OKX said deposits originating from high-risk addresses will trigger anti-money-laundering reviews lasting 15 days or longer, with accounts and funds potentially restricted during the process.
The exchange defined high-risk addresses through blockchain monitoring of prior transaction exposure, though it has not published formal criteria for the classification. The 15-day timeline is non-binding; reviews may conclude faster or extend beyond that window depending on circumstances.
OKX CEO Star Xu posted the warning on X on September 2. Major exchanges have tightened deposit controls in response to regulatory pressure and law enforcement scrutiny of transaction flows linked to gambling, sanctions evasion, and other prohibited activities. Deposits now face upstream verification of fund sources rather than screening only at withdrawal.
The mechanism flags deposits at the point of entry rather than waiting for withdrawal requests or transaction pattern analysis downstream. Users whose deposits trigger a review face temporary account restrictions and frozen balances until compliance clearance. OKX did not specify whether affected users would be notified before or during the review process, nor did it detail appeals procedures.
Large exchanges including Kraken and Gemini have implemented similar source-of-funds checks in recent years, typically as conditions of U.S. regulatory licensing. Stripe and PayPal both widened AML screening thresholds for crypto deposits in 2024 and 2025 after enforcement actions by FinCEN and state regulators. OKX operates without a U.S. money transmitter license but serves U.S. customers through an offshore entity and has faced regulatory questions over its compliance posture.
The scale of deposits affected remains unclear. OKX did not release figures on review volume or the percentage of incoming deposits classified as high-risk. The exchange processed more than $6 billion in daily trading volume as of mid-2026, though deposit flow metrics are not disclosed.
OKX announced the policy rather than quietly implementing it, unlike Kraken's approach; Kraken rolled out source-of-funds screening without advance notice in 2023 and faced user backlash when the restrictions went live. A 15-day review window creates a forced holding period that may deter users from depositing via flagged on-chain paths, effectively narrowing the funnel of entry points. If OKX applies the policy uniformly across all high-risk classifications, deposit velocity from decentralized exchanges and mixing services will face a significant friction cost that competing platforms may or may not match.
