More US-listed companies have joined the increasing list of those that have invoked an SEC objection right to prevent tokenized versions of their shares from being traded on OKXICE.
Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL), Goldman Sachs (GS), and Microsoft (MSFT) are the latest to voice their objection to the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
This is the first live test of a 30-day veto that lets any public company block a tokenization venue from listing its stock, according to a public notice from the venue.
The first objectors that were named in an OKXICE notice dated October 15 are Cerebras Systems (CBRS), AppLovin (APP), Applied Digital (APLD), Rocket Lab (RKLB), CoreWeave (CRWV), Verizon (VZ), Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI), Broadcom (AVGO) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH). That group was roughly 14% of the 63 stocks OKXICE had lined up.
Eight of the nine were on the ticker list OKXICE filed with the SEC on October 4, apart from Cerebras. The AI chipmaker moved to block a listing before OKXICE formally named it.
CoreWeave and Broadcom, which are both listed on Nasdaq, had already said no to the venue, which is a platform half-owned by the parent of a rival exchange.
The other companies that recently joined in pushing back against being listed are Caterpillar (CAT), McDonald’s (MCD), Qualcomm (QCOM), and Western Digital (WDC).
This brings the list of the companies opposing the move to 16, with the latest entries not providing explanations for their objection.
Why Applied Optoelectronics pushed back
A spokesperson for Applied Optoelectronics said that the fiber-optic maker was unsure how tokenization might move its share price, its liquidity, or its volatility.
They also have concerns about the risk that investors could mistake the tokens for something the company sponsored. The spokesperson said that they see no benefit “to AOI or our shareholders” worth the uncertainty.
Other members of the nine that first raised objections to their listings touched on possible price and liquidity effects it poses. They also highlighted that it could lead to confusion of their equity trading on a venue they have no tie to.
A veto issuers never had before
OKXICE plans to run under the SEC’s Innovation Exemption, a five-year order the agency issued on September 17 and set to expire September 17, 2031. Law firm Davis Polk, which advised a client on the rule, described it as a path for permissioned on-chain venues to trade tokenized U.S.-listed stocks without registering as exchanges, and for their liquidity providers to skip dealer registration.
The catch for issuers is a notice-and-objection step. When a third party rather than the company tokenizes a stock, the venue must warn the company at least 30 calendar days before trading starts.
A written objection inside that window keeps the token off that venue. Silence counts as a yes. Davis Polk noted the mechanism is new: companies normally cannot stop a national exchange or alternative trading system from trading their shares at all.
The objection binds only the venue that sent the notice, so each new platform restarts its own clock.
What OKXICE still plans to list
OKXICE is a 50-50 venture between OKX and ICE, with former New York governor Andrew Cuomo serving as co-chair. It is not yet live and has given no launch date. When it opens, it will run permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on X Layer, a layer-2 network, with each stock paired against USDC, USDG or USDT, per the venue’s notice. Traders must clear identity and sanctions screening and hold a non-transferable “soulbound” token to enter the pools.
Nasdaq has already said it will opt its own shares out, stating that it does not want them trading on a venue that fails to show best prices in real time or report to the consolidated tape.
Tokenized stocks were worth over $3.4 billion as of October 20, up from over $688 million at the start of the year, RWA.xyz data shows.
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