OKX integration: an Orion dev perspective

Orion Protocol recently decentralized OKX’s order books for the first time. This new and unprecedented opportunity for OKX users to access OKX order books using their own wallet becomes possible only through the power of Orion’s exciting blockchain technology.

Orion Protocol is building the decentralized gateway to the crypto market, awakening multiple CEXs to decentralization and aggregating them together through Orion’s advanced liquidity aggregator. Orion Terminal, Orion’s flagship solution, combines each of these previously siloed exchanges into one deep order book, forming ultra tight spreads, and minimal slippage. This provides Orion with the best prices for digital assets across any connected chain, whilst also opening up lucrative arbitrage opportunities as well.

With the complexity involved in aggregating CEXs and DEXs together, Orion’s developers find unique and intricate ways of tackling any challenges faced. There is no manual to read, there is no other project to learn from. Every part of the development process implemented is another step on the path of innovation for Orion.

To understand more about the fundamental approach of integrating OKX, and other large CEXs (Binance, KuCoin, AscendEX) in the industry, the Orion Protocol developers give their perspective on building this a ground-breaking piece of technology.

How has the integration of OKX compared to other CEXs in terms of complexity?

“Every CEX integration is complex since they have individual features, and OKX is no exception. Our previous experiences of working with sandboxes of other exchanges, and knowledge in terms of connection of exchanges, helped execute the OKX integration relatively quickly.”



Much of the foundational work achieved by Orion’s developers on previous CEX adaptations leads to a more streamlined and effective way of integrating new CEXs in the future. In doing so, it gives Orion Protocol a fluent way of scaling the technology as it continues to embrace new centralized and decentralized exchanges, giving users growing liquidity and better prices.

Can you explain why adding a CEX integration to Orion is not as easy as just adding a DEX?

”CEXs by default are external systems which are not as transparent as pools - some CEXs don’t have sandbox modes, others provide some sandbox functionality, but it’s much narrower than the scope of integration that Orion achieves. Ultimately, this means that we can test only select features in a sandbox environment with CEXs. This isn’t an issue when integrating AMMs/DEXs.”



One of the biggest differences between Orion and other much less effective aggregators is the ability to draw from these deep CEX sources, ensuring a strengthened order book built from a variety of the crypto industry’s biggest and most liquid centralized (and decentralized) exchanges. In doing so, users maintain access to their own funds through Orion, as nobody owns the assets but the users themselves. Only personal wallets connect to Orion, unlike with CEXs, which control the private keys (and actions) of people’s digital assets.

Can you tell us why adding Orion Bridge has essentially speeded up the ability to add more CEXs and chains?

"Orion Bridge essentially allows users to trade tokens in networks, not natively supported by integrated CEXs. For instance, OKX does not support withdrawals on Fantom. Integration with Orion opens access to OKX’s liquidity on Fantom’s side and we have recently enabled trading of ETH, USDC, USDT and BTC, in addition to FTM. Orion Bridge gives us speed, security and enables true cross-chain, cross-exchange liquidity aggregation for the very first time.”



Orion Bridge, the most secure bridge in market, enables a far greater trading experience through accessibility of digital assets on various chains inbuilt within the same platform. This provides a unique and secure way of trading, opening up various possibilities of enhancing CEX-based liquidity to other chains in the safest of ways. Orion Bridge does not wrap or mint new tokens. Instead, its L1-to-L1 capability gives users the most secure means of bridging tokens; made possible through Orion’s decentralized brokerage.

What new things have you learned after each CEX integration and how has that helped with the OKX integration?

”Multiple CEX integrations helped us develop a uniform approach and methodology, defining common patterns for all exchange integrations and separate individual features of exchanges. In terms of integration, our previous experience with KuCoin helped a great deal since a sandbox/testing environment initially created allowed us similar testing procedures for OKX, too.”



Creating a naturally progressive working environment for developers compounds as workflows become more and more streamlined. Already successful routes of combining deep centralized liquidity into Orion’s one aggregated order book mean the process comes tried and tested with a high level of efficiency. Basing structures on previous integrations gives Orion developers a solid platform to improve this further without relying upon time-consuming methods of creating brand-new solutions every single time.

The gulf in comparison with individual CEXs, DEXs and the other basic aggregators, remains significant as Orion combines some of the deepest CEX liquidity in the industry along with decentralized sources. The work of the development team ensures users do not need an account to trade as users always connect with their own wallet, giving individuals global access from anywhere in the world.

Stay tuned for part two of this Orion developer's perspective.