ICE and OKX form venture to expand tokenized equities access in the U.S.

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ICE and OKX tokenized equities

Highlights

ICE and OKX are forming a 50-50 U.S. joint venture, co-chaired by ICE and Andrew Cuomo, to bridge crypto-native and established market infrastructure for tokenized equities.
The venture will operate as a registered broker-dealer and Futures Commission Merchant, planning to offer ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities while pursuing compliance with U.S. regulations.
In March, ICE invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation and gained a board seat, indicating deepening collaboration in tokenized NYSE-listed stocks and derivatives.

Joint venture structure and market access plan

The companies said in a Monday announcement that the 50-50 venture is being created to develop next-generation market infrastructure linking crypto-native distribution with established exchange and clearing capabilities.

The venture is set to be co-chaired by ICE and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, and it is intended to operate as a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and Futures Commission Merchant. Beyond providing access to ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities, the partners say the business also explores other blockchain-enabled opportunities that meet regulatory requirements.

Cuomo says the partnership combines OKX's blockchain technology with ICE's market infrastructure at a time when innovation and regulation need to advance together. Trabue Bland, ICE senior vice president of futures exchanges, says the venture is aimed at extending ICE's regulated market technology and benchmarks to OKX's global retail user base.

Broader push into regulated digital assets

For OKX, the venture adds to a broader expansion beyond crypto trading into traditional asset markets and prediction products. The exchange says it has 120 million users globally, giving the partnership a potentially large retail distribution channel if approvals are secured.

The move also builds on ties established earlier this year. In March, ICE invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation, gained a board seat, and said the two companies would explore trading tokenized NYSE-listed stocks and derivatives on OKX.

Cuomo has advised OKX since 2023, adding a political and regulatory profile to the initiative as tokenized securities remain an area of active scrutiny in the U.S. financial sector. The planned structure suggests the partners are trying to position the offering within existing regulated market frameworks rather than outside them.

Our earlier report on ICE and OKX’s joint venture outlined how the partners plan to build regulated infrastructure for tokenized assets, digital-asset derivatives, and potentially 24/7 trading, with Andrew Cuomo serving as co-chair and the venture pursuing broker-dealer and FCM licences. We also noted the broader backdrop of growing U.S. political and exchange-industry support for regulated digital-asset products as traditional market operators expand into blockchain-enabled offerings.

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