OKX Pay QR Payments: Exchange Rates, Deductions, and Merchant Confirmation

OKX

22 October 2026

OKX Pay's scan-to-pay feature is currently only available in Singapore. It scans GrabPay merchants' SGQR codes and deducts USDT or USDC on the XLayer network from your OKX Pay balance. The exchange rate is locked at the moment of payment. OKX charges a 1% conversion fee in the exchange, and there are no additional on-chain gas fees. Merchants receive Singapore dollars, processed by the settlement provider StraitsX. Merchants do not need to handle cryptocurrency, so you do not need to reconcile anything with the merchant for "merchant confirmation" — checking the status in your own app is enough.

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Who Can Use It and What Codes to Scan

This feature has clear geographic and account restrictions: you must be an OKX Singapore-registered user with an activated OKX Pay account, and your Pay balance must hold USDT or USDC on the XLayer network (some documents also list USDG). If you are not a Singapore-registered user, even if you are physically in Singapore and can scan a GrabPay code, this path will not work for you.

The only supported QR codes are GrabPay merchants' SGQR codes, both static and dynamic. PayNow, Alipay, and WeChat Pay codes are not currently supported. Usage is limited to within Singapore; overseas merchants cannot be used even if they display the GrabPay logo.

Exchange Rate and Deduction: What Happens at the Moment of Payment

After scanning the code, if the QR code does not have a preset amount, you need to manually enter the SGD amount. Then choose whether to pay with USDT or USDC. The interface will show a real-time exchange rate quote, and you confirm before tapping pay. The key point here is: the moment you see the quote and complete the Passkey signature, the exchange rate is locked and will not fluctuate with the market afterward.

The deduction is made directly from your Pay balance, not from your trading account or funding account. There are no additional blockchain gas fees and no separate transaction fees. The 1% OKX charges is already included in the exchange rate it gives you; you will not see a separate "fee" deduction line item.

Limits: minimum 0.1 SGD per transaction, maximum 50,000 SGD; daily limit equivalent to 10,000 USD (rolling 24 hours), exceeding it requires two-factor verification.

Merchant Confirmation: What You Do Not Need to Do

Merchants receive Singapore dollars that go directly into their bank accounts, processed through StraitsX's settlement channel. The merchant side does not hold or process USDT or USDC. This means you do not need to prove to the merchant that you paid with stablecoins, nor do you need to wait for the merchant to "confirm receipt of cryptocurrency". From the merchant's perspective, this is just an ordinary GrabPay payment.

The completion standard you can verify is in your own app. Payment results usually appear within 3 seconds, with three possible statuses: Completed, Declined (rejected by GrabPay), or Failed (technical issue or expired QR code). You will also receive a push notification. If the status is Declined or Failed, your USDT/USDC will be returned to your Pay balance, and you will also receive a push notification when it arrives.

Payment Failure and Refunds Take Two Different Paths

Payment fails on the spot: funds are returned to your Pay balance, usually very quickly. Receiving the push notification confirms it. You do not need to contact anyone.

Merchant initiates a refund after a successful payment: funds are confirmed by StraitsX and returned to your Pay balance. Official documentation says it usually takes 1–2 minutes. But there is one thing to know in advance: the refund amount is converted at the exchange rate at the time of refund, which may differ from the amount of crypto assets deducted when you paid. If the USDT-to-SGD exchange rate has changed when the SGD amount is refunded, the amount of USDT you get back will not be exactly the same as what was originally deducted. This is not OKX overcharging you; it is caused by exchange rate fluctuations, and the official documentation explicitly states this.

One Operational Detail to Note

After tapping "Pay," there is one more step: Passkey signature. If you decide not to pay after the signature window pops up, simply close the window and no deduction will occur. But once you complete the Passkey signature, the transaction is on-chain and cannot be reversed. Entering the wrong amount depends on the QR code type: for static codes, the amount is entered by you, so if you enter it wrong, it is wrong; for dynamic codes, the amount is preset by the merchant, and if there is an error, you need to ask the merchant to change it — you cannot change it on your end.

Our Assessment

If you are not in Singapore and do not have an OKX Singapore account, this feature is currently irrelevant to you, and you do not need to spend time researching how to "enable" it. If you are a Singapore user who frequently spends at GrabPay merchants, its real value is this: you do not need to first convert crypto to fiat and then top up your GrabPay wallet. Conversion and payment are completed in one step, at the cost of a 1% conversion fee. Compared with paying directly by bank card or GrabPay balance, you pay this extra 1% in exchange for not needing to do fiat conversion in advance. Whether it is worth it depends on how much you value convenience and whether you already have idle USDT/USDC in your Pay balance.

If you do not yet have an OKX account, when registering through this site's invitation code 24U2795, the referrer field is in the registration form and is optional. This code is not related to the OKX Pay scan-to-pay feature, which requires Singapore registration status and a separate Pay account activation process.