According to a CoinDesk report, OKX, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, has lost two of its top executives, Tim Byun and Wei Lan.

As OKX merges its operations into a single global brand, the employees’ departures raise serious questions about its stability and future.

OKX Experiences Executive Departures Amidst Strategic Restructuring

Byun, who oversaw global government relations, and Lan, the head of product, played pivotal roles in OKX’s growth and rebranding efforts. Amidst reports of his departure from OKX, his LinkedIn profile does not reflect the sudden change.

Tim Byun previously served as the CEO of OKCoin, OKX’s U.S. subsidiary, from 2018 to 2020 before transitioning to his latest role. Wei Lan was instrumental in managing trading desk activities, contributing to the platform’s operational strategies.

While OKX has not publicly disclosed the reasons for OKX executives’ departure, the timing of these executive departures holds significant. The exchange is looking to strengthen its foothold in international markets and solidify its position as a prominent player. 

Reports suggest that the exchange group is streamlining its operations, consolidating its operations under the single OKX brand, and discontinuing its separate U.S. brand.

This consolidation effort at OKX is part of a series of recent changes, including the departure of Patrick Donegan, the former OKX Global Compliance Chief, earlier in January after a brief tenure of six months.

These departures align with OKX’s broader objectives of expanding its global presence and attracting customers beyond China. Notably, by trading volumes, OKX ranks second among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

The reshuffling of top-level positions at OKX reflects patterns seen at Binance before facing significant legal hurdles and a $4.3 billion regulatory settlement.

At Binance, a series of resignations among senior executives, including that of anti-terrorism financial advisor Jennifer Hicks, preceded major legal actions and a notable restructuring of leadership.

OKX launches XLayer Mainnet Marks Technological Advancement

OKX, in partnership with Polygon, has launched the X Layer public mainnet, a new ZK Layer-2 solution designed to enhance Ethereum-based transactions for OKX’s 50 million users.#okx #cryptohttps://t.co/nJqd2FqNgP

— Cryptonews.com (@cryptonews) April 16, 2024

Despite recent executive departures, OKX is expanding its operations by launching its exchange Layer 2 chain, XLayer, on the public Mainnet on Monday. XLayer, developed with the Polygon Chain Development Kit (CDK), provides developers with a zero-knowledge Ethereum virtual machine (zkEVM) compatible environment.

Polygon stated, “Builders can access shared users and liquidity via the AggLayer, and users can transact across chains without bridging. Dozens of core infra providers & dApps are already integrated.” Additionally, AggLayer will support OKB as its official gas token, aiming to onboard more than 50 million users to OKX’s on-chain.

OKX’s Chief Marketing Officer, Haider Rafique emphasized, “We envision X Layer and other layer-2 chains as the highway infrastructure of the Web3 world, with dApps as the marketplaces and self-hosted wallets as the vehicles that take you there.”

According to XLayer’s official announcement on X, over 200 decentralized applications, including Chainlink, CurveFinance, Eigenlayer, Etherfi, and Renzo, are already building on the platform. OKX’s XLayer launch puts it in league with Coinbase, whose Base chain debuted in August 2023 and has achieved significant milestones in volume, revenue, project launches, and total value locked (TVL).

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