Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor and state attorney general, has joined the board of directors of crypto exchange OKX, the company announced Monday. Hours later, Cuomo appeared on Fox Business to promote 24/7 tokenized stock trading, casting blockchain-based markets as the next stage of American finance.

Cuomo, who has also served as US Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, has advised OKX on its US regulatory and institutional strategy since 2023. On Fox Business, he argued that round-the-clock trading of tokenized equities could draw enormous sums into US markets. “Just imagine a world where you can trade stocks 24/7,” he said, adding that fractional, tokenized ownership would make investing more accessible and settlement close to instant.

This story is an excerpt from the Unchained Daily newsletter.

The board seat formalizes Cuomo’s deepening role in a broad industry push to move traditional securities on-chain. He already co-chairs OKX’s joint venture with Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, a partnership focused initially on tokenizing NYSE-listed equities. Tokenization has become one of crypto’s most closely watched frontiers, with exchanges, banks, and asset managers racing to build the infrastructure for digital versions of stocks and bonds.

The ICE tie-up followed a strategic investment in March that valued OKX at $25 billion and gave ICE a board seat. OKX, one of the world’s largest exchanges with about 120 million customers, reentered the US market last year after years of operating offshore. Its expansion has leaned heavily on hiring people with regulatory and traditional-finance credibility.

OKX brings a complicated legal history to the relationship. In February 2025, its operating entity pleaded guilty in Manhattan federal court to a single felony count of running an unlicensed money-transmitting business, paying more than $504 million after prosecutors said it had processed over $1 trillion in transactions for US customers without a license. Cuomo advised the exchange on policy matters that included the federal investigation it ultimately resolved with that plea.

Related Listen: Tokens vs Equity, Lighter x Robinhood – The Chopping Block