Cisco, Wells Fargo, Marvell, Arm, Intuit, and Moderna have joined the growing list of companies opting out of OKX-ICE’s plans to offer blockchain-based trading of their tokenized shares. This brings the total number of objections to 22, highlighting a significant hurdle for the joint venture under the SEC’s new framework.
The SEC’s five-year “Innovation Exemption” allows tokenized securities venues (TSVs) to test trading through automated market makers, while giving issuers 30 days to block their shares from trading on such platforms. OKX-ICE, a joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, issued its initial public notice on October 4, outlining plans to use Uniswap liquidity pools on OKX’s XLayer blockchain, with transactions settled in stablecoins.
Andrew Cuomo, OKX-ICE’s co-chairman and former New York governor, acknowledged that objections were expected. He noted that many companies prefer to wait and see how the new market works before participating. The original proposed trading roster covered 62 companies, but the objections extend beyond this list, indicating a cautious approach from issuers.
The growing number of objections signals challenges for the new market structure, which aims to allow U.S. investors to trade stocks around the clock on blockchains. The framework is described as a ‘sandbox’ or ‘model demonstration’ due to limits on participating companies and trading volumes.