OKX and Triple A paid Texas penalties for years of unlicensed stablecoin transmission

In September 2026, Texas Banking Commissioner Charles G. Cooper resolved allegations that two crypto payment companies had conducted money transmission in Texas without the license the Texas Finance Code requires. On September 11 he entered a consent order against OKX, Inc. — formerly OkCoin USA, Inc. — assessing a $95,000 penalty; on September 23 he entered one against Triple A Technologies Pte Ltd. assessing $20,000. Neither company admitted or denied the findings.

The Commissioner found that between 2018 and 2024 OKX received sovereign currency and stablecoins for transmission in connection with third-party crypto exchange from Texas customers, and provided custody services for digital assets and stablecoins. OKX asserted the Texas activity was inadvertent, and it has since been granted a Texas money transmission license. Triple A allegedly processed payments that let its merchant partners accept and send stablecoins and other non-convertible cryptocurrencies.

The orders track a change in Texas law: until September 1, 2023, Chapter 151 of the Finance Code barred unlicensed 'engaging in the business of money transmission'; the Money Services Modernization Act then redefined money transmission to mean receiving money for transmission services from a person located in the state. Applying both statutes, the Department concluded OKX had transmitted without a license or exemption, and weighed seriousness, compliance history, good faith, transaction volume and duration in setting the penalties.

$95,000 penalty for OKX and $20,000 for Triple A, plus injunctive relief under September 2026 consent orders.

OKX's platform reached Texas customers for six years while the firm treated the state licensing question as someone else's to spot.

Stablecoin flows fit the state's definition of money value received for later availability, license or no license.

Triple A's merchant payment processing counted as transmission even though the crypto moved for its partners rather than onto its own books.

Neither firm could claim an exemption under either the pre-2023 or the modernized statute, so the conduct was actionable across both regimes.

Stablecoins are regulated money value, not a gap in the law: a payments product can quietly accrue years of unlicensed exposure state by state.

OKX has since been granted a Texas money transmission license, and both companies settled without admitting or denying the Commissioner's factual findings or any violation of law; the consent orders also impose injunctive relief.