OKEx launches a decentralized exchange and the OKChain Testnet; can it compete with Binance?

OKEx announced the launch of its own blockchain and a decentralized exchange.

Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange OKEx revealed that the OKChain testnet is now live.

According to OKEx CEO Jay Hao, OKChain was built to help the unbanked by providing them with "Basic financial services" to achieve "Financial inclusion."

"We have observed that there is still about 69 percent of the global population, around 1.7 billion people, unbanked. This is a great misplacement of resources in legacy finance. So, we hope OKChain will become a financial infrastructure for the unbanked This is the first change we want to make with OKChain."

OKEx announced the introduction of its own decentralized exchange, dubbed OKDEx.

This is the first decentralized application to launch on top of the OKChain protocol.

The firm also revealed that in the future users will be able to launch their own cryptocurrencies and decentralized exchanges on the OKChain network.

The introduction of OKChain and OKDEx seems to have sparked interest among investors in the company's native cryptocurrency.

OKEx is making significant strides to increase the utility of its native cryptocurrency, OKB. With the introduction of OKChain and OKDEx, the firm puts in check one of its main competitors, Binance.

Now that both crypto exchanges offer similar products, time will tell whether OKEx will be able to attract some of the retail users that Binance has been able to capture with its Binance Chain, Binance Coin, Launchpad, and decentralized exchange.