Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, has made a strategic investment in crypto exchange OKX at a $25 billion valuation – one of the most significant moves yet by a legacy financial infrastructure provider into digital assets.
The deal announced Thursday goes beyond a passive stake. ICE will take a board seat at OKX and the two firms will pursue a sweeping collaboration spanning futures products, tokenized equities, custody, and clearing infrastructure.
"Our strategic relationship with OKX will expand global retail access to ICE's pre-eminent regulated markets and accelerate our plans to offer on-chain infrastructure and tokenized assets to U.S. investors," said Jeffrey Sprecher, ICE's chairman and CEO, in a statement.
What the Partnership Includes
The companies outlined three core initiatives:
Regulated crypto futures: ICE will license OKX's spot crypto prices to launch US-regulated futures contracts, giving institutions a compliant route to digital asset exposure through ICE's existing derivatives infrastructure.
Global distribution of tokenized equities: Subject to regulatory approval, OKX will offer its 120 million users access to ICE's US futures markets and NYSE tokenized equities—effectively bridging crypto-native retail investors to traditional US financial markets.
Institutional infrastructure: The firms will collaborate on clearing and risk management, multi-chain custody and wallet architecture, and connectivity frameworks designed to bring institutional participants into digital asset markets.
A joint venture is also planned to bring OKX and ICE-operated markets to US-based customers.
Two Matching Engines, One Market Structure
OKX founder and CEO Star Xu framed the deal as a convergence of parallel trading infrastructures.
"This relationship brings together OKX's digital-asset execution stack and ICE's regulated-market technology – operators of two high-performance matching engines and transparent order books – to help build a more reliable market structure that bridges digital assets and equities," Xu said.
OKX has processed trillions of dollars in trading volume and operates under licenses in the US, Europe, UAE, Singapore, and Australia. The exchange also runs institutional trading and custody services alongside a multi-chain wallet ecosystem.
Expanding the Platform
The ICE partnership comes as OKX continues to build out its consumer-facing features. Today, the exchange announced the launch of Orbit, a native social network embedded within its app that allows users to share verified trading performance – including portfolio returns, profit and loss, and win rates – in real time.
The feature, which begins a phased rollout on March 6, aims to address credibility issues in social trading, where screenshots and selective disclosures have long substituted for verifiable track records. Users can also execute trades directly from posts via cashtags and participate in livestreams and group chats.
The Bigger Picture
The investment marks another step in ICE's stated strategy to build on-chain infrastructure for trading, settlement, custody, and capital formation. For OKX, the partnership provides regulatory credibility and a direct channel to the institutional market that has largely remained out of reach for offshore-originated exchanges.
The $25 billion valuation places OKX among the most valuable private companies in crypto, though ICE said the minority investment would not materially impact its 2026 financial results or capital return plans.
