ICE and OKX Set Nov. 23 Tokenized Stock Launch After 67 Companies Opt Out

OKX and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) will open their tokenized stock venue on Nov. 23, the companies said Wednesday, offering more than 70 assets under a temporary SEC exemption even as 67 companies, including Apple, Tesla and Meta, have already objected.

The OKX announcement said more than 70 assets are expected to be listed, including securities from Better.com, BitGo, Circle, Coinbase, Robinhood, Securitize and Strategy (MSTR), as well as 59 exchange-traded funds from Direxion. Strategy will also list its preferred stocks, such as STRC.

Access at launch is limited to eligible U.S. customers of OKX Inc. who have activated a CeDeFi Wallet, passed identity checks and completed onboarding with the joint venture, which is called OKXICE and is owned equally by ICE and OKC USA Holding Inc., an OKX affiliate. Trading will run around the clock in the OKX app.

“The future of finance is onchain, and we have an opportunity to build it here in America, with the standards, safeguards and ambition that investors expect,” said former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who co-chairs OKXICE with Trabue Bland.

The companies did not say how many of the more than 70 assets will trade on the first day, or how much liquidity the pools will have at the open. The venue is not a registered exchange or broker-dealer and is not approved by the SEC, the announcement said.

Trading will run through automated market maker pools built on Uniswap v4 and deployed on X Layer, the Ethereum layer-2 network OKX operates. Only approved wallets can trade or add liquidity.

Securitize will provide the tokenization infrastructure. Each token represents a security entitlement backed one-for-one by a U.S. share held by a registered broker-dealer, and holders keep the usual shareholder rights, including dividends, voting and corporate actions, the venue said in a Nov. 5 public notice required under the exemption.

Customers will hold the tokens in their own wallets. OKXICE will not hold the assets or the private keys. The tokens will be paired with payment stablecoins such as USDC and USDG. The venue does not operate an order book, does not extend credit and does not conduct primary offerings, the notice said.