ICE and OKX Form U.S. Crypto Joint Venture

As bitcoin, ethereum and other cryptocurrencies see major legal, institutional, and technological developments, the financial landscape continues to adapt. Stay up on the crypto news that matters with the "Crypto Currents" weekly from The Fly. Also, join us for your essential daily recap, every day at 2 PM ET on FlyCast radio.ICE, OKX FORM U.S. CRYPTO JOINT VENTURE:Intercontinental Exchangeand OKX announced Monday thefocused on building next-generation infrastructure for tokenized and digitally native financial products. Subject to certain regulatory approvals, it is expected that the joint venture will operate as a U.S. registered broker dealer and FCM for the purpose of enabling OKX's customers in the U.S. and overseas to access ICE futures and NYSE tokenized equities markets. The 50-50 venture will also explore adjacent opportunities for regulatory-compliant blockchain-enabled markets. The joint venture will be co-chaired by ICE and Governor Andrew Cuomo."The ICE-OKX joint venture is a step towards building the infrastructure that will define how global markets operate in the decades ahead," said Trabue Bland, SVP, Futures Exchanges at ICE. "ICE's global benchmarks and regulated market technology have earned the trust of institutions and traders everywhere and now, through our partnership with OKX, we are working towards extending that reach to OKX's 120M retail traders."BITGO REDUCES WORKFORCE BY 15%:In a Thursday post on X, BitGoCEO Michael Belshe announced that theHe said, "I want to be straight with you about why. The ecosystem has evolved, and the way we build financial services has changed dramatically. To keep winning for our clients, we need to be sharper, more focused, and concentrate our people and energy on the areas that matter most: security, trading, stablecoins, settlement, and AI-powered infrastructure. Getting there means making BitGo more deliberate than it is today. This isn't an easy day. BitGo is built by people I respect and care about, many of whom bleed blue and have given everything to get us here. I'm truly grateful for all of your contributions, and I don't take saying goodbye lightly. By the time you read this message, everyone affected will already have heard directly from their manager and HR. To those of you who are leaving: thank you. You helped shape BitGo into what it is today, and the company will always be better because you were here. I wish you nothing but success ahead. To the team that remains: I know this is still hard. Be good to each other and overcommunicate as we reorganize. We have a clear, strong path forward, and this is a one-time action. We don't anticipate further reductions. I wouldn't make this call if I didn't believe deeply in our future. Let's go build it."The company also announced in a Monday regulatory filing that chief compliance officer Jeffrey Horowitz has retired. BitGo said Horowitz's decision to retire was not as a result of any disagreement with the company on any matter relating to the company's operations, policies, or practices.Additionally on Monday, BitGo announced plans to expand institutional access to certain third-party decentralized finance vault products and onchain lending-related opportunities through a new DeFi vault offering developed with third-party infrastructure providers and risk managers. Among the planned launch partners is Morpho, the decentralized lending infrastructure protocol supporting onchain lending markets.GALAXY INVESTS IN DIGITAL PRIME TECHNOLOGIES:Digital Prime Technologies announced Tuesdayfrom Galaxy Digital. The investment builds on Galaxy's existing relationship with Digital Prime Technologies as a launch participant on Tokenet, the institutional digital asset lending platform that went live in May 2026. Tokenet, developed in partnership with EquiLend, applies proven securities lending workflows, risk controls, and lifecycle management to digital assets, delivering the operational rigor required by institutional market participants. Digital Prime will use the investment to accelerate Tokenet's development and expand its institutional client base. EquiLend's global network continues to provide the distribution foundation for Tokenet to scale within the institutional lending community."The maturation of digital asset lending depends on infrastructure that institutions can trust from day one. Tokenet has been built with that bar in mind, and Galaxy's investment in Digital Prime is a reflection of our confidence in both the platform and the team behind it," said Max Bareiss, Head of Lending, Galaxy.Additionally on Wednesday, KWTX's Adam Schindler reported that Galaxy is planning a new data center project, "Project Merlin," in McGregor, Texas, after city council approval, involving multiple buildings across a 500-acre site northeast of SpaceXfacilities. The company said it will fund the required infrastructure and does not expect significant impact on local residents. In a presentation to the city, Galaxy described the development as a "$400M+" capital investment and said the project would create "30+" full-time jobs with an average annual salary of "$60K+."BRERA HOLDINGS BUYS 1,347 SOL:Brera Holdings, doing business as Solmate Infrastructure, announced Monday it had completed its second purchase of SOL tokens this month, as the company continues to execute on its commitment to grow its SOL holdings. Solmate Infrastructureon June 16, following the acquisition of 1,557 SOL on June 9. Both transactions were completed using the company's cash reserves.Additionally on Monday, RBCH, an over 10% shareholder of Brera, announced that it had filed a derivative lawsuit, on behalf of the company, against its current officers and directors, for claims of "breach of fiduciary duty, shareholder oppression, and related claims arising from a systematic pattern of self-dealing that has caused tens of millions of dollars in harm to the company and its shareholders." RBCH is the single largest outside shareholder of Brera, having committed $50M in the company's September 2025 $300M PIPE Transaction. RBCH said, "Since the investment, the company's officers and directors have used the investor capital to enrich themselves through a series of conflicted, and wasteful transactions, while simultaneously deploying defensive measures, including baseless claims against RBCH and other concerned parties, to entrench their positions and prevent shareholders from taking corrective action."On Wednesday, Brera responded to the lawsuit in a statement that read, in part, "We are currently engaged in a critical effort to protect the company and its shareholders from what we believe is a fraudulent campaign by the RockawayX Managing Partner and CEO, Viktor Fischer, aimed at exploiting the company and its assets for personal gain. What began as an attempt to extract approximately $200M from the company, as described in the company's lawsuit against Mr Fischer and his company RX, has evolved into a broader false attack that has negatively impacted market perception and contributed to a significant discount in the company's valuation. Mr Fischer, through RockawayX, raised $50M from his investors and invested in Solmate in an attempt to enrich himself by selling his company for $200M, a valuation based on misleading financial statements provided to Brera Holdings. Through diligence and professionalism, the Board identified the misleading information and protected shareholders by walking away from the transaction and filing a lawsuit in Delaware alleging fraud and intentional misrepresentation. Our priority is clear: defend the interests of all shareholders, safeguard the Company's assets, and ensure that corporate resources are used to create value for investors rather than serve individual interests."RBCH responded on Thursday, stating in part, "The allegations made by Brera against RockawayX in its June 24 statement are false, misleading, and a retaliatory response to the derivative lawsuit filed by RBCH just days prior. RockawayX disputes these allegations entirely and will defend itself vigorously through appropriate legal channels. Brera's statement yesterday fails to address any of the specific allegations contained in RBCH's derivative complaint filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York on June 22."ETHLABS LAUNCHES TO ACCELERATE ETHEREUM ADOPTION:A coordinated group of Ethereum ecosystem stewards announced Monday the launch offormed to ready Ethereum for the next phase of institutional adoption. The funding effort is led by Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Sharplink, Ethereum co-founder Joe Lubin and other key Ethereum ecosystem contributors including Anchorage, Octant and SNZ.Ethlabs said, "As stablecoins, tokenized real-world assets, funds and autonomous AI commerce move onchain, they are converging on Ethereum as the neutral, credibly permissionless settlement layer for the global economy. Ethlabs exists to ensure the network is ready to absorb that demand at scale, advancing a faster Ethereum with trustworthy interoperability, so institutions building on Ethereum can do so with the neutrality, resilience, privacy and security they require. Cofounded by five former senior Ethereum Foundation researchers: Ansgar Dietrichs, Barnabé Monnot, Caspar Schwarz-Schilling, Josh Rudolf and Julian Ma, Ethlabs brings together researchers responsible for key contributions to finality, scaling, data availability, the virtual machine and protocol economics — the technologists who have guided the network through its most consequential upgrades over the past decade. This initiative gives that work a dedicated institutional home with stable, long-term funding."Bitmine also announced Monday that itsAs of June 21, the company's crypto holdings are comprised of 5,672,956 ETH, 205 BTC, an $180M stake in Beast Industries, an $104M stake in Eightco Holdingsand total cash and marketable securities of $601M. Bitmine's ETH holdings are 4.7% of the ETH supply.OTHER CRYPTO NEWS:StrategyacquiresStrivepurchases 759 bitcoin, reportsHyperscale Datareportsenters MSA for AI compute capacity in Michigan, receives utility 'will serve' determination in MontanaEightco Holdings reportsBTIG raises Core Scientificprice targetRiot Platformsprice target raised, Cipher Miningprice targetNakamotocloses legacy healthcare clinics amidCitizens initiates Mara Holdingswith, BitdeerwithCleanSparkwith, Keel InfrastructurewithHut 8initiated withprice target raised to $150 from $115 at BTIGLion GroupannouncesHyperion DeFipartners withCantonlaunchesLM Fundingexpands intoSUI GroupexpandsHive Digitalsignswith Swedish companyHeartSciences, Fortitude announcesCRYPTO STOCK PLAYS:Publicly traded companies in the space include Bit Digital, Coinbase, Core Scientific, Greenidge Generation, Mara Holdings, Strategy, Riot Platforms and TeraWulf.PRICE ACTION:As of time of writing, bitcoin dropped roughly 6% this week to $59,067 in U.S. dollars, according to CoinDesk.