Author: Fortune

Translation: Deep Tide TechFlow

Deep Tide Overview: The highest hall of traditional financial infrastructure has officially entered crypto. The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, ICE, has invested in OKX at a valuation of $25 billion and will open the trading of tokenized stocks on the NYSE to its users—this is not an ordinary financial investment, but rather the most iconic step in the era of the fusion of TradFi and CeFi.

Last summer, Haider Rafique, the Global Head of Corporate Affairs at OKX, flew to Atlanta specifically to meet with Jeffrey Sprecher, the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange. The scheduled 30-minute conversation ultimately lasted a full four hours.

Fast forward a few months, this informal chat evolved into a series of meetings and intensive due diligence, eventually resulting in a significant transaction. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE)—the publicly listed parent company of the NYSE—has made a strategic investment in OKX with a valuation fixed at $25 billion and will occupy a seat on the OKX board. Both parties officially announced this on Thursday.

Rafique refused to disclose the specific investment amount and terms from ICE but emphasized the strong alignment in vision between the two parties.

"Our views of the world, our outlook on the future of tokenized securities, our views on how derivatives will take to the global stage, and how traditional finance and digital assets will merge—there was a strong chemical reaction," Rafique described his initial meeting with NYSE chairman Jeffrey Sprecher.

This transaction is not merely a financial investment. OKX will provide ICE with real-time price data streams for cryptocurrencies that can be traded on its platform; more importantly, OKX users will be able to directly trade tokenized stocks and derivatives listed on the New York Stock Exchange—this feature is expected to launch in the second half of 2026. The term "tokenization" refers to the process of packaging financial assets into blockchain wrappers, and supporters believe this can lower transaction fees and other costs. "This is definitely not just a casual investment," Rafique emphasized.

A New Competitive Landscape

ICE's investment in OKX is an important step for this trading giant to keep pace with the rapid transformation of trading models, but it is not the first step.

In November of last year, ICE announced a $2 billion investment in the prediction market platform Polymarket, which has a valuation of $9 billion. In January of this year, ICE also announced that it is independently developing a blockchain-based tokenized securities trading infrastructure.

Traditional financial institutions betting on crypto companies are not unique to ICE. In November last year, the market maker Citadel Securities invested $200 million in the crypto exchange Kraken, which has a valuation of $20 billion.

"ICE’s potential future competitors may not necessarily be traditional institutions like CME or Nasdaq, but more likely DeFi protocols or super apps," admitted Michael Blaugrund, ICE's Vice President of Strategic Initiatives, hinting at Robinhood and the recently announced collaboration between Uniswap and BlackRock.

In an interview, Blaugrund declined to elaborate on the specific details of the blockchain trading platform's construction. He stated that ICE's self-built tokenization platform and the plan to open tokenized stock trading to OKX users are "complementary projects, but not the same project."

OKX's U.S. Strategy

For OKX, the partnership with ICE is an important part of its image overhaul—from an offshore exchange primarily based in East Asia to a globally compliant trading hub operating in the U.S. This goal is particularly urgent as competitors like Binance continuously face compliance issues.

"We are among the clear-headed in this industry," Rafique positioned OKX.

In February 2025, OKX paid a $500 million fine to the U.S. Department of Justice for operating unlicensed remittance services, pleading guilty to a related charge. In April 2025, OKX completed its re-launch in the U.S. Rafique mentioned that OKX plans to relocate as many as 2,000 of its 5,000 employees to the U.S. but did not specify a timeline. "Especially to support this product, we will definitely invest heavily in the U.S.," he said, referring specifically to the trading plans for tokenized stocks and other assets from ICE.

Rafique also expressed greater expectations for the prospects of the partnership. "We are a three-letter company; they are also a three-letter company," he said, "My wish is that perhaps we can establish a more grand relationship between us."

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