More than half of the companies on OKXICE's original listing roster have objected, while a rival tokenized stock venue on Canton prepares to begin trading.
Walmart and Eli Lilly have joined a growing group of companies opposing tokenized stock trading on OKXICE, bringing total disclosed objections to 38 as the venture between crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange faces resistance from more than half its initial roster.
The companies appeared alongside Carnival, Arcos Dorados and Cigna in an updated public notice dated October 28.
Of the 38 companies that have objected, 33 were included in the venue’s original list of 62 proposed stocks, representing approximately 53% of that roster, according to a CoinDesk tally.
The latest objections follow similar moves by JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola and Dell Technologies, highlighting growing caution among major corporations over third-party tokenization of their shares.
OKXICE plans to offer round-the-clock trading of tokenized US stocks using automated market maker liquidity pools and stablecoin settlement.
The venture operates under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s five-year Innovation Exemption, which allows qualifying platforms to test blockchain-based securities trading subject to specific conditions.
Under the framework, companies have 30 days after receiving notice to object to unaffiliated third parties tokenizing their shares.
Companies weigh risks of tokenized stock trading
The growing number of objections raises questions about how quickly OKXICE can expand its offerings as companies evaluate the implications of having their shares traded on blockchain networks.
The venue issued its initial public notice on October 4, outlining plans to use Uniswap v4 liquidity pools deployed on OKX’s XLayer blockchain.
Tokenized shares would be backed one-for-one by underlying securities held through a registered broker-dealer, with ownership rights and distributions passed through to token holders under the venue’s proposed structure.
However, the framework allows issuers to prevent unaffiliated platforms from offering tokenized versions of their shares by submitting an objection within the required period.
Companies that do not object within that window could have their tokenized shares made available for trading, without a comparable process to withdraw that non-objection later.
JPMorgan Chase, which appeared on the objection list earlier this week, said its decision does not rule out future participation in tokenization.
“We are encouraged by the potential of tokenization but also need to be thoughtful about how our shares are represented and traded,” a JPMorgan spokesperson told CoinDesk.
The bank said it would continue evaluating opportunities as the market develops.
The objections are specific to OKXICE and do not automatically prevent tokenized versions of the same stocks from being offered through other platforms under different structures or regulatory arrangements.
Canton venue prepares tokenized stock launch as OKXICE faces objections
While OKXICE navigates corporate opposition, a competing tokenized securities venue on the Canton Network is preparing to begin trading through a different model.
Canton Strategic Holdings announced Thursday that its Nasdaq-listed shares could begin trading on TSV LLC as early as November 2.
The company has engaged Fairmint, an SEC-registered transfer agent, to tokenize its shares and maintain ownership records onchain.
Unlike OKXICE’s third-party tokenization approach, Canton Strategic Holdings is sponsoring the tokenization itself, removing the need for the 30-day issuer objection process.
The marketplace plans to offer continuous trading to approved retail and institutional participants, with blockchain settlement allowing tokenized shares and payments to change hands together.
The launch could provide an early comparison between two approaches to tokenized equities: platforms seeking to list shares without direct issuer involvement and venues working with companies to tokenize their securities.
