Author: Ben Weiss
Compiled by: TechFlow TechFlow
Original link: https://fortune.com/2026/03/05/okx-ice-intercontinental-exchange-investment-tokenized-securities-25-billio/
TechFlow Dive: The pinnacle of traditional financial infrastructure has officially entered the crypto arena. ICE, the parent company of the NYSE, has invested in OKX at a valuation of $25 billion and will open up NYSE-to-tokenized stock trading to its users—this is not just an ordinary financial investment, but a landmark step in the convergence of TradeFi and CeFi.
Last summer, Haider Rafique, Global Corporate Affairs General Manager at OKX, flew to Atlanta to meet with Jeffrey Sprecher, Chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. The meeting, originally scheduled for 30 minutes, ended up lasting four hours.
Fast forward a few months, and this informal chat escalated into a series of meetings and intensive due diligence, ultimately leading to a blockbuster deal. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) —the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange—has completed a strategic investment in OKX, valuing the company at $25 billion and securing a seat on OKX's board of directors. The two companies officially announced the deal this Thursday.
Rafique declined to disclose the specific amount and terms of the ICE investment, but emphasized that the two sides are highly aligned in their vision.
"Our views on the world, our vision for the future of tokenized securities, how derivatives can go global, and how traditional finance and digital assets can merge—the chemistry between us is excellent," Rafique described his first meeting with NYSE Chairman Jeffrey Sprecher.
This deal is not simply a financial investment. OKX will provide ICE with real-time price data streams of cryptocurrencies tradable on its platform; more importantly, OKX users will be able to directly trade tokenized stocks and derivatives listed on the New York Stock Exchange —a feature expected to launch in the second half of 2026. "Tokenization" refers to the process of packaging financial assets into a blockchain wrapper, which proponents believe can reduce costs such as transaction fees. "This is by no means a trivial investment," Rafique emphasized.
New competitive landscape
ICE's investment in OKX is an important step for the exchange giant to keep up with the rapid changes in trading models, but it is not the first step.
Last November, ICE announced a $2 billion investment in prediction market platform Polymarket, valuing the company at $9 billion. This January, ICE further announced it was developing its own blockchain-based tokenized securities trading infrastructure.
Established financial institutions are betting on crypto companies, and ICE is not an isolated case. Last November, market maker Citadel Securities invested $200 million in crypto exchageKraken at a valuation of $20 billion.
"The future competitors of institutions like ICE are not necessarily traditional institutions like CME or Nasdaq, but more likely DeFi protocols or super apps," Michael Blaugrund, ICE's VP of Strategic Initiatives, frankly stated, referring to Robinhood and Uniswap, the DeFi platform that recently announced a partnership with BlackRock.
In the interview, Blaugrund declined to elaborate on the specific details of the blockchain trading platform's setup. He stated that ICE's self-built tokenization platform and its plan to open tokenized stock trading to OKX users are "complementary projects, but not the same project."
OKX's US Strategy
For OKX, the partnership with ICE is a crucial part of its image reshaping—transforming from an offshore exchange primarily located in East Asia into a compliant global trading hub operating in the United States. This goal is particularly urgent as its competitor Binance has been embroiled in a series of compliance controversies.
"We are among the clear-headed ones in this industry," Rafique said of OKX.
In February 2025, OKX paid a $500 million fine to the U.S. Department of Justice for operating an unlicensed money transfer business and pleaded guilty to one related charge. In April 2025, OKX completed its relaunch in the United States. Rafique stated that OKX plans to relocate up to 2,000 of its 5,000 employees to the United States, but did not disclose a specific timeline. "Especially to support this product, we will definitely invest heavily in the United States," he said, referring to its plans to trade tokenized stocks and other ICE assets.
Rafique also expressed greater expectations for the future of the collaboration. "We are a three-letter company, and they are a three-letter company," he said. "My hope is that perhaps we can build a much larger relationship."
