Sixty-two publicly traded companies have objected to having their shares tokenized by a joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The latest objections come from aircraft maker Boeing, Amsterdam-based AI infrastructure provider Nebius, and enterprise software company ServiceNow.
Background on the Tokenization Plan
Early last month, reports emerged that OKX and ICE had sought approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to start trading tokenized shares of at least 63 companies listed on the NYSE. The move followed the SEC’s introduction of a temporary innovation exemption in September that allowed some platforms to offer secondary trading of tokenized U.S. stocks via liquidity pools and permissioned market makers.
Companies initially earmarked for the plan included JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, and Walmart. As of November 2, all of them, along with 46 others, had filed objections against the proposal.
Reasons for Objections
According to journalist Eleanor Terrett, some issuers were concerned about how tokenization could affect their share prices and liquidity. Others adopted a wait-and-see stance, with issues around shareholder rights, market transparency, and OKX’s offshore domicile coming to the fore.
By November 3, the number of objectors had risen to 56, with Wall Street heavyweights Tesla and its sister company SpaceX, Amazon, SoFi Technologies, and Netflix also rejecting the idea. The following day, Terrett noted that GE Vernova, Apple, and Home Depot had also objected to third-party tokenization of their shares, meaning six members of the “Magnificent Seven” group of dominant tech and growth companies had said no.
With the additions of Nebius, Boeing, and ServiceNow, the total number of firms from the original OKX-ICE list that have refused to participate stands at 54, while another eight companies not originally included have preemptively opted out, bringing the overall total to 62.
Critics Question Feasibility
When the first 50 companies opted out, Figure CEO Mike Cagney questioned the suitability of the OKX-ICE venue, arguing that it would worsen execution because an automated market maker, which prices trades from a pool of funds, cannot match orders in the same way a limit order book does.
“We’re going to have to do more than this SEC sandbox to get stocks on public blockchains,” he wrote on X. “Native equity on chain, issued by the company, available for borrow and loan in DeFi. That is the way.”
Meanwhile, Morgan Stanley has taken a different route, recently announcing that it had tokenized U.S. stocks and Treasuries through the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation (DTCC), which went live on October 28. It opened with 34 securities, with each token backed 1-to-1 by an asset held in custody.
