OKX and NYSE Parent ICE File to Launch 24/7 Tokenized Stock Trading
The joint venture, OKXICE, notified the SEC it intends to use a temporary regulatory exemption to trade tokenized versions of more than 60 U.S.-listed stocks without registering as a traditional exchange — and at least one company has already objected.
— OKX and Intercontinental Exchange — the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange — notified the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 4 that their joint venture, OKXICE, intends to launch a venue for trading tokenized versions of more than 60 U.S.-listed stocks around the clock. The filing leans on the SEC's temporary five-year "Innovation Exemption," a relief mechanism that lets a platform offer tokenized trading of National Market System stocks without registering as a traditional securities exchange.
The venture is structured as an equal partnership: OKX brings the crypto-exchange infrastructure and customer base, while ICE brings the institutional credibility and regulatory relationships of a company that also owns the NYSE. That combination is notable on its own — it puts one of the most established names in traditional U.S. market infrastructure directly behind a tokenized-equities venue, rather than leaving that ground to crypto-native platforms alone.
The mechanics of the exemption give issuers a say that doesn't exist in ordinary secondary-market trading: companies whose shares OKXICE plans to tokenize have a 30-day window after notification to object. As of October 5, Cerebras Systems Inc. has already done so. The filing does not disclose what happens procedurally to a stock once its issuer objects, or whether OKXICE plans to proceed with trading tokenized shares of companies that decline to participate — a question that matters for how enforceable the objection right actually is in practice.
Tokenized-equity trading has drawn interest from multiple directions this year, with other platforms also pursuing adjacent efforts, but a filing from a venture co-owned by the NYSE's parent company carries a different weight than one from a crypto exchange alone. Whether the SEC's exemption framework holds up as more issuers weigh in — and whether an objection from a company like Cerebras signals broader reluctance among listed companies to have their shares tokenized without a more conventional opt-in process — remains to be seen as the 30-day clock runs out on the rest of OKXICE's planned roster.