Erald brings over 20 years of experience in financial services and crypto-native markets to his role. Belgian-born and Malta-based, he previously held senior roles at Crypto.com, Binance, and Paysafe. He joined OKX as General Manager of OKcoin Europe, overseeing the successful rebrand to OKX Europe, before taking the helm as CEO.
European crypto traders have long faced a difficult dilemma. They could use regulated platforms with low liquidity, or risk their capital on unregulated offshore exchanges. Today, the landscape is shifting dramatically.
We caught up with Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe, at Paris Blockchain Week to discuss how his team is solving this exact liquidity problem while setting a new standard for consumer protection.
Speaking on the morning of April 15th, Erald unveiled X-Perps, a MiFID-regulated derivatives product designed to capture massive market share.
Read more about OKX's ambitious roadmap, their newly launched Agentic Wallet, and the future of European financial services below.
At Paris Blockchain Week, OKX Europe is launching X-Perps. What are your main priorities for Europe right now, and how does this launch align with the broader strategy?
My main priorities for Europe in 2026 revolve entirely around building the right foundation and infrastructure. Consumers globally have only three financial needs throughout their lives. First, they need to pay and get paid. Second, they need to accrue wealth by investing in assets such as bonds, stocks, or Bitcoin. Third, they need the ability to borrow or lend.
At OKX Europe, our focus is on building the utility required to solve these financial needs. We want to become the ultimate money app. Historically, our bread and butter have revolved around trading. We are now expanding our product offering to include more solutions, such as OKX Cards and OKX Pay.
X-Perps addresses a major gap we identified in the market. Users in Europe were forced to choose between regulated exchanges with poor liquidity and offshore exchanges with no consumer protection.
With X-Perps, we bridge that divide. Under our fully regulated MiFID licence, we harness the power of a global exchange to offer a regulated expiry future with up to 10x leverage.
Our unified account means your spot wallet collateral can still be used for OKX Perps. Right now, roughly 95% of crypto derivatives volume in Europe is traded offshore. We intend to bring that volume back onshore into a regulated environment.
What was the journey to build something like this? It must have been complex on the technical and regulatory fronts. And what's the most valuable impact for European users?
The journey began with a focus on a major economic leak. Too much capital was flowing toward offshore exchanges, harming the European economy and putting users' assets at significant risk on unregulated platforms. Europe has a strong track record in consumer protection, and we saw an opportunity to bring that standard to this sector.
Derivatives trading with leverage is undoubtedly a high-risk, niche product. The clear demand for it is precisely why so many traders head offshore. We wanted to bring that demand back onshore into a fully regulated environment. To ensure this works safely, we implemented a rigorous assessment of suitability and appropriateness.
Before accessing the product, users must complete a thorough knowledge test and an educational background assessment. This ensures they fully understand the specific risks involved before placing any trade. The most valuable benefit for the user is the peace of mind that comes from trading in a protected, transparent environment.
You mentioned Europe's strong reputation for user protection, and you have these assessments in place. How do you balance offering a product like this, which is inherently high-risk, with meeting those standards?
We have established strict guardrails to meet those exact standards. Our regulator granted the licence with very clear conditions. We restrict extreme leverage levels, such as 100x. We also implement mandatory margin call warnings and defined operational procedures.
We have implemented all of these requirements in accordance with the regulation. This ensures full compliance with both the regulatory framework and Europe's consumer protection laws.
The regulator gave us the green light, marking a major win for everyone involved. Regulators are satisfied that we are bringing a high-liquidity product back onshore. By offering this product, we are actively improving consumer protection. We are transitioning users away from unregulated offshore exchanges and into a highly secure, regulated environment.
OKX was the first global exchange to obtain a MiCA licence and expand quickly. What has helped you succeed in Europe while others are still struggling to enter this market?
OKX Europe has operated under a different brand since 2013. Our founder, Star Xu, has always focused heavily on doing the right thing. That philosophy serves as his core ethos.
From the moment regulatory frameworks began to develop, we understood that the future of crypto would be fully regulated. We immediately committed to full compliance and proactive regulatory engagement. We set up local teams and applied for crypto licences across seven global jurisdictions.
Europe presents a unique challenge because the EEA comprises 30 countries. Five years ago, each country had its own fragmented approach to crypto regulation. The European Union achieved something great by harmonising these approaches under the MiCA framework.
OKX has been based in Malta since 2018. We obtained our local crypto registration there in 2021. That registration was already built to an exceptionally high standard, grounded in PSD2 and EMI interpretations of the law. Upgrading to MiCA was relatively straightforward because of that strong foundation. We received our MiCA licence in January of last year and have been live across Europe ever since.
We're seeing a lot of new initiatives and activity in the market right now, including in AI. Can you speak to where OKX fits in that picture, and looking ahead, what role do you want OKX to play in Europe?
We are aggressively branching out into several new financial services. AI is dominating the conversation right now. Everyone wants to know our timeline and plans for artificial intelligence.
The most visible recent launch is our Agent Wallet. This tool allows users to interact with their wallets directly via prompt messaging. We have also been using AI in our back-end processes for nearly two years. We leverage it for transaction monitoring, compliance improvements, and protection against sophisticated scams.
More broadly, we continue to build solutions for those three core financial needs I mentioned earlier. We launched OKX Card and OKX Pay and plan to expand these offerings significantly. The ultimate goal is for users to manage all their financial services through a single app. People want a trusted brand to manage their entire financial life seamlessly.
With our MiCA and PI licences, we have the right building blocks firmly in place. Our key message for 2026 is to build the foundational infrastructure needed to address real financial needs for both retail and institutional users.