OKX and ICE to open tokenised stock venue on Nov 23 despite 67 issuer objections
OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent of the New York Stock Exchange, will open their tokenised stock venue on Nov 23, offering more than 70 assets under a temporary SEC exemption even after 67 companies, including Apple, Tesla and Meta, formally objected. The launch gives eligible US users round-the-clock trading in blockchain versions of shares, but without the backing of many of the largest US corporations.
The venue, called OKXICE and owned equally by ICE and OKC USA Holding Inc., an OKX affiliate, will list securities from Better.com, BitGo, Circle, Coinbase, Robinhood, Securitize and Strategy, as well as 59 exchange-traded funds from Direxion. Strategy will also list preferred stocks such as STRC. Access at launch is limited to eligible US customers of OKX Inc. who have activated a CeDeFi Wallet, passed identity checks and completed onboarding. Trading will run around the clock in the OKX app.
Trading will run through automated market maker pools built on Uniswap v4 and deployed on X Layer, the Ethereum layer-2 network OKX operates. Only approved wallets can trade or add liquidity. Securitize will provide the tokenisation infrastructure. Each token represents a security entitlement backed one-for-one by a US share held by a registered broker-dealer, and holders keep usual shareholder rights including dividends, voting and corporate actions, according to a Nov 5 public notice required under the exemption. Customers will hold the tokens in their own wallets; OKXICE will not hold the assets or the private keys. The tokens will be paired with payment stablecoins such as USDC and USDG. The venue does not operate an order book, does not extend credit and does not conduct primary offerings, the notice said.
The 67 objectors listed in the Nov 5 notice include Apple, Amazon, Tesla, Meta, Netflix, Nvidia, Microsoft, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Costco, Nike and Home Depot, up from 50 in an Oct 30 notice. The objections stem from the SEC's five-year Innovation Exemption, issued Sept 17, which lets tokenised securities venues trade blockchain versions of US stocks through automated market makers without registering as exchanges. When an unaffiliated third party tokenises a company's stock, the venue must notify the issuer, which then has 30 days to object in writing. The SEC's innovation exemption page lists OKXICE TSV as having submitted a notice of intent on Oct 4.
"The future of finance is onchain, and we have an opportunity to build it here in America, with the standards, safeguards and ambition that investors expect," said former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who co-chairs OKXICE with Trabue Bland. Strategy president and chief executive Phong Le said: "Tokenisation on the OKXICE TSV is a natural next step toward making Digital Credit accessible to investors around the world, 24 hours a day, seven days a week." The companies did not say how many of the more than 70 assets will trade on the first day, or how much liquidity the pools will have at the open. The venue is not a registered exchange or broker-dealer and is not approved by the SEC, the announcement said.
What it means for Pakistan: The launch tests a model Pakistan may one day confront as it builds its virtual asset regime. The SEC exemption lets a venue list tokenised US stocks without issuer consent unless a company objects within 30 days, a template Pakistani regulators have not adopted. For local investors, the venue is limited to eligible US customers, so it offers no direct access. But it shows how tokenised equities and stablecoin settlement could work, a subject relevant to PVARA's licensing framework and the SECP's oversight of securities. Any future Pakistani venue would face the same issuer-consent questions now playing out in the US.
