Global cryptocurrency firm OKX on June 23 officially announced it would set up a joint venture with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), to build next-generation infrastructure for tokenised financial products and digital assets.

The OKX-ICE joint venture will operate on a 50-50 equity basis and is set to launch as a U.S.-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant (FCM) after receiving regulatory approval. This will allow OKX users in the United States and overseas to gain direct access to ICE futures markets and the NYSE tokenised stock market. The companies also plan to explore other blockchain-based financial business opportunities on the premise of regulatory compliance.

OKX founder and CEO Star Xu (스타 쉬) said of the partnership: "The future of capital markets will not be built with cryptocurrency alone. Technology, regulation, institutions and public policy must work together, and that is why OKX has high expectations for the partnership with ICE." He added: "The convergence of traditional finance and digital finance is now becoming reality."

Trabue Bland (트래뷰 블랜드), senior vice president at ICE Futures Exchanges, said: "The ICE-OKX joint venture is a step toward building infrastructure that will define how global markets operate over the coming decades." He added: "ICE global benchmarks and regulated market technology have earned trust from institutions and traders worldwide, and we are now working, through the partnership with OKX, to extend that influence to OKX's 120 million retail traders."