Hong Kong-based crypto exchange OKEx has announced that it is working on the development of its own blockchain and a decentralized exchange.

Dubbed as OKChain, the native blockchain of the exchange will work as the backbone of the upcoming decentralized exchange. According to the March 22 official announcement, the blockchain is already in its final development stage.

Discover Barcelona Trading Conference – A Top Tier Crypto Trading Event

? More good news on this special day after the announcement of our #IEO platform #OKJumpstart ?!

We’ll be launching:
– Our own #blockchain #OKChain ⛓
– Our first #DEX decentralized exchange #OKDEx ✨

Read more: https://t.co/6J5BaqY57u pic.twitter.com/EZgmtPugqp

— OKEx (@OKEx) March 22, 2019

In addition, OKEx is planning to launch the testnet of the decentralized network in the coming June.

“Currently, the OKChain is at the final development stage and we expect to launch it on a testnet in June 2019,” the announcement stated.

Moreover, the Hong Kong-based exchange has decided to migrate its native utility-token OKB on ERC-20 blockchain by the end of April and will again move the token to its native blockchain, once it is stable.

“Due to a large number of users calling for OKB to be put on the blockchain, after considerations, our team has decided to put it onto the ERC-20 blockchain first by the end of April. When the OKChain becomes stable, OKB will be migrated from the ERC-20 network to the OKChain mainnet,” the exchange outlined.

The cryptocurrency exchange will also make OKB token as the native token of the new blockchain.

“OKB will be the native token of the OKChain network, which can be used to settle transaction fees, or used in the Dapps developed on OKChain,” the notification added.

Decentralized Exchange is Becoming the New Norm

OKEx’s shift towards decentralized exchange surfaced after its market rival Binance jumped into the sector. Binance has already launched the testnet of its decentralized exchange last month and after taking client’s feedback, the exchange will decide whether it will run the DEX parallel to the existing exchange or make it the sole one.

Last December, OKEx launched a cryptocurrency derivative platform called Perpetual Swap which works similar to the futures contracts but without any expiry date.