33 issuers object to OKX-ICE tokenized stock trading

An Oct. 27 notice from OKXICE TSV said 33 issuers had objected to trading third-party tokenized versions of their shares on the venue, up from 26 a day earlier. JPMorgan Chase, Coca-Cola, Dell Technologies, Advanced Micro Devices, Adobe, Applied Materials and Sandisk were the seven latest objectors.

The additions brought JPMorgan Chase, the biggest bank in the U.S., into the group. It is the third major bank to object, after Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo; Microsoft, Alphabet, Intel and Oracle also appear on the list.

What does the SEC exemption allow?

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission unveiled its innovation exemption in September after the Clarity Act stalled in the Senate. Under the SEC’s order, a venue must notify a company before offering a third-party tokenized version of its shares.

The rule is explicit: “If the company objects in writing within 30 days, the venue can’t make that stock available for trading.” That gives each notified issuer a 30-day right to block a third-party tokenized version of its stock on that venue.

The objection reaches only the notifying venue and does not affect other venues. The notices have not disclosed the companies’ reasons, leaving the public record without any stated basis for their decisions.

How quickly did objections mount?

The count stood at nine issuers on Oct. 15, 16 on Oct. 19 and 22 on Oct. 23. It then reached 26 a day before the Oct. 27 notice and 33 with the latest seven additions. The total increased by 24 over those 12 days.

What was the planned stock roster?

OKXICE TSV’s original Oct. 4 notice proposed 63 tokenized stocks from 62 companies. Some later objectors, including Wells Fargo and Arm, were absent from that initial roster. Nvidia, Tesla, Apple and Amazon had not objected as of the Oct. 27 update, so the response did not cover every large U.S. issuer.

The 33 objections exceed half of the original 62-company slate, making the issuer-response mechanism a material constraint on the venue’s planned launch. The two lists are not interchangeable because some objectors were not on the original roster.

How would the 24/7 venue operate?

OKXICE TSV is a 50-50 joint venture between Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of NYSE, and OKX’s U.S. holding company. It plans to let approved users trade tokenized U.S. stocks 24/7. Trades would run through permissioned Uniswap v4 pools on OKX’s XLayer blockchain, paired with stablecoins such as USDC.

Earlier notices warned that it was uncertain whether tokenized shares in self-custodied wallets would be covered by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation if the tokenizer’s broker-dealer failed. The warning leaves that coverage question unresolved for investors holding tokenized shares in self-custodied wallets.

What does Nasdaq’s choice mean?

OKX and ICE first teamed up on tokenized securities earlier this year before announcing the 24/7 venue this month. Nasdaq, which won SEC approval for its own tokenized securities pilot, has said it will opt its shares out of the exemption.

That leaves two distinct market structures: Nasdaq’s SEC-approved pilot and OKXICE TSV’s use of the innovation exemption, with issuer objections determining which stocks the latter can offer.

The next operational checkpoint is the close of the 30-day objection window for each issuer notice. Without a timely written objection, OKXICE TSV can proceed with that issuer’s tokenized stock; an objection blocks trading on that venue alone, leaving other venues unaffected.