ICE Joins OKX in 50-50 Broker-Dealer Deal Targeting US Tokenized Equity Markets

The two companies disclosed the deal Monday, describing the venture as infrastructure focused on tokenized and digitally native financial products. Subject to regulatory approvals, the joint venture will operate as a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant, or FCM.

What the Venture Does

Once operational, the entity will allow OKX customers in the United States and abroad to access ICE futures markets and NYSE tokenized equity products. The companies said the joint venture will also pursue adjacent opportunities in regulatory-compliant, blockchain-enabled markets.

The partnership follows ICE’s strategic investment in OKX announced in March, deepening a relationship that now extends into shared market infrastructure.

Cuomo Takes a Co-Chair Role

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will serve as co-chair of the joint venture alongside representatives from ICE. Cuomo, who previously served as New York State Attorney General and U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, began working with OKX in 2023.

“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 remarked. He also cited the potential for blockchain to expand access to financial services for underserved populations.

What ICE Brings

Trabue Bland, Senior Vice President of Futures Exchanges at ICE, framed the deal in institutional terms. “ICE’s global benchmarks and regulated market technology have earned the trust of institutions and traders everywhere,” Bland said, “and now, through our partnership with OKX, we are working towards extending that reach to OKX’s 120 million retail traders.”

ICE operates some of the world’s most widely used financial benchmarks and clearing infrastructure. Its involvement gives the venture direct access to regulated market rails that crypto-native companies typically cannot provide on their own.

What OKX Brings

OKX serves more than 120 million users worldwide and holds regulatory licenses in the United States, the UAE, Singapore, Australia, and the European Economic Area. The company publishes monthly proof-of-reserves reports and has positioned itself as one of the more compliance-focused exchanges in the industry.

Headquartered in San Jose, California for the Americas and Dubai for the Middle East, OKX has built out a global operational presence that the joint venture will draw on to reach customers across multiple jurisdictions.

Why It Matters

The deal puts a major traditional finance institution in direct partnership with a top-tier crypto exchange at the infrastructure level. Rather than simply listing crypto products on an existing exchange, ICE and OKX are building a new entity designed from the ground up to serve both retail crypto traders and institutional market participants with regulated, tokenized financial instruments.