Wells Fargo, Cisco among 22 firms rejecting OKX-ICE tokenized stocks

What happened

OKXICE, a joint venture of OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), published an updated public notice on Friday listing six more companies that have opted out of its planned tokenized stock venue, CoinDesk reported. The new names are Cisco, Wells Fargo, Marvell Technology, Arm Holdings, Intuit and Moderna, taking the total to 22. Earlier in the week, Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs and McDonald's were among those that said no. The venue first notified issuers on October 4 of plans to trade blockchain versions of 62 companies' shares using Uniswap liquidity pools, with trades settled in stablecoins. Some objectors, including Wells Fargo and Arm, were not on that original list.

What it means

The objections are possible because of how the SEC designed its rules. On September 17 the regulator granted a temporary exemption, valid for five years, that lets tokenized securities venues trade blockchain-based versions of US-listed shares through automated market makers, which are software pools that match trades without a traditional order book. One condition is that a venue must give a company written notice and a chance to object before trading tokens of its stock created by an unrelated party. Issuers get 30 days to respond.

That design tilts companies toward caution. Law firm Latham & Watkins has warned that staying silent effectively becomes a permanent choice, because the SEC order offers no way to object later once trading starts, CoinDesk reported. For a legal team weighing an unfamiliar market structure, saying no costs little. Experts quoted by CoinDesk expect the list to keep growing and say the next venue to send notices could face similar pushback.

The objections also reflect a fight over market structure rather than a rejection of tokenization itself. Nasdaq, which is developing its own model for tokenized securities, plans to object to tokens of its own shares trading on these venues. It has warned that trading outside the national market system could split liquidity and weaken price discovery. Of the 22 objecting companies, 16 are listed on Nasdaq and six on the NYSE, Cointelegraph reported.

OKXICE says the reaction was expected. Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who co-chairs the venture, described the framework as a sandbox and said many companies would rather wait and see than go first. Some firms with a stake in the sector, such as Securitize and BitGo, have said they will not object.

The bull case

Objecting costs companies nothing, so the early list may reflect caution more than outright opposition. The SEC exemption runs for five years, leaving time for issuers to get comfortable as questions about dividends, voting rights and custody are answered. If the first venue proves that tokenized trading works smoothly, more companies could opt in, opening a new round-the-clock channel for global demand for US shares.

The bear case

When household names such as Microsoft, Alphabet and Wells Fargo decline, the venue may be left trading a thinner, less attractive set of stocks, which could keep volumes low. Nasdaq's concerns about fragmented liquidity and weaker price discovery add weight to the skeptics. If objections keep piling up across venues, the SEC's experiment could struggle to show the benefits its backers promised, slowing wider adoption of tokenized equities.