Key Takeaways:
Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, and crypto exchange OKX announced Monday a 50-50 joint venture to build regulated infrastructure bridging traditional and digital asset markets, giving OKX's 120 million users access to NYSE tokenized equities and ICE futures markets.
"The next chapter of financial markets will be defined by how well innovation and government regulation can move forward together," Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who will co-chair the venture alongside ICE senior vice president Trabue Bland, said in a statement. "This partnership brings together OKX's world-class blockchain technology and ICE's trusted market infrastructure to help build a more modern, transparent, and resilient financial system for the future."
Subject to regulatory approvals, the venture — to be called OKXICE — is expected to operate as a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant. Oil futures products are already in development, Cuomo told Fortune, with securing an FCM license and broker-dealer registration topping the priority list. The JV will also explore what the companies described as "adjacent opportunities for regulatory-compliant blockchain-enabled markets," including tokenized bonds and commodities.
The deal builds on a strategic investment ICE made in OKX in March at a $25 billion valuation, with the Wall Street Journal reporting the stake came to roughly $200 million. ICE also holds a seat on OKX's board. The exchange operator is a long-time backer of digital asset firm Bakkt and invested $2 billion in prediction market Polymarket earlier this year, valuing the platform at up to $10 billion.
OKX holds licenses across the U.S., UAE, European Economic Area, Singapore, and Australia, giving the JV a regulatory footprint that most crypto-native firms lack. The exchange settled a federal investigation in 2025 for more than $500 million, with the underlying company admitting guilt to charges that it had operated illegally in the U.S. market before subsequently relaunching its U.S. operations.
Cuomo, who also served as New York State Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, began working with OKX in 2023 and will spend the majority of his time overseeing the joint venture, according to Fortune.
The partnership marks the first time a major U.S. exchange operator has entered a direct operating structure with a global crypto exchange at this scale. For OKX's user base, the venture creates one of the largest compliant on-ramps to regulated equity and futures products ever built through crypto-native infrastructure. For ICE, it extends its digital asset strategy beyond Bakkt and Polymarket into direct retail distribution.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.
