Cuomo joins OKX board as exchange pushes US tokenized stock trading

Andrew Cuomo has joined the board of cryptocurrency exchange OKX, a move designed to accelerate the firm’s expansion into the United States and advance its push into round-the-clock tokenized stock trading.

The appointment deepens Cuomo’s existing ties to the exchange. Last month, OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, formed a 50-50 joint venture co-chaired by the former New York governor.

"So crypto, OKX, fintech, coming together with ICE [and the] New York Stock Exchange — that is a marriage that should have happened a long time ago," Cuomo told Fox Business on Monday. "When people talk about crypto, they tend to talk about tokens, etc. That’s not how I see crypto. I see it as the financial infrastructure of the future."

Challenging the US incumbents

OKX ranks among the world’s largest crypto exchanges but trails global leader Binance. While traditionally focused on international markets, the platform is now explicitly targeting the US, a landscape currently dominated by Coinbase. Adding a high-profile former state executive signals a serious commitment to cracking that market.

A central pillar of this US strategy is the tokenization of traditional equities. Crypto and traditional financial firms are increasingly looking to put US stocks onchain to unlock fractional ownership and immediate settlement.

"Tokenization says you can have fractional ownership. You can have a digital representation of that asset," Cuomo said. "So you can buy a tenth of one stock, you can buy half of one stock, and the transactions digitally are immediate."

The race for onchain equities

The push for 24/7 onchain stock trading is rapidly gaining momentum across the industry as digital-asset companies look to capture international demand for American equities. Robinhood currently offers European customers tokens tied to hundreds of US stocks and ETFs. Meanwhile, Backpack recently launched continuous, 24/7 trading in tokenized shares.

Cuomo framed the ICE partnership as a mechanism to funnel foreign capital into US markets. "Just imagine a world ... where you can trade stocks 24/7 internationally," he said. "Literally trillions of dollars internationally could be invested into the U.S. economy, into our exchanges."

For market professionals, the alignment of a major legacy exchange operator with a top-tier crypto platform carries weight. If the joint venture successfully navigates US regulatory frameworks, it could establish a new standard for how traditional equities are cleared and settled outside standard market hours.