Crypto exchange OKX said on Tuesday that it is bringing OKX Shield, a program that reimburses customers when an outsider hijacks their account and moves funds out, to the United States. According to the company’s press release shared with Unchained, eligible U.S. customers can receive up to $100,000 once they turn on a required set of security settings, and OKX charges no subscription or activation fee.
Larger accounts get higher caps. OKX said qualifying customers in VIP tiers 1 through 3 may receive up to $250,000, and those in VIP 4 and above up to $500,000.
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How Shield Works
To qualify, a user has to set up a passkey, switch on large withdrawal protection and transaction verification, and disable withdrawals through the web. Shield also scans linked phones and computers for malware and for rooted or jailbroken systems. OKX said protection stays in force only while every one of those settings remains on.
The program targets account takeovers carried out through phishing, malware or SIM swaps.
“We are so confident in our system that we will voluntarily reimburse you if you are a victim of fraud,” Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who joined OKX’s board in July, said during a virtual press conference Tuesday.
During the same press conference OKX Head of Risk Xiancheng Han touted the exchange’s multi-layer asset protections and governance framework for handling vendors in response to questions from Unchained about how the company is approaching security beyond Shield.
OKX first offered Shield to customers in Europe in September.
What the Terms Say
OKX’s terms and conditions call Shield “a voluntary, discretionary goodwill initiative” and states that it is not insurance. A person can receive “no more than one approved claim during that person’s lifetime” across all OKX entities, and a claim has to be filed within 72 hours of the last unauthorized transfer.
The terms add that reimbursements are paid in stablecoins. Transfers a user approves are excluded even if the user was tricked into making them, as are trading losses and funds held in OKX Wallet or on outside platforms.
Under its terms, OKX reviews each Shield claim individually and decides whether to pay it.
The exchange returned to the U.S. market in 2025, after its operating entity pleaded guilty that February to running an unlicensed money-transmitting business and paid more than $504 million.
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