Intel, IBM, Oracle and IonQ Object to OKX-ICE Tokenized Stock Plan

Twenty-six of the 62 companies originally proposed for tokenized stock listings on the OKXICE exchange have filed objections, meaning roughly 41% of the named issuers have asked to opt out. Intel, IBM, Oracle and IonQ joined the opt-out list in a Monday update from OKX, the cryptocurrency exchange building the venue with Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange.

The four new objectors follow Alphabet, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs, among others. Most of the companies seeking exclusion currently hold primary listings on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. In plain terms, two out of every five issuers named in the filing do not want their shares traded in tokenized form on this venue.

What triggered the OKXICE proposal?

OKX and ICE filed the OKXICE plan with the US Securities and Exchange Commission under the agency's temporary innovation exemptions for tokenized stocks, which the SEC approved only weeks before the proposal surfaced. The exemption permits Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) to offer limited trading in tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks.

The regulatory window is narrow by design. TSVs operate under temporary relief, and the opt-out mechanism itself is a product of the exemption framework, which allows issuers to decline participation. Whether that framework hardens into permanent market structure, or gets trimmed back, remains unresolved.

How has Nasdaq responded?

Nasdaq released guidance in September for companies weighing the innovation exemption, advising issuers to be "cautious" about participating. The caution has a commercial backdrop: Nasdaq invested $100 million in Kraken parent Payward that same month as part of its own push into tokenized assets. In other words, the operator warning issuers off TSVs is simultaneously funding a rival tokenization effort. That is a caveat worth holding onto when reading any exchange's guidance on the subject.

What do the venture's leaders say?

Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, co-chair of the tokenization venture, called the objections a "very natural response" and said he expects more names to join the opt-out list. That is a rare public acknowledgment that the roster of 62 was aspirational rather than agreed, and it signals the final participant count will land materially lower.

Notably absent from the discussion so far is any issuer-side explanation for the opt-outs. Neither OKX nor ICE has publicly detailed what, if anything, it will offer companies to reverse their decisions. Takeaway: the exchange exists on paper, but a growing share of its proposed inventory has declined to show up.