Deepening Trust Through Partnership: How OKX Continues to Work with Law Enforcement to Protect Our Customers and the Crypto Ecosystem

By Linda A. Lacewell, Global Chief Legal Officer, OKX

Trust is built through action. As I discussed in my previous post, the digital asset industry continues to mature, and we recognize that protecting users and ensuring market integrity require deep, ongoing cooperation between exchanges, regulators, and law enforcement agencies (LEAs) around the world.In 2024 alone, OKX responded to 34,583 law enforcement requests, a 30% increase from the previous year. These requests came from 1,036 law enforcement agencies - a 22% year-on-year increase-spanning 110 jurisdictions, up 9% from 2023. To date, we have assisted 1,183 agencies across approximately 120 jurisdictions, reflecting the breadth and intensity of our engagement in safeguarding the crypto ecosystem. This work is not peripheral to our mission - it’s at the very heart of it. Our dedicated global response team operates around the clock, coordinating with hundreds of compliance and investigations professionals worldwide to ensure that requests are handled swiftly, securely, and in full accordance with local and international law.

Proactive Cooperation That Delivers Results

OKX’s collaboration with law enforcement is not passive or reactive - we actively identify and escalate suspicious activity before it becomes systemic. A clear example of this occurred in late 2023, when OKX played a vital role in uncovering a large-scale criminal network laundering the proceeds of cryptocurrency confidence scams. The U.S. Secret Service (USSS) San Francisco Field Office launched its investigation after OKX and Tether proactively provided intelligence that identified approximately $250 million in USDT traceable to fraud schemes operating across several continents. Further investigation revealed that funds from at least 434 victims - including 60 confirmed victims who collectively lost approximately $19 million - had been routed through a complex web of 144 OKX accounts controlled by the perpetrators. These funds were layered across multiple intermediary wallets in a deliberate attempt to obscure their origins. Thanks to timely cooperation and data transparency, law enforcement was able to seize roughly $225 million and dismantle a sophisticated criminal ecosystem. This case demonstrates what public–private collaboration can achieve when companies act decisively. OKX’s internal monitoring systems, intelligence partnerships, and rapid law-enforcement escalation channels were instrumental in protecting victims and preventing further losses.

Global Reach, Local Impact

In 2024, the majority of global law enforcement requests to OKX related to transaction-flow information, enabling agencies to trace illicit activity and support ongoing investigations. Approximately 3% were asset-freeze or seizure requests, which OKX executed swiftly in coordination with the relevant authorities. These figures are broadly consistent with patterns reported by other regulated crypto exchanges and traditional financial institutions. Each case represents a shared commitment to accountability, transparency, and the rule of law in crypto. One such example comes from Asia, where OKX worked alongside the national law enforcement agency and Tether in a large-scale “pig-butchering” fraud investigation. Our cooperation helped identify and freeze nearly 50 million USDT held in unhosted wallets linked to a scam ring-a 90% recovery rate. This outcome was made possible by OKX’s rapid data turnaround, with full cooperation materials delivered within one week, allowing law enforcement to act before the assets were moved.

Technology That Detects and Deters Crime

Our compliance and investigations teams leverage advanced technologies to monitor transactions, detect anomalies, and identify suspicious activity in real time.

• On-chain analytics: Continuous blockchain surveillance and behavioral pattern recognition to identify emerging typologies of fraud and money laundering.

• AI-powered risk systems: Tools like SkyNet monitor transaction velocity, address clustering, and fund flow anomalies.

• Sanctions and fraud screening: Integrated checks across every transaction and customer lifecycle stage, preventing interaction with sanctioned or blacklisted entities.

• MPC Wallet technology: Multi-Party Computation custody ensures that no single private key ever exists in full, mitigating key compromise risk and enhancing user protection.

These systems, supported by our tiered KYC/KYB/EDD, real-time monitoring, and independent audits, create a robust “defense-in-depth” framework that allows OKX to quickly respond to law enforcement, block illicit activity, and prevent harm before it occurs.

A Framework of Trust and Accountability

Security and consumer protection are designed into every aspect of OKX’s operations. We combine multi-signature cold storage, zero-knowledge Proof of Reserves, and industry-leading certifications-including SOC 1 & 2 Type II, ISO/IEC 27001, and CSA STAR Level 1-to safeguard customer assets and ensure transparency. Our financial crime controls are equally rigorous. They include enhanced KYC/KYB, sanctions screening, market-manipulation surveillance, and real-time transaction monitoring. All of this is underpinned by GDPR/CCPA-aligned data-protection standards, ensuring privacy and security coexist. These measures give law enforcement confidence that when they contact OKX, they are working with a partner that is both responsive and trustworthy - one that has built compliance and cooperation into its DNA.

Looking Ahead

Our ambition is not just to respond but to lead. In 2025, we will deepen our engagement with law enforcement globally-expanding outreach, hosting training and knowledge-sharing sessions, and further integrating AI-driven detection systems to proactively flag emerging threats.Our vision is simple: to make crypto safer for everyone.While our partnership with law enforcement will continue - and OKX will always strive to stay one step ahead of fraudsters - it’s important to keep perspective: illicit activity represents only a fraction of overall blockchain transactions, consistently measured at well under 1% of total crypto volume. The vast majority of activity we see every day involves legitimate, value-creating uses - cross-border payments, commerce, remittances, savings, and innovation driving financial inclusion around the world. We hold ourselves to the highest standards of vigilance. Our teams combine in-house AI and real-time surveillance systems with insights from trusted partners such as Chainalysis and global cooperation networks like TRM's Beacon Network. Together, these efforts ensure that our customers can transact confidently, knowing that, just as crypto never sleeps, neither do our security and compliance controls.We believe that effective partnerships between the private sector and public authorities are essential to achieving that goal. When law enforcement, regulators, and exchanges work together, we don’t just catch bad actors — we build the foundation of a financial system. We move the industry beyond its “Wild West” past and into what we call the Mild Mild West — an era grounded by responsibility, integrity, transparency, and trust.OKX is proud to help build that future — one case, one partnership, and one recovered dollar at a time.

About the Author Linda A. Lacewell is the Global Chief Legal Officer at OKX. She previously served as Superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services and as a federal prosecutor, where she specialized in financial crimes and corruption. At OKX, she leads global legal, regulatory, and law-enforcement engagement to ensure that trust, compliance, and consumer protection remain at the core of the company’s mission.