Intercontinental Exchange and OKX announced the formation of a 50-50 joint venture focused on building next-generation infrastructure for tokenized and digitally native financial products.
Intercontinental Exchange is one of the world’s leading providers of financial market technology and data, and OKX is a global blockchain technology company serving more than 120 million customers worldwide.
Subject to certain regulatory approvals, the joint venture is expected to operate as a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant. The venture is intended to enable OKX customers in the U.S. and overseas to access ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets.
The companies said the joint venture will also explore adjacent opportunities for regulatory-compliant blockchain-enabled markets.
The joint venture will be co-chaired by Intercontinental Exchange and former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo. Cuomo, who previously served as New York’s 56th governor, New York State Attorney General, and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, began working with OKX in 2023.
The announcement follows ICE’s strategic investment in OKX, which was announced in March. The partnership reflects growing interest in connecting traditional financial market infrastructure with blockchain-based products and digital asset markets.
KEY QUOTES:
“The next chapter of financial markets will be defined by how well innovation and government regulation can move forward together. 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. I am personally excited by the prospect of the societal impact that blockchain technology can lead to: the democratization of finance, bringing basic financial services to underserved populations.”
Andrew M. Cuomo, Co-Chair of the Joint Venture
“The ICE-OKX joint venture is a step towards building the infrastructure that will define how global markets operate in the decades ahead. 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.”
Trabue Bland, Senior Vice President, Futures Exchanges at ICE
