Is Xu Mingxing really not related to OKEx? You will understand after reading this

On the evening of September 10, Xu Mingxing was surrounded by OKEx contract investors in Shanghai and was subsequently taken away by Shanghai police for investigation. After being detained for 24 hours, at around 9:00 p.m. on September 11, Shanghai police announced that Xu Mingxing had been released. During this period, investors did not receive any response from Xu Mingxing himself or OKEx officials. Currently, OKEx contract investors are still organizing rights protection activities in Shanghai and Beijing.

Nuclear Finance traced back to the source of this blockade incident and found that most of the people involved were investors in OKEx contracts.

According to public media reports, Xu Mingxing has never shied away from his relationship with OKCoin, and his identity is often associated with OKCoin, but he has always remained tight-lipped about his relationship with OKEx.

But in the eyes of investors, OKCoin and OKEx are actually one and the same company, both under the OK Group, and Xu Mingxing is the actual controller behind the scenes.

So what is the actual situation? Nuclear Finance has sorted out the equity structure of the companies under Xu Mingxing’s name, as well as the clues between OKEx and OKCoin. You can make your own judgment after reading it.

Equity map of companies owned by Xu Mingxing

The certified information of Xu Mingxing’s personal Weibo account is the founder of OKCoin, and the company he belongs to is OKCoin.

According to Tianyancha, OKCoin's Xu Mingxing owns 11 companies, of which he is the legal representative of two companies, namely Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenzhen Oukai Century Network Technology Co., Ltd. Xu Mingxing holds a 57.2% investment in the latter and serves as executive director.

The website and introduction of Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co., Ltd. show that Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co., Ltd. is OKCoin.

The legal representative of the company is Xu Mingxing, with a registered capital of RMB 11.5 million and was registered on November 1, 2012. According to the equity penetration chart, Beijing OK Lianchuang Network Technology Co., Ltd. subscribed RMB 11.5 million and holds 100% of the shares of Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co., Ltd., the company registered by OKCoin.

At the same time, OKCoin registered company holds a 15% stake in Zhongyi Weichuang (Beijing) Technology Co., Ltd.

The equity structure of Beijing Oukai Lianchuang Network Technology Co., Ltd. shows that Xu Mingxing is its ultimate beneficiary, holding 78.92% of the shares. In addition to OKCoin, the company has invested in 14 other companies.

In addition, a list of companies under Xu Mingxing's name was circulated online today. Nuclear Finance checked the Comprehensive Information System of the Companies Registry and was unable to verify that the companies on the list had any direct connection with Xu Mingxing.

Does Xu Mingxing really have nothing to do with OKEx?

OKEx’s official website released an announcement on July 2, 2018, stating that “OKEx’s registered name will be changed from OKEx Technology Company Limited to ACX Malta Technology Company Limited after it relocates from Belize to Malta.”

Nuclear Finance checked the Malta Financial Services Authority's management website and found that ACX Malta Technology Company Limited, with its registered address at ZEBBUG, had no further information about the company.

In early February this year, media reported that OKCoin founder and CEO Xu Mingxing had resigned from the position of CEO of OKEx. OKCoin responded that the OKEx business has always been managed by the overseas international team, and Xu Mingxing is responsible for the research and development and application of OKChain, the OK blockchain technology.

Xu Mingxing and OKEx have always tried to distance themselves from the relationship between the two. However, the industry believes that Xu Mingxing's relationship with OKEx is the same as that with OKCoin.

According to Tianyancha, OKEx is owned by Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co., Ltd., which is OKCoin. The location is marked as Beijing.

Xu Mingxing's name appears prominently in the list of core members of Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co., Ltd., with the position of CEO & founder, and his profile states: "CEO of OKcoin."

In addition to Xu Mingxing, the company's core members also include CRO Tim Byun and Vice President of Business Development Liu Jujiang, both of whom appear among the team members disclosed on the OKEx and OKCoin websites.

The corporate businesses of Beijing Lekuda Network Technology Co., Ltd. include OKcoin, Bihang.com and OKEX.

In response to this, Xu Mingxing emphasized in an interview with AI Finance in July that he had no relationship with OKEx and would no longer serve as a director, shareholder, or legal representative of OKEx. Regarding the relationship between OKEx and OKCoin, he said: "It is in the name, and some of its employees did work at OKCoin."

As for OKEx's business, Xu Mingxing seems to have dabbled in many areas after leaving the company. The most direct evidence is that in May this year, Li Shufei, who had taken over Xu Mingxing's position as CEO of OKEx, resigned from OKEx. In his response, he said: "Xu Mingxing and I have argued many times about work, and the arguments were all for the good of the company."

Xu Mingxing responded twice on WeChat Moments, saying that Li Shufei had not formally asked him to resign. He wrote: "I received the news of Li Shufei's resignation on May 14th, and there was no specific communication beforehand."

Li Shufei later hit back, saying: "My dream is to help the wise master build a great enterprise... I have a clear conscience towards my former employer, and the heavens can bear witness to that."

It can be seen that the CEO of OKEx is actually an employee of OK Group and is managed and restricted by Xu Mingxing.

Nuclear Finance checked the OKEx official website and found that the other URL of OKEX.COM can be switched to OKCOIN.COM with one click.

In the registration method for novices provided by the OKEx official website, it is mentioned that "if you have previously registered on any of the OKCoin/OKCoin International/OKEx sites, you can directly use any of the above accounts to log in to the OKEx site."

On the other hand, OKCoin issued a trading suspension announcement on October 30, 2017 (https://www.okcoin.cn/t-2511348.html), stating: “We have obtained digital asset trading licenses in many countries around the world through investment and cooperation, and will enter overseas markets. All overseas businesses of OKEx.com and OKCoin.com are managed by local companies and teams.”

When OKEx and OKcoin operated independently as two different brands, OKEx and OKCoin also appeared in the same announcement many times.

In fact, regardless of whether Xu Mingxing is in the equity structure or not, Xu Mingxing has an inseparable connection with OKEx.

Source: Nuclear Finance