Cisco, Wells Fargo, Marvell, Arm Holdings, Intuit, and Moderna have joined a growing list of companies objecting to OKXICE's plans to offer blockchain-based trading of tokenized shares. The objections bring the total number of companies blocking participation to 22, according to a public notice filed Friday by OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange.
The SEC's Innovation Exemption framework allows qualifying tokenized securities venues to operate while giving issuers 30 days to object to having their shares traded on such platforms. Previous objections included major companies such as Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, and McDonald's.
OKXICE announced its initial plan on October 4, proposing to use Uniswap liquidity pools on OKX's XLayer blockchain, with transactions settled in stablecoins. The venture's original proposed trading roster covered 62 companies, though not all current objectors were part of that initial list.
Andrew Cuomo, OKXICE's co-chairman, characterized the objections as expected, noting that companies are taking a cautious approach to the novel market structure. "We always anticipated that, because this is such a dramatic and revolutionary change, many companies would want to wait and see how it goes rather than be the first to participate," Cuomo said during a Monday press call, describing the framework as "a sandbox — a model demonstration."
The framework represents a significant step toward around-the-clock stock trading on blockchains for U.S. investors, though the growing number of objections highlights potential hurdles for broader adoption of tokenized securities venues.
