer – 10% match on deposits up to $300 (USDG stablecoin) – requires maintaining balances for 90 days
- Existing customer offer – 5% match on deposits up to $250 (USDG stablecoin) – requires maintaining balances for 90 days
What’s my take?
There is an outrageous amount of risk associated with doing business with crypto businesses. Don’t put money in that you are not comfortable losing (read: you will be able to pay for groceries and your mortgage if it disappears.) That said, if it doesn’t go belly up…
- $550 in “free” money for parking $8,000 for 90 days (the risk of a bust is non-zero, but low)
- 5.00% APY is really, really high (this is not sustainable, but it’s significant)
- There seem to be a range of rolling promotions, looking to push on Coinbase as they build, rapidly, a large presence in the US (getting the foot in the door now means there are more deals likely in the future)
What’s the money math look like?
- They do the math wrong, and it’s in customer favor (!!) OKX calculates simple interest rate (read: headline rate is 5.00%, they’re giving a daily rate of 5.00%/365 = 0.0136986%). This compounds weekly, so the actual rate is 5.00%/52 = 0.0961538% weekly, compounded 52 times = (1 + 0.000961538)^52 = 5.125%. That’s actually a big difference, and is ~1.5% higher than zero-risk money market rates (as of 1/5/26 this these are ~3.6%)
- Funds aren’t forced into traditionally highly speculative crypto. The ploy of “stablecoins” is there no risk. That’s not quite true, but I would say the 1-1 pegging with USD and stated philosophy of predictable value & investment means it’s much less risk than holding a balance in something like Bitcoin. There’s some second-rate accountant somewhere making sure nothing fishy is going on.
- OKX is a large player in the “industry”. They’re the fifth largest exchange by assets. Even higher as a trading platform. Size doesn’t beget legitimacy, but in an industry known for grift and scams, it does give me some peace of mind.
- Deposits & withdrawal are fast. Deposits funded same day. Withdrawal posted to my checking within a day. While this doesn’t scream legitimacy, before I was comfortable putting actual money in, I wanted to validate what I could expect to see.
If you are interested, what deals are there out there now for you?
- There’s no huge public OKX sign-up bonus currently, but if I see one I’ll update this post accordingly.
- If you’re interested in a referral from me (if you complete the requirements, I get $200), link is here. Offer is $100 sign-up for joining, verifying, funding $200 and maintaining a balance for at least 30 of first 90 days. This has been richer in the past two months, and I will update if I see something better come. Terms & Conditions link here.
- Through today the 5% match up to $5k in deposits is available to take advantage of, too.
And of course, the gif. (ask me how I REALLY feel, huh?)
