The Protocol: OKX Slashes Native Token Supply In Half
- August 13, 2025
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Welcome to The Protocol, CoinDesk's weekly wrap-up of the most important stories in cryptocurrency tech development. I'm Margaux Nijkerk, CoinDesk’s Tech & Protocols reporter.
In this issue:
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OKX SLASHES TOKEN SUPPLY IN HALF: OKB, the token of cryptocurrency exchange OKX, more than tripled to a record high after the company executed a one-time burn of 65.26 million OKB , cutting the supply by more than 50%. Burning the roughly $7.6 billion worth of tokens permanently reduces the maximum supply to 21 million, in line with the hard cap coded into Bitcoin. The burn, or sending the tokens to a wallet address that can't be accessed, was carried out from OKX’s reserves and represents one of the largest deflationary events in exchange token history. The effect of the burn was instant. OKB jumped to $142 from $46 before retrenching to about $102. Trading volume skyrocketed 13,000% to $723 million as traders attempted to capitalize on the supply shock. The strategy mirrors that of BNB, the token of BNB Chain, which is associated with rival exchange Binance. That undergoes quarterly burns that often precede short-term rallies. — Oliver Knight Read more .
ETH TRANSACTION VOLUME CLIMBS : Ethereum’s transaction volume has been overall on an upward trajectory, closing in its all-time high of 1.9 million transactions in a single day in January 2024. The latest surge is drawing attention from both retail traders and institutional observers, as it reflects a confluence of technical improvements, favorable market sentiment, and a renewed appetite for on-chain activity. According to data from Etherscan , daily transaction counts have been consistently trending higher over the past several weeks. Other data shows seven-day averages of daily transactions have already surpassed their previous records. Analysts suggest that this momentum is being fueled by a combination of factors: a recent increase in network capacity, rising ether prices, and a reduction in transaction costs, particularly for decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols and stablecoin transfers. One of the biggest enablers of the current spike has been a substantial capacity boost on Ethereum’s mainnet. The Fidelity Digital Assets Research Team told CoinDesk that “Ethereum’s Layer 1 is seeing a surge in transactions largely due to a 50% increase in the gas limit since March, which allows more transactions to fit into each block.” This upgrade has significantly increased throughput, enabling more efficient settlement and reducing congestion. As a result, stablecoin transfer costs have fallen consistently below a dollar, making DeFi activity and peer-to-peer payments far more affordable. Fidelity Digital Assets notes that DeFi currently tops the charts for ETH burns, underlining its central role in driving network activity. — Margaux Nijkerk Read more .