Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has invested in crypto exchange OKX at a $25 billion valuation and will take a seat on the company’s board, the firms announced Thursday. The size of ICE’s investment was not disclosed.
As part of the strategic relationship, OKX will supply ICE with a live price feed of crypto assets listed on its platform. OKX will also grant its roughly 120 million account holders access to ICE’s U.S. futures and NYSE tokenized-equities markets. The companies said the integration is expected to roll out in the second half of 2026.
Haider Rafique, global managing partner at OKX, said the two firms share strong alignment on tokenization and the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets, noting mutual views on tokenized securities and bringing derivatives to global markets.
OKX CEO Star Xu described the investment on X as the start of deeper collaboration and said it marked a new chapter for the exchange in the United States, calling the U.S. presence a “blank sheet of paper.” The deal follows OKX’s reentry into the U.S. market in April 2025 after a $505 million settlement and the appointment of former Barclays director Roshan Robert as its U.S. CEO.
ICE’s stake in OKX is the latest step in the company’s broader crypto push. In January, ICE said it was developing blockchain-based trading infrastructure for tokenized securities. In November 2025, ICE announced plans to invest $2 billion in prediction-market startup Polymarket at a $9 billion valuation; Polymarket has faced regulatory scrutiny over alleged insider trading.
OKX did not respond to a request for comment. Cointelegraph noted the move aims to build market infrastructure that can engage regulators and institutions and meet the standards of sophisticated capital markets.
Cointelegraph is committed to independent, transparent journalism. This article was produced in accordance with Cointelegraph’s Editorial Policy; readers are encouraged to verify information independently.
