OKX restricted employees in Hong Kong and staff traveling through mainland China from using Anthropic’s Claude model after its enterprise account was briefly suspended in early August.
Summary
- OKX restricted Claude access for Hong Kong employees and staff traveling through mainland China recently.
- Anthropic restored OKX’s enterprise account after a brief suspension in early August, the company said.
- OKX said earlier usage may have breached Anthropic’s regional access policies covering Greater China operations.
- The exchange spends between $6 million and $8 million monthly across major artificial intelligence providers.
- AI adoption forms part of employee performance evaluations as OKX expands internal model usage globally.
The exchange’s corporate account has since been restored. However, OKX will redirect affected requests to other artificial intelligence models to avoid further breaches of Anthropic’s regional access rules, Bloomberg reported.
OKX also disclosed that it spends between $6 million and $8 million monthly across leading AI providers. At that rate, its annual model spending would range from $72 million to $96 million if monthly costs remained unchanged.
OKX restricted Claude after its account suspension
OKX stopped providing Claude to employees based in Hong Kong and those traveling through China after Anthropic suspended its enterprise account, according to internal messages reviewed by Bloomberg. The suspension lasted briefly, and the account was later restored.
The company reportedly acknowledged that some previous activity “may not have complied” with Anthropic’s geographical access policies. OKX has not disclosed how many employees used Claude from restricted locations or what activity prompted the suspension.
The restriction appears limited to employees connecting from Hong Kong or mainland China. Staff in supported regions can continue using Claude through the restored corporate account.
OKX has not said which alternative models will handle requests originating from the affected locations. Major providers include OpenAI, Google, Meta and several Chinese AI developers, although the exchange did not identify its replacement services.
Anthropic excludes Hong Kong and mainland China
Anthropic’s official list of locations offering Claude and commercial API access does not include Hong Kong or mainland China. Companies using enterprise accounts must therefore control where employees access the service.
OKX’s decision follows similar restrictions in the financial sector. As previously reported, JPMorgan removed Claude access for employees in Hong Kong after reviewing Anthropic’s licensing terms. Goldman Sachs had reportedly taken a similar step.
These restrictions show how enterprise access can depend on an employee’s physical location, even when the employer holds a global contract. Staff traveling through a restricted jurisdiction may lose access temporarily despite being based elsewhere.
Anthropic has not publicly accused OKX of deliberately violating its policies. The reported acknowledgment from OKX also stops short of confirming a breach, stating only that earlier use may have fallen outside permitted access conditions.
OKX spends up to $8 million monthly on AI
OKX has promoted broad AI use across its operations. Employees are encouraged to use models for research, coding and other work, while AI capabilities have reportedly been incorporated into performance evaluations.
The exchange’s stated monthly spending shows the scale of that internal adoption. However, OKX did not provide a breakdown by provider, department or application. It also did not say whether the spending figure includes infrastructure, developer tools or only model usage fees.
The company is building customer facing AI products as well. In related coverage, OKX launched an onchain marketplace for autonomous AI agents, allowing agents to find tasks, perform work and receive digital asset payments.
Crypto companies are also adopting formal AI governance controls. In February, Crypto.com obtained an international AI management certification, covering how organizations manage risks associated with artificial intelligence systems.
Regional controls will shape future AI access
OKX must now ensure that employees in restricted locations cannot route Claude requests through its enterprise account. This could require geographical access controls, internal model routing and clearer travel policies.
The exchange has not announced a timeline for restoring Claude access in Hong Kong or mainland China. Any restoration would likely require Anthropic to change its regional policy or approve a different contractual arrangement.
The account suspension did not concern OKX’s exchange operations, customer assets or trading services. No verified market reaction was linked to the internal AI restriction.
