OKB surges as reports of founder’s release surface

November 19, 2020
By Sam Grant

It has been over one month since rumours of the arrest of OKEx’s founder came to light

OKEx token price has significantly increased over the past few hours in reaction to the rumoured release of the exchange’s founder. The platform’s token (OKB) price shot up from $4.8 yesterday to $5.4 earlier today, translating to a 12.5% upswing.

OKB volume has recorded an upward trend as well. According to CoinMarketCap, OKB’s trading volume on Monday was $56 million. This figure has risen to $143 million today.

The price rally is a result of the latest rumours suggesting Chinese authorities have let go from custody the platform’s founder. Mingxing Xu, popularly known as ‘Star’ Xu, was detained on 16 October, although the exchange denied reports that he had been arrested over money laundering.

OKEx’s operations got disrupted shortly after his arrest. The exchange officially announced the suspension of all trading account withdrawals on the platform with no clear resumption date. The price of OKB, the token powering the exchange, plunged from $6.00 to $4.25 during this period.

Withdrawals on the platform have not resumed despite the reports of Xu’s release and the subsequent price surge. However, it is expected that the release will help steer operations at the exchange back to normal.

China-based reporter Wu Blockchain shared the news of the alleged release on Twitter.

“Exclusive: Star Xu, the head of OKEx, one of China’s largest crypto exchanges, have gained some freedom. This may bring a little bit of optimism in the investigation storm sweeping the Chinese crypto industry. OKEx has established contact with Star Xu. As for the withdrawal issue that the outside world is most concerned about, there is no definite news for the time being, and we need to wait for the official announcement. OK said that it had not received information about Xu,” the reporter wrote.

Although the current gains haven’t restored the coin to its previous level, they will go a long way, retracing part of the heavy losses incurred when the token plummeted by almost 30% last month.