More Companies Join List to Those Objecting to OKX-ICE Tokenized Stock Plan

Four companies have joined the list of those filing objections to listings on a tokenized stock exchange proposed by cryptocurrency exchange OKX and the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).

In a Monday update to its proposed OKXICE exchange, the crypto company reported that Intel, IBM, Oracle and IonQ were the most recent companies to object to having their US stocks listed in tokenized form. With the addition of the four, 26 companies have now filed to raise objections to OKXICE’s plans, including Alphabet, Wells Fargo and Goldman Sachs.

The proposed offering came just a few weeks after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved temporary innovation exemptions for tokenized US stocks. Under the SEC exemption, Tokenized Securities Venues (TSVs) can offer limited trading for tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks. 

Many of the companies to opt out of the OKXICE plans currently have US listings on Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange. In September, Nasdaq released guidance for companies considering the innovation exemption, saying issuers should be “cautious” about participating. The exchange invested $100 million in Kraken parent Payward in September as part of its own push into tokenized assets.

OKXICE proposed 62 companies listing tokenized stocks when it filed with the SEC under the exemption, meaning about 41% of the entities have chosen not to participate as of Monday. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, co-chair of the tokenization venture, said it was a “very natural response” for some companies to object, and he expected to see more names added to the list.