OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange owner Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has notified the SEC of plans to launch a 24/7 trading venue for tokenized U.S. stocks, according to an announcement on October 5.
The venture published a notice dated October 4 under the SEC's Innovation Exemption, which since September 17 has allowed qualifying venues to trade tokenized stocks without registering as exchanges. Under this framework, firms meeting the exemption's conditions can notify the agency and operate subject to those conditions, rather than requiring individual SEC approval.
Stocks and Stablecoins
The notice lists tokenized versions of more than 60 U.S.-listed stocks, including Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, SpaceX, Coinbase, Circle, Robinhood, BitGo and Securitize. Each tokenized stock will trade against one of three stablecoins: USDC, USDG, or Tether's USDT.
The notice warns that tokenized prices, determined solely by liquidity pools, may diverge from the underlying shares, particularly outside regular exchange hours.
Venue Structure and Requirements
Trades will run through permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on XLayer, a layer-2 blockchain. Only wallets holding a non-transferable soulbound token, issued after identity verification, anti-money laundering and sanctions checks conducted by OKX's U.S. entity, can trade or supply liquidity.
The tokenized shares are held one-for-one through a registered broker-dealer by an unaffiliated third party described as the Tokenizer. Token holders retain the same dividends and voting rights as ordinary shareholders.
Issuer Objections
Under the exemption, third parties can tokenize a company's shares without its involvement, but venues must notify issuers and give them 30 days to object. Chipmaker Cerebras Systems has already lodged an objection notice. Cerebras does not appear on the venue's stock list.
Background
ICE and OKX formed the 50-50 venture in June, three months after ICE took a minority stake in OKX at a $25 billion valuation. The SEC issued the Innovation Exemption on September 17, with officials describing it as a temporary bridge toward permanent rulemaking. The notice provides no launch date.
