OKEx Token Price Rises 11% on Rumors of Founder’s Release

OKB, the coin that powers Chinese cryptocurrency exchange OKEx, jumped by 11% today after rumors surfaced that Chinese authorities have released from custody the exchange’s founder, Mingxing “Star” Xu.

The price of an OKB, as of this writing, is $5.42, up from $4.81 yesterday.

When Xu was detained in mid-October, the price of OKB fell from about $6.00 to $4.26. The exchange paused withdrawals after reports surfaced that Chinese police had taken Xu into custody.

OKEx disputes this characterization and has denied rumors that Xu was detained for money laundering. Decrypt has reached out to OKEx for further comment, though moderators have already banned us from its Telegram chat for discussing “fake-news”.

“Wu Blockchain,” a Chinese crypto reporter, today posted rumors that Xu has “gained some freedom” and that Chinese police haven’t yet worked out whether to end the investigation or to release him on bail ahead of a trial.

Wu Blockchain said that there is no timeline for resuming withdrawals. “This may bring a little bit of optimism in the investigation storm sweeping the Chinese crypto industry,” said the independent journalist.

Volumes for OKB have been rising all week. On Monday, $56 million worth of OKB traded each day, according to metrics on data analytics site CoinMarketCap. Today, traders shifted $143 million worth of OKB.

Although the price of OKB is up, OKEx is still not permitting withdrawals on its exchange. An administrator on OKEx’s Telegram chat said, “Apologize for the inconvenience caused. It is not available yet. Even though I'm unable to share a time frame right now, my team is trying our very best to resume full platform functionality.”