OKX freezes $40K in USDG tied to purchased KYC accounts

According to the user, the money was urgently needed at the time to pay for medical treatment for his elderly father.

The twist is that Captain Bunny admitted he bought the accounts in late 2023. They were already verified via KYC under other people’s identities. These “ready-made” accounts are often purchased to get around regional restrictions, including by users from mainland China. When OKX requested an additional check using facial recognition, he couldn’t complete it because his face didn’t match the data used for the original verification.

The next day, OKX founder and CEO Star Xu responded publicly. He said handing control of an account to someone who isn’t the verified owner is unacceptable for a platform responsible for protecting customer funds. Xu added that OKX requires real identity verification and explicitly bans buying and selling accounts under its service rules, safety measures discussed in our OKX review.

At the same time, Xu said the exchange may be able to help “unfreeze” the assets even in this situation, but only if several conditions are met:

1. The individuals whose documents were used for KYC must provide a written waiver of any rights to the funds.
2. The accounts must not be subject to court restrictions or requests from law enforcement.
3. The user must submit verifiable documentation showing the source of funds that satisfies the exchange’s compliance procedures.

OKX’s official support account also weighed in. Its post reaffirmed that access to services after KYC is granted only to the person whose name is on the verification, and it referenced the platform’s stance on the account’s real owner.

The USDG token at the center of the dispute is positioned as a regulated stablecoin. Global Dollar Network says USDG is issued by Paxos (including through Paxos Digital Singapore) and is presented as a dollar-pegged stablecoin with regulatory oversight in certain jurisdictions.

The purchased-account case is different from last year’s wave of complaints about OKX, when users said automated checks were producing false hits and document requests dragged on even for people who had completed verification themselves. At the time, Xu publicly acknowledged the false-positives issue and said the processes would be tuned.