RWA & DeFi
Andrew Cuomo To Lead NYSE-OKX Tokenized Stocks Venture
ICE and OKX appoint Andrew Cuomo to lead their tokenized stock venture, signaling Wall Street's growing push into blockchain finance.
5h ago 4,280
BLOCKINSIDERLoadingICE and OKX appoint Andrew Cuomo to lead their tokenized stock venture, signaling Wall Street's growing push into blockchain finance.
Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo will co-chair a new joint venture between NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and crypto exchange OKX.
The goal is to bring tokenized US stocks into everyday trading. The announcement follows ICE and OKX confirming their partnership in June. Cuomo now oversees how that vision moves through regulation and rollout.
Intercontinental Exchange and OKX announced last month that they are forming a joint venture to bridge traditional and digital asset markets. The 50-50 partnership will operate as a US-registered broker-dealer and futures commission merchant.
It is designed to let OKX's global customer base access ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets. Beyond that, the venture will explore other regulatory-compliant, blockchain-enabled markets together.
This builds on ICE's earlier strategic investment in OKX, announced in March. It marks a deeper alignment between one of Wall Street's oldest institutions and a major crypto exchange.
Now, Cuomo has been named to lead that venture from the boardroom. He will co-chair it alongside ICE representatives, effectively steering its direction going forward.
Cuomo previously served as New York's governor, state attorney general, and US housing secretary. He has worked with OKX since 2023, giving him existing familiarity with the exchange.
His appointment signals an effort to pair political credibility with crypto ambition. Regulatory relationships matter enormously as tokenized securities move toward mainstream American finance.
Tokenized stocks are blockchain-based tokens that mirror the price of real shares. Each token is typically backed by an actual security held with a broker-dealer.
Holders gain price exposure and, on some platforms, dividends, but not always shareholder rights. Trading can occur around the clock, unlike traditional markets bound to weekday exchange hours.
The category has grown from a crypto niche into something Wall Street now watches closely. Robinhood, Kraken, Binance, and Nasdaq have all pursued tokenization initiatives recently.
Tokenized equities currently hold roughly $2 billion in value across issuers and blockchains.
That figure could climb meaningfully once ICE lends its infrastructure and credibility to OKX.
ICE's backing brings regulatory legitimacy that pure crypto platforms have struggled to match alone. Institutional investors often wait for exactly this kind of traditional-finance validation before committing capital.
Most of that $2 billion sits on Ondo Finance, the sector's dominant platform. Ondo's Global Markets product controls close to half of all tokenized equity value today.
Ondo built its lead through deep DeFi integration, letting tokenized shares serve as collateral. Users can lend, borrow, or trade them within automated markets, not just hold them.
Its tokens are also fully backed by underlying securities held through a US-registered broker-dealer. That structure, plus dividend tracking, has made Ondo the preferred platform for issuers and users alike.
Notably, the single biggest underlying stock tokenized is not Apple or Tesla. It belongs to Figure Technology Solutions, traded on Nasdaq as FIGR and tokenized as FGRS.
Figure built its own rails specifically for this purpose through its Onchain Public Equity Network, called OPEN. The network issues, trades, and settles equity entirely on blockchain, skipping conventional clearing systems.
The tokenized US stocks’ market does not have OKX in the picture, but the partnership between NYSE’s parent company will definitely move the volume from other exchanges to OKX. At present, this is where the money is moving:
Market-wide comparison: Onchain, Ondo leads with $638 million in TVL versus $408 million for xStocks, and $884 million in 30-day DEX volume against $416 million for xStocks.
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