VALLETTA, Malta--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan 28, 2026--
OKX, a leading global cryptocurrency platform and onchain technology company, today announced the European launch of the OKX Card, designed to knock down barriers to everyday crypto use.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260128534008/en/
While most crypto cards require users to manually convert assets, preload balances, or absorb hidden fees before paying, the OKX Card enables direct stablecoin payments anywhere in the world Mastercard is accepted - with zero fees and instant crypto rewards of up to 20% on eligible purchases.
Built for modern Europeans who want to use crypto as everyday money without giving up control, OKX Card removes the friction traditionally associated with crypto payments. Users can tap to pay directly while earning instant crypto rewards.
OKX Card is designed around onchain self-custody and instant execution. Stablecoins remain in the user’s wallet until the exact moment of purchase, converting seamlessly at checkout to connect crypto with real world purchases at any retailer that accepts Mastercard worldwide.
Key benefits of OKX Card include:
"With OKX Card, we’re making it simple for anyone in Europe to use crypto for real-world purchases - instantly, securely, and transparently," said Erald Ghoos, CEO of OKX Europe. "Crypto was originally conceived as a means of payment and with OKX Card our users can turn this vision into reality. We are making stablecoins practical and accessible for everyday finance for everyone, powered by one of the world’s most trusted digital asset platforms."
"Stablecoins bring more choice to users, and by partnering with OKX, Mastercard is helping bring them into the financial mainstream with trust, scale, and utility,” said Christian Rau, Senior Vice President, Global Digital Commercialization. “Expanding the OKX card to Europeans is a natural next step."
OKX Card is issued through a licensed European payments partner and operates within the European Economic Area under strict AML and KYC standards. OKX continues to advance its own payments licensing as part of its long-term commitment to compliant, regulated crypto services across Europe.
The launch of OKX Card marks a major step in OKX’s broader strategy to bring crypto into everyday finance — setting the stage for premium card tiers, expanded rewards, merchant partnerships, and Web3 commerce integrations across the region.
About OKX
Trusted by more than 100 million customers around the globe, OKX is a technology company building a decentralized future that makes the world more tradable, transparent and connected. We're known for being one of the fastest and most reliable crypto apps in the world, and have processed trillions of dollars in transactions.
We have key regional offices, including headquarters in San José, California, for the Americas and in Dubai for the Middle East. We also have offices in São Paulo, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Republic of Türkiye, Australia and Europe. Over the past several years, we've built one of the world's most comprehensive regulatory compliant, licensed crypto companies. We hold licenses in the United States, the UAE, EEA, Singapore and Australia, as well as in other markets.
We're steadfastly committed to transparency and security and publish Proof of Reserves reports on a monthly basis. To learn more about OKX, download our app or visit: okx.com.
Leading global cryptocurrency exchange OKX launches OKX Card in Europe, enabling stablecoin payments anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Until quite recently, the prevailing image to outsiders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been male missionaries wearing white shirts and name tags, evoked by the hit Broadway show “The Book of Mormon.”
But another unofficial face of the male-led church has emerged in American pop culture: digitally savvy, female influencers, often seen sporting athleisure, a giant soda in hand — and varying degrees of adherence to church teachings.
These influencers have found an enthusiastic audience across the country, curious about their faith and families. Some explain the tenets of what's widely known as the Mormon church, but others bring attention to the rules they often break — drinking alcohol, having premarital sex and in one high-profile instance, a “soft-swinging” scandal that birthed the hugely popular Hulu reality series, “The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives.”
ABC sought to capitalize on that interest by casting “Mormon Wives” star Taylor Frankie Paul in “The Bachelorette,” but recently had to scuttle the already filmed season after a video of a domestic violence incident surfaced.
These viral moments and “Mormon Wives” project a version of the faith that appears more progressive and lenient than church leadership and other Latter-day Saint influencers might like. “The internet really challenged the church’s ability to maintain its own narratives about itself,” said Nancy Ross, an associate professor at Utah Tech University who studies Mormon feminism.
The church has worked to distance itself from “Mormon Wives,” issuing a statement ahead of the first season’s premiere in 2024 without naming the show specifically. It said that some media portrayals of Latter-day Saint women resort to “stereotypes or gross misrepresentations that are in poor taste and have real-life consequences for people of faith.”
Camille N. Johnson, the president of the church’s Relief Society organization for women, said in an emailed statement that it’s important to seek out trusted sources of information about the church and its members in light of recent media attention.
“Millions of Latter-day Saint women around the world strive to live faith-filled lives grounded in a love for God and all of His children,” she said.
It would be impossible for the “Mormon Wives” cast to fully represent millions of women in the church. But they are not the only Latter-day Saint influencers online — nor are they the only ones with large followings.
Many are women in their early twenties who are married with young children. They post about young motherhood and experiences like buying a house before they turn 25. Lauren Yarro, a Latter-day Saint content creator and podcast host, said she can see this being a foreign image to some.
“Our culture is fascinating to an outsider, and I can understand why it would pull people in,” she said. “That Mormon timeline is intriguing to the rest of the world. I think most people innately have a desire for a happy marriage and a happy family life and we tend to create those in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
The beliefs and practices of church members have often been the subject of intense interest and scrutiny because of how they differ from other religions. Some of these include the belief that church leadership can receive revelations from God, or the practice of wearing garments under clothing that have deep religious significance.
Latter-day Saint influencers are not a new phenomenon, but they have found staying power by driving pop culture discourse and documenting their lifestyles. Many of them use content creation as a way to be stay-at-home parents while also generating income for their families. Several prominent creators live in Utah, the home of the church’s administrative and cultural hub, but there is a broad spectrum in terms of how much they bring their faith into their content.
While “Mormon Wives” and its controversial star, Paul, have been the recent high-profile drivers of public interest, the cast talks about the church only sparingly. Rosemary Avance, an assistant professor at Oklahoma State University whose research includes religious identity and digital media, said “there’s so little reference” to the cast's faith once people are hooked on the show from its title. Many cast members have left the church or are no longer active in it.
“It was clearly a marketing strategy on behalf of the people putting these shows together. They think that’ll draw people in, and it does,” she said. “It’s not like you have these women sitting down talking about their secret temple practices that they’re not supposed to speak about, or challenging the authority of the church in some way. They’re just not talking about it.”
Avance sees parallels between now and about 15 years ago, when Republican Mitt Romney was running for president and “The Book of Mormon” debuted on Broadway. At the time, people wanted to know “what’s going on behind the scenes in Mormonism,” she said.
“People think they know a lot about it (Mormonism), and they’ve heard a lot about it because there’s prominent stories and prominent people who are well-known and those narratives are circulated, but it’s almost always second-, third-hand,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know any Mormons and may never meet a Mormon, or if they have, they don’t know it, and so it’s what you’ve heard and the preconceptions you think you have about Mormonism.”
Creators like Yarro, who speak about their faith openly online and closely follow the church's teachings, said “Mormon Wives” does not feel representative of their experiences in the church or their lives in Utah. The Latter-day Saint content creators who spoke with The Associated Press emphasized they don't place fault on the individual cast members, but rather the production of the show and the way it Hollywoodizes their faith. Representatives for Hulu did not respond to a request for comment.
“The only thing I don’t like about what they do is sometimes they will play on things, twist things, use what is sacred to us as members of the church, and they’ll put it out and it feels like mockery to us,” said Shayla Egan, another Latter-day Saint content creator.
Some of the more devout members use their online platforms to respond to and course-correct more salacious social media content or “Mormon Wives” storylines they believe don't align with their understanding of church teachings or experiences.
Mimi Bascom, a Latter-day Saint content creator who says the mission behind her social media presence is to “show that members of the church are real people,” often makes videos responding to “Mormon Wives” clips. She finds the show to be a “net positive for our church” since it gives everyday members the opportunity to “share what we actually believe and get that more out there into the world,” she said.
Bascom, for one, had always prepared to serve on a mission but no longer could after getting married. Making content about the church has felt like a way she's “able to still live that out,” she said.
“We want to be missionaries and spread the good word of the Gospel,” she continued, “and so this is just another way we can do it.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
FILE - The sun sets behind the Mormon Temple, the centerpiece of Temple Square, in Salt Lake City, April 27, 2006. (AP Photo/Douglas C. Pizac, File)
FILE - Jen Affleck, from left, Layla Taylor, Miranda McWhorter, and Jessi Draper Ngatikaura participate in Hulu's "The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives" photo call at The Rink at Rockefeller Plaza, Tuesday, Nov. 11, 2025, in New York. (Photo by CJ Rivera/Invision/AP, File)
