Major US Companies Say No to New Tokenized Stock Platform
Over 60 major US-listed companies have formally shut the door on having tokenized versions of their shares traded on OKXICE, a collaborative platform built by crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE:ICE), owner of the New York Stock Exchange.
The platform promised around-the-clock access to digital tokens designed to track the value of 63 US stocks. Yet rather than embracing round-the-clock liquidity, corporate America quickly moved to block the rollout.
As of November 5, 67 companies had opted out under new SEC rules, according to the venue’s latest public notice. The opposition spans every member of the Magnificent Seven tech giants alongside financial heavyweights Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS), Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) and JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM), as well as fast-food icon McDonald’s (NYSE:MCD).
Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) were among the latest to sign opt-out notices.
The few companies from OKXICE’s original picks that haven’t objected are mostly crypto-linked, such as Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD), Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) and Circle (NYSE:CRCL). Nasdaq (NASDAQ:NDAQ), which runs an exchange but is also a listed company, has said it will opt its own shares out of venues like this one.
This widespread pushback brings a fundamental battle over market structure into sharp focus: what does it take to align blockchain tokenization with corporate governance, legal certainty and institutional risk management?
How the opt-out works
The Innovation Exemption, a rule introduced by the US Securities and Exchange Commission in September, allows tokenized stocks to trade on platforms that are not fully registered exchanges, as long as they meet certain conditions.
The platform must notify the companies whose shares it plans to offer, and those companies then have 30 days to object.
OKX and ICE unveiled the venue in early October, publishing its first required public notice on October 4. At that point, just one company, AI chipmaker Cerebras Systems (NASDAQ:CBRS), had objected.
Through the rest of the month, more companies followed one after another. Broadcom (NASDAQ:AVGO), Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and UnitedHealth (NYSE:UNH) were among the first wave in mid-October, with Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) and Goldman Sachs close behind.
By the end of the month, the count had passed 50, with NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA), Costco (NASDAQ:COST) and Nike (NYSE:NKE) among the latest names.
Part of the debate comes down to what a tokenized stock actually is. Thomas Eichenberger, chief strategy officer and deputy group CEO at Sygnum, a regulated Swiss digital-asset bank, told INN in emailed comments that the two main versions look alike on the surface but, legally and economically, are quite different.
“When a company issues its own shares on a blockchain, the token is the share,” he said. “When a venue issues a token that tracks a share it does not control, the token is a…
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