ICE backs OKX at $25B; crypto stocks rally; Warsh nominated
News
Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), invested in OKX at a $25 billion valuation; crypto-related equities rallied following pro-crypto signals from US President Trump and regulators; and the White House formally sent Kevin Warsh’s nomination to chair the US Federal Reserve to the Senate for confirmation.
ICE invests in OKX at $25 billion valuation
ICE has taken a stake in crypto exchange OKX at a $25 billion valuation and will join the company’s board, according to a Thursday announcement. The amount invested was not disclosed. The move is part of ICE’s broader efforts in blockchain technology and tokenized securities, the announcement said.
Under the partnership, OKX will supply ICE with a real-time pricing feed for digital assets listed on its platform. OKX will also extend access to ICE’s US futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets to its approximately 120 million customer accounts. The integration is slated to begin in the second half of 2026.
Haider Rafique, global managing partner at OKX, said the firms are closely aligned on tokenization and the convergence of traditional finance and digital assets.
OKX CEO Star Xu wrote on X that the investment is “not an endpoint,” describing it as the start of a deeper collaboration. He added that the partnership shapes the company’s approach to the US market, which he described as a “blank sheet of paper.”
The development follows OKX’s reentry into the US in April 2025 and the appointment of former Barclays executive Roshan Robert as its US CEO.
Source: Star Xu
Stocks rally as Trump, regulators nudge pro-crypto agenda
Crypto-focused stocks advanced on Wednesday as supportive commentary from the US president helped lift Bitcoin and the broader digital asset market.
Alongside gains in cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin treasury company Strategy climbed by more than 10%. Crypto exchange Coinbase rose by more than 14%, while miners Hut 8 gained 13.89%, and American Bitcoin Corp increased 11.65%.
Bitcoin treasury company Strategy was one of the many crypto-related stocks to rise. Source: Google Finance
Dominick John, an analyst at Zeus Research, said crypto equities are rallying as regulatory risks are being reframed, citing the executive branch’s backing for a clearer digital asset framework, strong spot ETF inflows, and the potential passage of the Clarity Act.
Pav Hundal, lead analyst at Australian crypto platform Swyftx, said President Donald Trump’s criticism of banks and his support for the Senate’s crypto market structure bill may also be contributing to the move.
Trump sends pro-Bitcoin Fed chair nomination to Senate
The White House has submitted Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the US Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, to the Senate for consideration. Warsh, who has previously expressed positive views on Bitcoin (BTC), is slated to replace Jerome Powell as chair.
In a Wednesday notice, the White House said Trump transmitted Warsh’s nomination to serve as chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve for a four-year term and as a member of the Board of Governors for 14 years. Powell’s term as chair ends in May, though he may remain as a Fed governor until 2028.
Warsh has made multiple public comments supportive of Bitcoin. In a January 2021 interview on CNBC’s Squawk Box, he said, “if Bitcoin never existed gold would be rallying even more right now, but I guess if you are under forty, bitcoin is your new gold.” In a 2025 interview with the Hoover Institution, he said the cryptocurrency “could provide market discipline, or […] could tell the world that things need to be fixed.”
Kevin Warsh. Source: Hoover Institution
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