When Crypto Met Wall Street: OKX and ICE Tap Cuomo to Build the On-Ramp 🏛️

Crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) are forming a joint venture led by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to build infrastructure connecting traditional and digital financial markets. Subject to regulatory approval, the venture is expected to operate as a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant, the two companies announced Monday.

The initiative is designed to give OKX's 120 million global users access to ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets, and to explore additional opportunities for blockchain-enabled trading in a regulatory-compliant framework. "The ICE-OKX joint venture is a step towards building the infrastructure that will define how global markets operate in the decades ahead," said Trabue Bland, senior vice president at ICE. "The next chapter of financial markets will be defined by how well innovation and government regulation can move forward together," Cuomo added. "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."

Cuomo, New York's 56th governor, previously served as the state's attorney general and as U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. He began working with OKX in 2023. The joint venture extends an existing relationship between the two firms: in March, ICE and OKX announced a partnership to introduce tokenized stocks and crypto futures products, alongside a strategic investment in the San Jose, California-based exchange at a $25 billion valuation.

The new venture also fits into ICE's broader digital asset strategy. ICE is a long-time backer of digital asset firm Bakkt (BKKT) and more recently invested $2 billion in crypto-powered prediction market Polymarket, valuing the platform at up to $10 billion. Together, the moves position ICE to deepen its footprint across tokenization, derivatives and onchain financial infrastructure alongside one of the largest offshore crypto exchanges by user count.