Previously, ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, partnered with OKX. Now, Nasdaq is investing in KraKen. Why are traditional exchange giants investing in cryptocurrency exchanges? From a personal perspective, the core of these two investments is that traditional exchanges have entered the "trading, distribution, and settlement system after assets are put on the chain" in advance, striving to continue to control customers, standards, and fee rights. For OKX and Kraken, it is to expand into a comprehensive financial platform covering stocks, encrypted assets, and derivatives by leveraging the products, institutional networks, and market infrastructure of traditional exchanges. Asset on chain is gaining stronger industry recognition, and value distribution is entering a more intense competitive stage. Traditional financial institutions are investing and collaborating to use cryptocurrency exchanges as distribution entry points and on chain channels for the next generation of markets, moving stocks, futures, and clearing to a nearly 24-hour, on chain settlement track, while keeping rules and supervision in their own hands, striving to integrate cryptocurrency native platforms into their business networks. Let's talk about the industrial significance of this: 1. For ICE (New York Stock Exchange) and Nasdaq 1) The most direct motivation is to acquire customers and products that the other party already owns and it is difficult for oneself to quickly replicate, Grab the trading entrance of 'always online' So the ICE announcement clearly states that it intends to provide access to OKX's 120 million account for its US futures and NYSE tokenized stock market, and develop regulated US futures using OKX spot prices. 2) Make 'tokenized stocks' your own defined standard If Robinhood, various cryptocurrency exchanges, and synthetic tokens are allowed to mirror Nvidia and Apple on their own chains, the exchanges will become brand merchants with only opening bells and listing ceremonies, and pricing, trading, and company actions will be diverted. 3) The deeper motivation is to prevent oneself from being bypassed after the migration of financial activities. Imagine a future scenario where investors hold stock tokens in their wallets, trade them with stablecoins, and then transfer their assets to lending platforms to obtain financing. The businesses that were originally scattered in brokerage accounts, exchanges, custody, and fund transfer processes will be reorganized. What traditional exchanges need to strive for is to continue providing valuable services in this new process. 2. For cryptocurrency exchanges, however 1) Exchange Wall Street endorsement for US compliance status OKX has long been seen as a platform with a stronger Asian/offshore color, and it took 25 years to reintroduce its US business. ICE's investment and inclusion in the board of directors is equivalent to giving a business card that "can work with the New York Stock Exchange to do business in the US market", and also transforming the US retail and institutional channels from "slowly applying for licenses on their own" to "joint ventures with infrastructure giants to obtain licenses". Kraken/Payward is already more inclined towards compliance and is still preparing to go public. Nasdaq's investment, the German Stock Exchange's investment, and the London Stock Exchange's cooperation are telling regulators and future public investors that this is not a pure cryptocurrency casino, but an extension of the traditional market structure. For Payward, it can also alleviate the pressure of immediate IPO financing. 2) TradFi and Crypto have shifted from "watching from a distance" to "investing in each other and sharing channels". Form an industry network of cross collaboration. Now you can see an alliance chart: 1) ICE - OKX (plus Polymarket, tZERO); 2) Nasdaq - Payward/Kraken (Singapore Exchange, London Stock Exchange); 3) The New York Stock Exchange and Nasdaq each promote 24/7 tokenized stocks 3) The scope of competition will significantly expand. The competition in the future will become increasingly diverse: cryptocurrency exchanges will compete with each other for users, as well as with platforms formed by cooperation with securities firms, banks, and traditional exchanges. This will drive the evolution of cryptocurrency exchanges towards comprehensive financial platforms, and also increase the pressure on smaller platforms that lack licenses and institutional cooperation networks. This also forces various platforms such as Robinwood, Coinbase, Binance, Bitget, and Gate to compete more actively and gather resources. 3. The greater significance lies in occupying space Once the regulatory window is opened, it must occupy a position and cannot wait until the new trend has taken shape. Previously, ICE publicly stated that it was only after the new US government took office that traditional finance felt more at ease in discussing this matter with regulators. After the SEC allowed some stocks to be traded and settled in tokenized form, Nasdaq moved its cooperation from a framework to real gold and silver investment. In other words, this is a judgment that 'the rules begin to allow securities to be put on the chain, and those who occupy the pipeline first will define the next generation market structure'. Joint ventures, joining the board of directors, and exporting supervision systems are all aimed at blocking commercial and governance relationships before the license approval process is completed. This is true for traditional exchange giants, as well as for cryptocurrency trading platforms.