OKX Shield Launches in US With Up to $500,000 for Qualifying VIPs

OKX announced the U.S. launch of OKX Shield on Oct. 20, giving eligible exchange customers a way to seek reimbursement after an unauthorized account takeover, subject to security requirements and payout limits.

The advertised maximum is $500,000, while eligible U.S. customers can receive up to $100,000. Each customer's applicable limit depends on their tier, security settings and OKX entity and appears on their Shield product page. Eligible U.S. customers can access the program without a subscription or activation fee.

Those figures are maximums, not promised payments. Shield is a voluntary goodwill program rather than insurance or a deposit guarantee. OKX reviews claims individually and decides whether to reimburse a loss and how much to pay. A customer must meet the program's conditions even when the loss is below their displayed limit.

Shield applies to eligible assets taken from an OKX Exchange account after an unauthorized third party gains control and transfers them. Qualifying incidents can include phishing, malware, remote-control attacks and SIM swaps. The program must already be active when the incident occurs; it does not turn on automatically for every exchange account.

To activate Shield, customers must complete identity verification, use secure devices and have a Passkey. They must also use facial verification for large withdrawals, set their peer-to-peer (P2P) verification-code preference to “Always” and disable web withdrawals. These settings are part of the program's eligibility requirements, alongside the account-specific limit shown to each customer.

The terms exclude transfers a customer initiates, approves or signs, even if someone deceived the customer into doing so. Trading losses, losses in OKX Wallet and assets lost on external platforms are outside the program. Losses tied to disclosed API keys or third-party tools are excluded as well. Shield is therefore limited to qualifying exchange-account takeovers, rather than every type of crypto loss.

OKX announced a European Shield rollout on Sept. 22 before bringing the program to eligible U.S. customers. The U.S. terms also limit how often a customer can receive payment across OKX entities.

After a suspected takeover, customers generally must notify OKX and submit a formal claim within 72 hours of the last unauthorized transaction. Supporting information is due within seven days of filing, with limited exceptions to the deadlines. Each person may receive reimbursement for no more than one approved Shield claim in their lifetime across OKX entities.