Microsoft, Alphabet, and Goldman Sachs Join OKX-ICE Tokenized Stock Objections, Objectors Reach 16

Issuer objections mount

OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), faced a growing wave of issuer pushback as Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs joined objections in an updated public notice dated Oct. 19.

Microsoft objects5 of 8 outlets reported it · not in AMBCrypto and 2 more▾

OKXICE’s notices said the number of objecting issuers rose to 16 from nine in the prior notice, and the notice did not state the companies’ reasons or when they filed their objections.

Objections hit 165 of 8 outlets reported it · not in AMBCrypto and 2 more▾

OKXICE’s original notice listed 63 tickers representing 62 companies, and CoinDesk said 15 of those companies had now objected while 47 had not disclosed an objection.

OKXICE planned to run round-the-clock, stablecoin-settled trading of tokens backed one-for-one by shares and carrying equivalent dividend and voting rights, according to CoinDesk.

Tokens backed 1:14 of 8 outlets reported it · not in AMBCrypto and 3 more▾

OKXICE also said it would operate under the SEC’s five-year “Innovation Exemption,” which was unveiled on Sept. 17 and paired a venue exemption with a conditional exemption for AMM liquidity providers from dealer registration, according to BigGo Finance.

Reporting for this sectionCoinDeskBigGo Finance

Cuomo reframes the dispute

Andrew Cuomo, OKXICE co-chair and former New York Governor, told Cointelegraph that the notices were “not objections,” and he framed them as the SEC “opening up to a global 24/7 marketplace.” Cuomo also said companies were “standing on the side of a pool while letting others jump in and test the waters,” as OKXICE reported receiving 16 notices of issuer objection from companies including Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs. OKXICE’s plan relied on permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools deployed on XLayer, and Cointelegraph said each tokenized stock would be paired with one of three payment stablecoins: Tether’s USDt (USDT), Circle’s USDC (USDC) or Global Dollar (USDG).

One expert said the objections could relate to “not knowing what happens to their price” on the proposed platform. Cointelegraph also said the objections did not include specific reasons for the notice to OKX, and it described the opt-out dynamic as about companies seeking to avoid being first while others test the model.

Reporting for this sectionCointelegraph

What the SEC framework means

OKXICE’s SEC framework required a venue to give an issuer written notice and barred the venue from listing a third-party-tokenized version of its stock until at least 30 calendar days after the notice, and it allowed a written objection within that window to bar listing, according to BigGo Finance. The provision turned issuer consent into a live constraint on which names could actually trade, and it noted that OKXICE’s initial notice identified 63 tickers representing 62 companies. Decrypt said OKXICE was not registered with the SEC and was not subject to Regulation NMS rules designed to ensure investors get the best displayed prices, and it said the notice did not say whether objections would keep those stocks off the platform.

Decrypt also reported that Nasdaq said it would opt its own shares out of the SEC’s innovation exemption, citing concerns about real-time pricing and trade reporting, and it quoted a spokesperson saying Nasdaq “doesn’t want its stock trading on a venue that doesn’t show the best prices in real time.” The outside “tokenizer” holds actual shares one-for-one through a registered broker-dealer, while token holders are supposed to receive the same dividends and voting rights as regular shareholders, leaving the dispute focused on how tokenized shares would be represented and traded.

Reporting for this sectionBigGo FinanceDecrypt