Star Xu

Mingxing Xu, also known as Star Xu, is an entrepreneur and leader in the cryptocurrency and decentralized finance (DeFi) industries. He is best known for being the founder of OKX (formerly OkEx), a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange.

Xu was educated in Beijing, China. In 2006, he earned a bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Science and Technology Beijing. He then earned his master's degree in the same field of study from Renmin University of China.

Xu began his career as an engineer for Yahoo in Beijing. After one year, he became chief technology officer of DocIn and remained in that position until 2012. Xu became an entrepreneur in 2013, when he founded Ok Group, a company developing the blockchain and its own cryptocurrency, Okcoin. He later founded OKX and registered it in Malaysia due to cryptocurrency regulations in China banning initial coin offerings in 2017.

Throughout his time in the DeFi industry, Xu has been questioned by authorities several times.In 2018, he was questioned by police regarding bitcoin futures manipulation on his OKX platform, although he was never arrested.In October 2020, it was reported that Xu was brought by the police for questioning regarding an equity merger that had been completed several years prior. He made a statement on social media one month later, stating he was innocent and had been cooperating with authorities.

As the cryptocurrency market took a downturn in 2022, Xu's exchange remained active. He has publicly stated that he intends to build OKX with best practices so both the platform and cryptocurrency market can have longevity in the DeFi industry.