Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has formed a 50-50 joint venture with crypto exchange OKX to build infrastructure for tokenized equities and digital financial products, according to a joint press release from both companies.

The venture, named OKXICE, will seek registration as a U.S. broker-dealer and futures commission merchant, pending regulatory approval. If licensure is acquired, it would give OKX’s 120 million users worldwide access to tokenized versions of NYSE-listed stocks and ICE futures contracts, the companies said in a Business Wire statement.

OKX ICE joint venture details

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will co-chair the venture alongside Trabue Bland, ICE’s senior vice president of futures exchanges. Cuomo has been working with OKX since 2023, and plans to spend the majority of his time overseeing the new entity.

“The next chapter of financial markets will be defined by how well innovation and government regulation can move forward together,” Cuomo said in the announcement. He added that oil futures products are already in development at the new joint venture.

Bland framed the partnership in terms of extending ICE’s institutional reach to retail traders. “ICE’s global benchmarks and regulated market technology have earned the trust of institutions and traders everywhere, and now, through our partnership with OKX, we are working towards extending that reach to OKX’s 120 million retail traders,” he stated.

ICE OKX relationship deepens amid OKX regulatory issues

Monday’s announcement follows the deal done in March, where ICE took a strategic stake in OKX. The WSJ reported that ICE invested roughly $200 million, valuing the San Jose-based crypto exchange at about $25 billion.

ICE has also continued to expand its interest in digital assets. The exchange operator is a long-time backer of Bakkt (NYSE: BKKT), the digital asset platform, and only recently invested $2 billion in Polymarket, the crypto-powered prediction market, at a valuation of up to $10 billion.

A federal investigation into OKX was settled in 2025 for more than $500 million, with the company admitting guilt to charges of operating illegally in the U.S. market. OKX has since relaunched its American operations and holds licenses in the U.S., UAE, the European Economic Area, Singapore, and Australia.

The joint venture’s emphasis on regulatory compliance, including its planned broker-dealer and FCM registrations, shows a clear intention and effort not to repeat such regulatory mistakes.

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