More companies are pushing back against having their shares tokenized on a new trading platform backed by crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange.
A Reuters report had revealed that six additional firms, including Wells Fargo, Arm Holdings and Intuit, have filed objections, bringing the total number of companies refusing participation to 22.
These latest objections add to a growing list that already included Microsoft and Alphabet, Google’s parent company, which objected within the past week. The document outlining the rules of the OKXICE venture lists which companies have objected but does not explain their reasoning.
Tokenization, which involves creating digital tokens that represent shares of stock and can be traded on a blockchain much like crypto, has recently gained regulatory footing in the US. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved the framework behind these products in September, yet the mounting objections suggest the concept still faces resistance even with that regulatory green light.
A major feature of the exemption underpinning this platform gives companies real power to block participation. Platforms are required to notify issuers before listing tokenized versions of their shares, and they cannot proceed if the company objects, which explains why OKXICE’s expanding objector list directly limits what the platform can offer.
OKXICE itself represents an ambitious bet on reshaping how stocks trade, aiming to let investors buy and sell blockchain-based versions of traditional shares around the clock. The venture originally set out to tokenize shares from 63 different companies, relying on the new SEC framework introduced in September. 16 of the companies were listed on Nasdaq, while just six traded on the NYSE.
Nasdaq had issued its own guidance last month for companies weighing whether to take part in the SEC innovation exemption for tokenized stock trading, cautioning that issuers “must be cautious about their participation.” The exchange warned that “consequences for liquidity, price discovery, and long-term shareholder value may not become apparent until well after the experiment is underway.”
