Why does OKX want to start a new company with the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange?

Author: Chloe, ChainCatcher

The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), announced on Monday, June 22, the establishment of a 50:50 joint venture, OKXICE, with OKX, aiming to create a new generation of infrastructure that connects traditional finance and the digital asset market.

This collaboration is not just another co-branding initiative between a trading platform and a crypto company, but rather combines ICE's regulated market technology, futures and stock market resources with OKX's blockchain trading capabilities aimed at a global user base of 120 million.

OKXICE Aims to Be the Connecting Layer

According to the official press release, OKXICE will focus on the infrastructure development of tokenized and native digital financial products. After obtaining the necessary regulatory approvals, the joint venture is expected to operate as a registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant (FCM) in the United States, allowing OKX's customers in the U.S. and overseas to access ICE's futures market and the New York Stock Exchange's tokenized stock market. Both parties also stated that the joint venture will explore more blockchain financial market opportunities that comply with regulatory requirements.

At the core of this arrangement is "connecting the distribution capabilities of the crypto market to regulated financial markets." ICE owns financial market infrastructures such as the New York Stock Exchange, futures, stock, and options exchanges, as well as clearinghouses, and operates in energy, environmental products, fixed income, data services, and execution platforms. OKX, on the other hand, serves over 120 million users around the world with its crypto trading platform, on-chain wallets, and markets, handling transactions worth trillions of dollars.

The two companies stand at different endpoints of traditional finance and crypto finance, while OKXICE aims to be the connecting layer in between.

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will serve as co-chairman of the joint venture. Cuomo previously served as the 56th governor of New York, New York Attorney General, and Secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and has been collaborating with OKX since 2023. Multiple reports have indicated that Cuomo has previously advised OKX on policy matters and participated in related work during its investigation by U.S. federal authorities. The other co-chairman is Trabue Bland, Senior Vice President of ICE Futures Exchange, who is responsible for ICE's related businesses in commodity, financial, and crypto futures markets.

Cuomo stated in a statement that the next chapter of financial markets will depend on whether innovation and government regulation can advance in sync. He believes that the combination of OKX's blockchain technology and ICE's trusted market infrastructure will help establish a more modern, transparent, and resilient financial system. He also specifically mentioned that blockchain technology could lead to financial democratization, allowing basic financial services to reach more underserved populations.

Trabue Bland described this collaboration as "a step towards building the infrastructure for global market operations for the next several decades." He stated that ICE's global benchmarks and regulated market technology have gained the trust of institutions and traders, and by collaborating with OKX, ICE is attempting to extend this market capability to OKX's 120 million retail traders.

The Goal Is Not Just to Let Traditional Finance "Buy a Little Crypto"

From a timeline perspective, OKXICE did not emerge suddenly. The establishment of this joint venture continues ICE's strategic investment in OKX made in March of this year. Reports indicate that ICE has invested $200 million in OKX at a valuation of $25 billion. The collaboration direction in March included tokenized stocks and crypto futures products, and OKXICE seems to be the vehicle for implementing these strategic arrangements.

In addition, this collaboration involves a two-way flow: on one hand, ICE will use OKX's spot crypto prices to launch regulated crypto futures in the U.S.; on the other hand, OKX will direct its vast user base to ICE's futures contracts and the New York Stock Exchange's planned tokenized stock market. In other words, OKXICE is not a single product line, but a "bridge" connecting two market systems: one side is crypto-native users and trading habits, while the other side is the regulatory market framework of ICE and NYSE.

At the product level, oil futures have become an early clue. Reports indicate that the first product under the relationship is the perpetual oil futures contract that OKX began offering in May; other reports mention that OKXICE is developing oil futures products, and obtaining FCM and broker-dealer registration will be a priority for the joint venture. It is noteworthy that ICE itself has a strong foundation in the energy and commodity futures sectors. If OKXICE starts with oil futures, ICE futures, and tokenized stocks, it means its goal is not just to let traditional finance "buy a little crypto," but to expose crypto trading users to a broader range of traditional financial products.

This collaboration also carries a clear regulatory narrative. Official documents repeatedly emphasize "subject to regulatory approvals" and "regulatory-compliant blockchain-enabled markets." This is not just legal wording, but a key factor in whether the entire business model can be established. OKX previously reached a settlement of over $500 million with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2025, with its affiliated company admitting to operating an unregistered money transmission business in the U.S. market. Since then, OKX has restarted its U.S. operations. For OKX, deep integration with ICE and NYSE infrastructure helps reshape its compliance image in the U.S. market.

For ICE, OKXICE is an extension of its crypto strategy. ICE has previously supported the digital asset company Bakkt, recently invested in the crypto prediction market Polymarket, and participated in other digital asset-related projects. Unlike its earlier view of crypto as a standalone business line, ICE's current strategy appears to treat crypto as part of financial market infrastructure. OKXICE is a step in this direction, more focused on consumer and retail users.

This also explains why the outside world tends to compare OKXICE with platforms like Coinbase. Reports analyze that if OKXICE obtains regulatory approval, it could allow OKX's users to access crypto, futures, and tokenized stocks within the same ecosystem, supported by ICE and the New York Stock Exchange's market infrastructure. For OKX, this is product line expansion and brand reshaping; for ICE, this is acquiring crypto retail traffic; for existing crypto platforms, it may mean more intense market diversion.

Conclusion

However, how far OKXICE can truly go still depends on regulatory approval and product implementation. The official press release did not disclose a complete product roadmap, only clearly mentioning ICE futures, NYSE tokenized stock markets, and adjacent compliant blockchain market opportunities. The market still needs to observe how the joint venture will implement its business and FCM registration under regulatory approval, and truly connect ICE futures, the New York Stock Exchange's tokenized stock market, and OKX's global user access. The official has not yet disclosed a complete product roadmap, and aside from futures and tokenized stock-related directions, more adjacent compliant blockchain market opportunities remain to be explored in the future.

Overall, the establishment of OKXICE by ICE and OKX symbolizes that the relationship between traditional finance and the crypto market is moving from "tentative cooperation" to "infrastructure-level integration." This is not simply about putting stocks on the blockchain or allowing crypto exchanges to sell a few more futures products, but about rearranging market access: in the future, users may be able to access NYSE tokenized stocks, ICE futures, and a broader range of digital financial products through their mobile phones. As Cuomo said, whether innovation and regulation can advance together will determine the shape of the next stage of financial markets. The establishment of OKXICE is the latest node in this experiment.