OKX Announces Major X Layer Upgrade, 65M OKB Burn, Price Soars to All-Time High

OKX has unveiled a sweeping upgrade for its zkEVM-based public chain X Layer, developed in collaboration with Polygon, positioning it as a dedicated hub for DeFi, payments, and real-world asset (RWA) applications. The move will also see OKTChain retired, with its native token OKT converted into OKB, and a significant overhaul of the OKB tokenomics.

Launched in 2023, X Layer has now fully integrated the latest Polygon CDK stack, completing what OKX calls the “PP upgrade” on August 5, 2025. The upgrade boosts transaction throughput to 5,000 TPS, slashes gas fees to near-zero, and improves security and Ethereum compatibility, aiming to enhance developer and user experience.

Performance Boost and Ecosystem Expansion

The new ecosystem strategy targets DeFi, global payments, and RWA issuance, backed by an ecosystem fund, liquidity incentives, and infrastructure upgrades including cross-chain bridges, oracles, and compliance services. X Layer will be deeply integrated with OKX Wallet, OKX Exchange, and OKX Pay. The wallet will support the network with low-fee transactions, the exchange will offer zero-gas withdrawals for major assets, and OKX Pay will adopt X Layer as its default settlement chain.

As part of the restructuring, OKTChain will be phased out due to overlapping functions with X Layer. OKT trading on OKX Exchange will end on August 13, 2025, and from August 15, remaining OKT will be periodically converted into OKB based on the average closing price between July 13 and August 12. On-chain OKT holders will be able to deposit and convert tokens until January 1, 2026, when OKTChain operations cease.

65M+ OKB Burn and Economic Model Overhaul

The upgrade also brings a major shift to OKB’s economic model. OKB will remain X Layer’s sole gas and native token, with Ethereum L1 OKB gradually phased out. Holders are encouraged to migrate their tokens to X Layer via OKX’s one-click chain swap, as L1 withdrawals will no longer be supported in the future.

OKX will burn 65,256,712.097 OKB from historical repurchases and treasury reserves, permanently fixing the total supply at 21 million. All future OKB sent to a designated black hole address will be automatically burned via smart contract. Following the burn, OKB’s smart contract will be upgraded to remove minting and burning functions entirely.

Record Price Surge

Following the announcement, OKB surged to an all-time high of $142.88, with its price soaring over 200% within an hour.