Intel, Oracle, IBM, and IonQ have formally objected to having their shares traded as tokens on OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange, bringing the total number of issuer objections to 26.
The four were named in an updated public notice dated Monday, per CoinDesk. They join a list that already included Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Cisco, and Wells Fargo. The other objectors, which include Cerebras Systems and Arm Holdings, were not part of the original lineup.
What they're objecting to
OKXICE filed its initial notice on Oct. 4 under the SEC's five-year "Innovation Exemption," which lets qualifying venues test round-the-clock blockchain trading of US stocks. The plan is to run trading through Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on OKX's XLayer blockchain, with transactions settled in stablecoins and automated market makers executing trades instead of a conventional order book.
The framework requires venues to notify issuers and give them 30 days to object before offering tokenized versions of their shares. Companies are using that window.
The ratchet points toward no
Here's the part I keep coming back to. The objection mechanics are asymmetric. Objecting costs nothing. Staying silent lets trading begin, and there is no mechanism to withdraw consent later, industry experts told CoinDesk's Tokenization Weekly. If you are a legal or investor‑relations team still figuring out what 24/7 AMM trading means for your stock, saying no is the only move that preserves your options. The SEC built a ratchet, and it clicks toward opt‑out.
The business case for saying yes is thin so far, too. Tokenization could pull in new demand, particularly from overseas investors, but that may not outweigh concerns about thin, round‑the‑clock trading outside the familiar market structure, TD Securities' Reid Noch told CoinDesk.
Andrew Cuomo, OKXICE's co‑chairman and the former New York governor, called the objections expected, saying many companies would rather "wait and see how it goes rather than be the first to participate." He told reporters he expects more names to join the list.
Nasdaq's quiet hedge
One detail worth sitting with. In September, Nasdaq released guidance telling issuers to be "cautious" about participating in the innovation exemption, per Cointelegraph. That same month, Nasdaq invested $100 million in Kraken parent Payward as part of its own push into tokenized assets. Warning companies away from a rival's venue while funding your own is not necessarily hypocrisy. But it is a reminder that the incumbents want tokenization on their terms, on their rails.
Whether 26 objections is a death sentence or a slow start depends on what happens after the first trades settle. Nobody knows yet. The opt‑out math, though, means the list probably grows before it shrinks.
Sources
- CoinDesk: Intel, Oracle, IBM join growing list of firms objecting to OKX-ICE tokenized stock plans
- Cointelegraph: Intel, IBM, Oracle and IonQ latest to object to OKX-ICE tokenized stocks