Intercontinental Exchange (or just ICE), the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, and crypto exchange OKX formed a 50-50 joint venture to build infrastructure for tokenized financial products.
The companies said in a Monday press release that the venture is expected, subject to regulatory approvals, to operate as a U.S. registered broker dealer and futures commission merchant.
- That would let OKX customers in the U.S. and overseas access ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets through regulated market plumbing.
The move turns a March strategic relationship between ICE and OKX into a formal operating structure. ICE invested in OKX earlier this year in a deal that valued the crypto exchange at $25 billion.
- The joint venture will be co-chaired by ICE and Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who began working with OKX in 2023.
From oil perps to tokenized stocks
As The Coinformer reported in May, ICE and OKX also moved to launch perpetual futures tied to Brent and West Texas Intermediate oil benchmarks, giving crypto traders exposure to oil prices through OKX in eligible markets.
That launch came as oil-linked crypto trading was drawing more attention. ICE and CME Group had previously pushed U.S. officials to bring Hyperliquid, a decentralized crypto exchange known for perps, under closer oversight after oil-linked trading surged during the Iran conflict.
- The companies didn't give a launch date or say which NYSE-listed stocks or ICE futures products would be available first.