The confidential protocols established to discuss the news of the regulatory failures of one of the five best cryptography exchanges, OKX, suggest that the company has probably expected an agreement with the US authorities for some time.
This happened on Monday when OKX announced an agreement of more than $ 500 million with the United States Department of Justice after not ensuring a money transmitter license and allegedly facilitating $ 5 billion in “suspicious transactions and criminal gains.”
OKX’s meticulous planning makes a fascinating reading. The Secret Crisis Management Document seen by Coindesk refers to a “SWAT” messages that can be mobilized to implement several ways in which the senior executives of the company can communicate an agreement through social networks and when talking with journalists.
Very before the great fine and the confiscation of Monday, OKX had produced a specific guide with respect to establishing itself with the Department of Justice, as well as the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the United States (ofac, or Watchdog sanctions), by example.
A favored approach is to point out that the entire cryptographic industry has been widely under intense scrutiny and that OKX is fully cooperating with regulators, according to the document. This echoed in Monday’s press release that said OKX “appreciates” the “collaboration” of the Department of Justice.
Since the administration of President Donald Trump took over last month, the main approach for regulatory agencies in the Crypto Arena has been to reverse its previously aggressive execution position, and the SEC leaves the ongoing litigation and closing investigations. But it is not in the case of OKX, which, like Kucoin with its recent fine of $ 300 million and Binance in 2023, has been forced to expensive settlements.
The guide refers to what is expected of the founder of OKX, Star Xu, President Hong Fang and other executives when it comes to “his social networks actions in two scenarios: 1) File before the AAC settlement, 2) About the Settlement of ofac “.
In addition, on the issue of ofac, if executives are asked if OKX has served to sanctioned markets, a suggestion is to say: “The customers of the sanctioned markets passed when we had controls and immature compliance systems […] It is a very small and insignificant part of the Okcoin or OKX client base. “
In fact, OKX’s press release acknowledged that American clients could trade with global exchange.
“The total number of American clients involved, who are no longer on the platform, amounted to a small percentage of the company of world clients of the company,” the statement said.
Brand awareness
Another priority for OKX is how the firm Coreography its large tickets sponsorship arrangements with the tastes of Manchester City Football Club, the F1 McLaren team and the Tribeca Film Festival. The firm estimates that around $ 100 million per year have been spent on these associations in the last three years.
The action plan for brand partners involves the Marketing OKX chief who gives each partner a phone call “in the last hour before the news is broken.”
The recommended strategy is to say that OKX has prepared for a regulatory review, given the greatest scrutiny of cryptographic companies. If asked why the exchange did not share information about this before, the document establishes that these are pending consultations and non -public issues. There is also a bullet point that suggests that the CMO and the head of OKX “review the clauses in our brand partner contracts again.”
You don’t mention OKB
Another detail that receives attention in the OKX planning document is the native cryptocurrency of the exchange, OKB. An obvious concern after FTX is any suggestion that OKB has been used as a guarantee or to finance any OKX operation, as was the case with the FTX Token FTT.
Of course, OKB exchange token has not been the subject of anything as the FTX exchange token iniquities. However, he was involved in a sudden flash block in January 2024, after which OKX quickly offered to compensate the users they had lost. The Token, which has a relatively thin negotiation volume and liquidity, saw that 10 inactive wallets were activated and begin to trade just before the accident, according to Marina Khaustova, Coo Cry Crystal Intelligence, a blockchain analysis firm.
Not long after the OKB accident, OKX Tim Byun executives, former OKCOIN CEO and head of world government relations, and Wei Lan product chief was allowed to go by OKX. A source familiar with the situation said Byun was “sacrificed” after the OKB accident.
As expected, the OKX COMS protocol emphasizes that executives must “refrain from mentioning OKB and refer to this only if asked.”
Media management
Another part of the puzzle is how the exchange should deal with media consultations. If OKX receives emails or a phone call from a journalist who is looking for comments on ongoing research, the SWAT team and the public relations team must take action to “buy time offering leadership schedules”
Meanwhile, the plan is “to contact the key publications for a parallel story to sow in a complementary narrative to the history of origin,” says the document.
“1. Push for Delay 2. Confirm friendly publications 3. Take a tail in internal / external tail, so we send the story when the story comes out,” he said.
OKX did not provide a comment at the time of publication
