Global trading giant Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), has entered into a strategic partnership and investment with cryptocurrency exchange OKX. The deal, announced on Thursday, March 5, 2026, values OKX at $25 billion, though the specific investment amount remains undisclosed.
The partnership is multifaceted. ICE will license OKX's spot crypto price data for its own crypto futures products. In return, OKX will offer its users access to ICE futures and tokenized equities—stocks represented as digital tokens on a blockchain. This feature is slated to launch in the second half of 2026.
As part of the agreement, ICE will secure a seat on OKX's board of directors. The collaboration aims to leverage OKX's blockchain infrastructure with ICE's market technology to advance clearing and risk management solutions, multi-chain custody, and wallet architecture.
Jeffrey C. Sprecher, ICE Chair and CEO, stated the partnership 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." OKX founder and CEO Star Xu highlighted the union of two high-performance trading engines to build a more reliable market structure bridging digital assets and equities.
OKX Global Managing Director Haider Rafique, instrumental in the deal, called the relationship "truly unique." The news triggered a significant price surge for OKX's native token, OKB, which approached the $120 mark following the announcement.
