New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange and crypto exchange OKX are moving ahead with plans to launch round-the-clock trading of tokenized U.S. stocks and ETFs later this month, despite weeks of pushback from major U.S. companies over having their shares tokenized.
Their joint venture, OKXICE, said Wednesday that trading is expected to begin November 23 under the SEC’s Innovation Exemption, with more than 70 tokenized assets planned, though not all will be available at launch.
Exchange-traded funds will make up the bulk of the offering, with 59 expected from Direxion, a leveraged ETF specialist. The stock lineup includes Coinbase, Circle, Robinhood, BitGo, Better.com, Securitize and Strategy, plus Strategy’s preferred shares. All seven companies have crypto ties, including mortgage lender Better.com through its partnership with Coinbase on crypto-backed mortgages. An OKXICE spokesperson told Crypto In America that more issuers and assets will be announced in the coming weeks.
The roster is a far cry from the broad list of blue-chip stocks OKXICE initially proposed, which included names such as Apple, Nvidia, Amazon, Walmart, McDonald’s and JPMorgan. Of the 62 companies on its original list, 56 objected to having their shares tokenized by OKXICE. In total, 67 companies have objected, including some outside that original group like Meta, Wells Fargo and S&P Global. Issuers raised concerns about the potential impact on share prices, liquidity and volatility, while others remain uncertain about the benefits of bringing their shares onchain.
That doesn’t mean corporate America is rejecting tokenization altogether. NYSE rival Nasdaq, for example, is pursuing a different model that would bring shares of listed companies into the existing regulated equities market through its Nasdaq Equity Token framework.
JPMorgan said it remains encouraged by the technology but wants to be thoughtful about how its shares are represented and traded. The bank opted out of OKXICE “at this stage,” leaving the door open to other approaches. Goldman Sachs, another objector, is already involved in tokenizing bonds and money market funds, though it has not moved to tokenize its own shares.
For investors, one of the main selling points of tokenization is the ability to trade assets 24/7 rather than being limited to traditional market hours. On OKXICE, investors will trade tokens representing security entitlements backed one-to-one by underlying U.S. shares, with Securitize providing the tokenization infrastructure. Under the SEC’s exemption, token holders must receive the same rights and benefits associated with the underlying securities, including dividends and voting rights.
“Investors want access that is always on, and they want to know the rules behind it,” said Kash Razzaghi, chief commercial officer at Circle, one of the companies participating in the launch. “We’re glad to see tokenized securities arrive through a compliant framework built on real shares and real shareholder rights.”
Tokenization also promises broader global access and deeper liquidity, but those benefits may take longer to materialize. For now, OKXICE will be limited to eligible U.S.-based customers through the OKX app, with users required to complete identity and eligibility checks before trading.
For all the industry’s talk of bringing Wall Street onchain, tokenized stock trading still looks largely like crypto playing in its own sandbox, at least for now. All seven companies in OKXICE’s initial stock offering have ties to crypto, as do the early participants in other venues operating or preparing to launch under the SEC’s exemption, including TSV LLC and Solana-based Formation Securities.
Some venue operators are hopeful that corporate skepticism will fade as companies become more familiar with tokenization and its potential benefits, but whether that translates into broader participation from corporate America remains to be seen.
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