THE TRUTH
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The NYSE’s parent company announced a joint venture with the global crypto exchange on Monday. The business, partnership between Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and OKX will be called OKXICE. If approved, this would mark a major overhaul for OKX, which was recently fined more than $500 million for anti-money laundering and KYC (know-your-customer) failures—and could be an even bigger blow to the market share of platforms like Coinbase.
HOW IS IT?
The business news follows ICE’s announcement of a “strategic partnership,” and investment in OKX in March. Although financial terms were not disclosed, ICE said OKX’s valuation was approximately $25 billion.
The 50-50 venture will give OKX’s 120 million customers access to the ICE futures and NYSE token markets. It is not clear whether this will happen with the new app or with the existing OKX platform. The joint venture may soon operate as a registered US broker and futures commission merchant (FCM), businesses that facilitate options and futures trading by accepting orders and handling margin requirements.
The joint venture will be co-managed by former New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, who has joined OKX since 2022 as a paid policy advisor, and Trabue Bland, ICE’s Senior Vice President of Futures Exchanges. Cuomo, who is now a licensed attorney, advises OKX on its latest legal matters, Bloomberg reports. Given how that turned out for OKX — a $504 million DOJ settlement and a February 2025 trial — you’d think trust in Cuomo would be gone. Apparently not.
“This partnership brings together OKX’s world-class blockchain technology and ICE’s trusted marketplace infrastructure to help build a modern, transparent, and robust financial system for the future,” Cuomo said. “I personally am excited about the prospect of social impact that blockchain technology can lead to: democratizing finance, bringing basic financial services to the underserved.”
WHY IT IS IMPORTANT
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This joint venture is the next step for ICE as it builds a compliant, open market for blockchain and token shares. 120 million OKX clients trade. ICE finds dealers. ICE said in January it will build its own platform. Now, after supporting Coinbase, Bakkt (a SaaS and API platform), Polymarket, and finally OKX, it has positioned itself on the path of crypto rails and tollbooths for everything. Longer term, once it gets past the US regulatory framework, trading volume may increase with increased operational costs, given the low-cost nature of the blockchain infrastructure that has been spent years building.
