Former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo Talks New Crypto Venture

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
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**SPEAKER_2** (0:07)
Well, let's keep the conversation going now with Andrew Cuomo, who's starting a second act, helping cryptocurrency exchange operator OKX and the owner of the New York Stock Exchange build a new business merging digital and traditional finance markets. Now, part of the plan would be to allow overseas users to trade tokenized US equities. I'm pleased to say that joining us now live is former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo himself. Governor Cuomo, great to have you with us. So let's start with the why here, because you think about where you are in your career. What stuck out to you about this venture? And on the other side of that, why would they go with you? What do you bring to this project?

**Andrew Cuomo** (0:49)
Yeah. Well, first of all, thank you very much for having me, Katie and Isabel.
I actually started working with the crypto industry very early on. I was governor of New York in 2014 All right. Let's say crypto hit a critical mass 2009 2014, New York State was the first state to pass a full regulatory regime for crypto. Because we saw the future. We saw the potential of the technology. And we wanted that technology in New York. We wanted those companies in New York. So we put forth a full regulatory requirement and started what's become known as the BIT license in New York.
The United States is still trying to work through that. But I've always believed that the technology is going to revolutionize the financial system. For the better, for the better. Faster, more efficient, more access, 24-7. Better for the consumer and better for the economy. And what this joint venture says is a couple of things, and exciting things. Number one, the long-term vision for the joint venture is tokenized equities through ICE. ICE is the second-largest exchange and globally largest in the United States. ICE owns New York Stock Exchange. And this would be literally tokenized equities through the New York Stock Exchange. Not synthetic, not wrapped, not some convoluted mechanism. You would own a share as a token with all the rights that go there with.
Short, that's the long-term goal. Mid-term goal, we're going to establish an FCM and a broker-dealer.
Short-term, we already started. OKX listed the ICE oil perpetuals. So that is exciting in and of itself. It also says to me, all this talk about traditional finance opposes the technology. You can't oppose technological advancements. Since the ticker tape, since electronic trading, it is going to happen. You can't put that back in the box. And there has been conflict, right? Traditional finance people are worried about the change, worried about the disruption as they should be. But what this says is, you have OKX, who is a global leader in financial technology, and ICE and New York Stock Exchange. You put those two forces together as a biased New Yorker. New York Stock Exchange is the icon internationally for finance and trust and credibility. New York Stock Exchange, the origins are 234 years old. The country is only 250 years old. So the coming together of those two entities really shows there is no conflict we're in the collaborate compliment stage.

**SPEAKER_2** (4:23)
Well, Governor, I hear what you're saying, especially when you think about the legacy that the New York Stock Exchange has here. But as you said, the goal here is tokenized equities. And you have to wonder, you think about what's being built already at Coinbase, Robinhood, Kraken, some of the ambitions that they have when it comes to tokenized equities. What do you think is going to differentiate what you're doing at OKX and ICE, that joint venture that isn't already being done?

**Andrew Cuomo** (4:53)
Yeah, well, there are wrapped securities. There are synthetic securities.
But the real goal, if you want to talk about true tokenization, right? And everybody uses that word, we're going to tokenize securities, tokenize real estate, tokenize equities, not in a wrapped synthetic form. A token represents a share of stock from the New York Stock Exchange. You have full voting rights. You have dividend rights. You are a stock owner. That would then make the New York Stock Exchange first directly accessible, get rid of a lot of intermediaries, 24-7 globally. Just think about that. Think about the capital flow that would go into the stock exchange. It would revolutionize the business. Now, I say it's a long-term goal because we have to get regulatory approvals, and the United States is still working through its regulatory regime. Frankly, I think it's taken much too long. As I said, we did it in New York 2014 This is 12 years later.