By Paul R. La Monica
The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange recognizes that stocks aren't the only asset that investors care about. That's why Intercontinental Exchange is going "all-in" with cryptocurrencies.
ICE announced Thursday morning that it had invested in crypto trading platform OKX at a valuation of $25 billion. The question for investors is whether this will heat up ICE's ice-cold stock. But one leading money manager is bullish on ICE's diversification efforts.
Specific terms of the OKX deal were not disclosed. But the move should bolster the NYSE's plans for more tokenized equities, digital assets that trade 24/7 on the blockchain. The NYSE will also license OKX's spot crypto prices and launch U.S. regulated crypto futures contracts.
"Our strategic relationship with OKX 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," said ICE chairman and CEO Jeffrey Sprecher in a release about the investment.
OKX founder and CEO Star Xu added that the deal will "help build a more reliable market structure that bridges digital assets and equities, strengthens cross-market price formation, and meets institutional standards for risk and compliance."
For ICE, this is just the latest step to diversify and embrace newer asset classes that are popular with younger traders.
ICE already owns a 27% stake in Bakkt, a publicly traded crypto infrastructure company. ICE also announced a deal last October to take a $2 billion stake in predictions platform Polymarket, which lets investors bet on crypto price movements and also use cryptocurrencies to trade. (Dow Jones, the publisher of Barron's, has a data partnership with Polymarket.)
ICE is also reported to be in talks to invest in crypto transfer and wallet service MoonPay at a valuation of $5 billion. ICE had no comment on the rumors and MoonPay were not immediately available for comment.
But Todd Ahlsten, chief investment officer at Parnassus Investments and a member of the Barron's Roundtable , said he's bullish on ICE, in part because of its diversification efforts. ICE is currently the ninth-largest holding in the Parnassus Core Select exchange-traded fund.
Speaking to Barron's on Wednesday before the OKX investment was announced, Ahlsten said that ICE is a top stock pick due to the "durable value" it provides from its "fantastic data" on a multitude of assets. He added that ICE is also a good way to play a potential rebound in the housing market, thanks to the fact that it also owns real estate and mortgage data software companies Black Knight and Ellie Mae.
And in a follow up email Thursday, Ahlsten told Barron's that the OKX investment is a smart move. "The future will likely be more tokenized, with 24/7 trading and new derivative structures and assets to be hedged. With Blockchain and crypto assets likely playing a more significant role in asset markets/trading/agentic commerce long term, ICE is working to reduce its 'future uncertainty' profile with this investment," he said.
The stock looks like a good value at these levels too, one that isn't getting fully appreciated for the steps it has taken to broaden its revenue base. ICE trades for about 21 times earnings estimates for the next 12 months. That makes it the cheapest of the major exchange owners. Shares of Nasdaq, Cboe Global Markets and CME Group trade at 22, 25 and 26.5 times earnings forecasts respectively.
Wall Street is bullish on ICE too. Fifteen of the 17 analysts that cover the stock rate it either a Buy or Outperform versus only two Holds. And the consensus target on the stock of $197.64 is nearly 20% above its current pice.
Still, ICE has barely budged lately. Shares are up about 2% so far this year and down nearly 3% over the past 12 months. ICE fell Thursday along with the broader market. Investors aren't giving the company enough credit for moves to embrace new assets just yet. But that could quickly change, especially if the crypto meltdown proves to be fleeting.
Write to Paul R. La Monica at paul.lamonica@barrons.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 05, 2026 12:43 ET (17:43 GMT)
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