OKX has blocked Hong Kong-based employees and staff traveling through mainland China from accessing Anthropic’s Claude artificial intelligence model. The move followed a short suspension of the exchange’s corporate account in early August 2026. The account has since been restored, but the company is routing affected requests to other AI systems to stay within Anthropic’s geographic rules.

Account Suspension and Policy Alignment

Anthropic does not offer Claude or its commercial API in Hong Kong or mainland China. Companies holding enterprise accounts must therefore prevent access from those locations. OKX stated that it recently became aware that use by certain Hong Kong-based employees may not have fully aligned with those geographic policies.

The restriction applies only to connections originating from the unsupported regions. Employees in permitted locations retain access through the restored corporate account. OKX has not disclosed the number of staff involved or the specific activity that triggered the suspension.

Broader Pattern Among Financial Firms

OKX is not alone. Goldman Sachs restricted Claude for its Hong Kong bankers earlier in the year after reviewing contract terms. JPMorgan took a similar step for Hong Kong staff in June. These cases illustrate how enterprise licenses can still depend on an employee’s physical location, even when the parent organization holds a global agreement.

Staff traveling through restricted areas may temporarily lose access regardless of their home office. Anthropic has not publicly claimed that OKX deliberately breached its terms. The exchange’s own statement stops short of confirming a violation, noting only possible misalignment with the rules.

Significant Monthly AI Expenditure

OKX spends between $6 million and $8 million each month across major AI providers. At that pace, annual outlays would fall between $72 million and $96 million if costs remain steady. The company has integrated AI into daily workflows for research, coding and other tasks, and has made model usage part of employee performance evaluations.

It has not broken down the spending by provider or use case, nor clarified whether the figure covers only model fees or also includes related infrastructure and tools. Alternative models from other providers will now handle requests from the restricted locations, though OKX has not named the specific replacements.

Continued Development of Claude-Linked Products

Despite the internal limits, OKX continues to advance AI products that interact with Claude technology. In late June it launched an on-chain marketplace for autonomous AI agents that can hire one another, complete tasks and settle payments in digital assets, designed to work with Claude Code. The exchange has also released an open-source Agent Trade Kit that connects AI agents, including those based on Claude, to its trading systems.

These external offerings remain active. The restriction concerns only internal enterprise-account access for staff in Hong Kong and mainland China. It does not alter the company’s broader push into AI-powered crypto and Web3 tools, nor does it affect exchange operations, customer assets or trading services.

No timeline has been given for restoring Claude access in the restricted regions. Any change would likely require adjustments to Anthropic’s regional policy or a revised contractual arrangement.