NYSE Owner ICE Invests in OKEx Exchange
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the NYSE, has invested in crypto exchange OKEx at a $25 billion valuation. As part of the deal, ICE gets a board seat and will license OKEx's spot crypto prices, while OKEx will offer ICE futures and tokenized equities to its U.S. clients.
This investment is part of a larger digital asset strategy for Intercontinental Exchange. The NYSE parent was an early investor in Coinbase and in October 2025, invested in the prediction market platform Polymarket. The partnership accelerates ICE's push into tokenization, a core strategic focus. In January 2026, ICE announced it was building its own platform for on-chain trading and settlement of tokenized securities; this deal provides access to OKX's massive crypto user base. OKX, founded by Star Xu, is one of the world's largest crypto exchanges by trading volume, serving over 120 million users globally. The exchange, which originated in China, is now headquartered in the Seychelles and established a regional headquarters in San Jose, California. The market reacted immediately to the news, with OKX's proprietary exchange token, OKB, experiencing a price increase of approximately 50 percent following the announcement. The collaboration is designed to be a two-way street for market access. ICE will license OKX's real-time crypto price data to introduce regulated futures contracts in the U.S., pending regulatory approval. In return, OKX's global clientele will gain access to traditional U.S. financial instruments, including ICE's futures markets and, notably, tokenized stocks from the New York Stock Exchange. These integrated products are expected to become available in the second half of 2026. The deal will also focus on developing institutional-grade infrastructure, including joint solutions for clearing, risk management, and multi-chain custody and wallet architectures.
