Issuers get 30 days to opt out before any of the 63 NYSE-listed names can trade on the new venue, and tokens must carry dividends and votes.
OKXICE LLC, a venture formed by cryptocurrency exchange OKX and NYSE parent company ICE, made a filing on October 4 with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch a tokenized stock trading exchange.
The filing makes OKX one of the first crypto exchanges attempting to offer tokenized US stocks through a regulated exchange under the temporary SEC regulations.
OKXICE Seeks Approval for 63 NYSE Stocks
According to a report by Bloomberg, OKX plans to seek approval to offer tokenized shares of an initial 63 NYSE-listed companies. Under the SEC framework, those companies have 30 days to opt out before trading can begin, meaning the launch still depends on that notice period and other requirements.
OKX’s blockchain infrastructure would be paired with ICE’s market technology. ICE acquired a stake in OKX in March at a $25 billion valuation, and the companies have agreed to work together on US-regulated crypto futures.
The SEC introduced its temporary Innovation Exemption in September, allowing certain tokenized securities venues to facilitate secondary trading of tokenized US stocks through permissioned automated makers and liquidity pools.
Tokenized shares must carry the same shareholder rights as the underlying securities, including dividends and voting rights. Smart contracts must also be auditable and run on public, permissionless blockchains, while trading must stop if the underlying stock is suspended on its primary exchange.
OKX Joins a Growing Tokenized-Stock Race
As CryptoPotato reported, Coinbase announced in June that it planned to offer tokenized stocks to customers outside the US, with shares backed 1:1 by the underlying assets and carrying shareholder rights.
You may also like:
That move came before the SEC’s September exemption and showed how crypto exchanges were already pursuing ways to connect stock trading with blockchain infrastructure.
The SEC’s exemption followed stalled legislative progress around the CLARITY Act. The regulator had reportedly been working on the exemption for more than a year and had planned to release it in May before delaying it during negotiations over the bill.
For OKX, the filing gives a use to the relationship with ICE beyond its March investment. The two companies are now seeking to combine exchange infrastructure and blockchain-based trading under a framework that could let US-listed stocks trade around the clock, subject to the SEC’s conditions.
