City retain OKX partnership amid regulatory scrutiny

Manchester City are continuing their sponsorship relationship with cryptocurrency platform OKX despite renewed questions over its regulatory record, keeping the company’s branding on their shirts while the club contest separate Premier League financial findings.The partnership began in 2022 before expanding the following year under a reported £55m agreement, with City maintaining that they undertake appropriate due diligence when assessing commercial partners.Responding to coverage of its US enforcement case, OKX said: “OKX pleaded guilty to one count of operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. According to the Department of Justice documents, OKX received credit for its cooperation with the investigation and timely engaging in remedial measures.”The statement distinguishes the offence to which OKX pleaded guilty from broader descriptions of the case as a money-laundering prosecution, while acknowledging the enforcement action and highlighting its cooperation and remedial work.The US penalty reported in the supplied accounts totalled US$504m in 2025, with the Department of Justice stating that the platform had facilitated more than US$5bn in suspicious transactions and criminal proceeds.OKX’s European subsidiary was also fined in Malta over historical breaches of anti-money-laundering and counter-terrorist-financing requirements covering a period up to April 2023, adding to scrutiny of the group’s compliance arrangements.The company has separately rejected suggestions of involvement in transactions linked to the Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, after the platform was named among potential methods for transferring assets.OKX said its involvement was limited to being identified by a third party as a possible route to an external wallet, maintaining that no transactions relating to the incident were processed.It also said the criminal complaint contained no allegation of cooperation or wrongdoing by the company, and that its systems identified the illicit activity so any attempted transfer from an OKX customer would have been flagged and blocked.City’s position is that the longstanding commercial relationship will continue, with the OKX sleeve logo remaining part of their sponsorship inventory ahead of Sunday’s match against Liverpool.The scrutiny coincides with City’s appeal against the independent commission’s findings concerning Premier League financial breaches, including sponsorship arrangements, although the OKX enforcement matters are separate from that case.City deny wrongdoing in the Premier League proceedings and have challenged the commission’s conclusions, while their decision to retain OKX leaves the partnership in place despite questions over the sponsor’s compliance history.Neither the club’s stated commitment to due diligence nor the company’s defence of its regulatory response amounts to an announced change in the sponsorship agreement, with both parties continuing the relationship.