Nine U.S.-listed companies, including Broadcom, Verizon Communications and UnitedHealth Group, have formally objected to the trading of tokenized versions of their shares on OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).
The objections bar the planned venue from offering those stocks. They are also the first measurable sign of how listed companies are responding to third-party tokenization under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) new framework.
A tokenized stock is a blockchain-based token that represents ownership of an ordinary share. OKXICE disclosed its objections in an updated public notice dated October 15, 2026, for OKXICE TSV, the Tokenized Securities Venue (TSV) that the joint venture plans to operate. The companies that submitted a Notice of Issuer Objection are:
- Cerebras Systems Inc. (CBRS)
- AppLovin Corporation (APP)
- Applied Digital Corporation (APLD)
- Rocket Lab Corporation (RKLB)
- CoreWeave, Inc. (CRWV)
- Verizon Communications Inc. (VZ)
- Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (AAOI)
- Broadcom Inc. (AVGO)
- UnitedHealth Group Incorporated (UNH)
How the Objection List Grew in Two Weeks
OKXICE named 63 U.S.-listed stocks it intended to offer when it filed with the SEC to launch tokenized U.S. stock trading on October 4. Cerebras was not on that list because its objection had already been recorded in the first version of the venue’s public notice.
The remaining eight objections arrived in two batches. AppLovin, Applied Digital and Rocket Lab were added in an October 8 update, and CoreWeave, Verizon, Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom and UnitedHealth appeared on October 15, according to the OKXICE TSV notice page, which keeps every prior version of the filing.
Those eight withdrawals remove about 13% of the original 63-stock lineup and leave 55 names that have not objected so far. The notice does not state when each company received its notification, so it is not yet clear whether further objections can still arrive.
The objections also show a clear sector pattern. Five of the nine companies, namely Broadcom, Cerebras, CoreWeave, Applied Digital and Applied Optoelectronics, supply chips, cloud computing capacity, data centers or optical components to the artificial intelligence (AI) market.
What the SEC’s Issuer Opt-Out Rule Requires
The objections were filed under the SEC’s Innovation Exemption, issued on September 17, 2026, and published in the Federal Register on September 22, 2026, at 91 Fed. Reg. 60168. The OKXICE filing refers to it as the TSV Exemption.
The five-year order exempts qualifying TSVs from the definition of “exchange,” and certain liquidity providers from the definition of “dealer,” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. It covers tokenized National Market System (NMS) stocks, meaning shares listed on U.S. national securities exchanges. The Crypto Times covered the exemption on the day it was issued, along with Securitize’s breakdown of its conditions.
When an unaffiliated third party creates the token, the venue must notify the issuer in writing before offering it. The issuer then has 30 calendar days to object, and a timely written objection prevents that venue from offering the token under the exemption. Law firm Morgan Lewis notes that the process runs venue by venue, so an objection to OKXICE does not stop a different venue from sending its own notice.
The order also caps scale. According to the OKXICE notice, a venue may list up to 75 symbols whose underlying stocks fall in Tier 1 of the Limit Up-Limit Down (LULD) Plan, the mechanism that pauses trading when a stock’s price moves outside set bands. Trading in each of those tokens may not exceed 0.25% of the stock’s prior-month average daily volume (ADV). For Tier 2 stocks, the limits rise to 250 symbols and 2.5% of ADV.
Why Companies Are Saying No
The October 15 notice lists the objections without giving reasons. Applied Optoelectronics, a fiber-optic component maker, is the only company in the group that has explained its position. A spokeswoman told The Wall Street Journal that the company was uncertain how tokenization would affect its stock price, liquidity and volatility. She also cited the risk that investors could wrongly assume the company was involved in an offering it did not sponsor or endorse, and said she saw no clear benefit for the company or its shareholders.
Those concerns match risks that OKXICE discloses itself. The venue will price trades through an automated market maker (AMM), a smart contract that sets prices from the ratio of assets in a liquidity pool rather than by matching buy and sell orders. The notice states that token prices may therefore differ from the underlying shares, particularly outside regular exchange hours, when pool liquidity is thin, or during trading halts.
The SEC order itself anticipated issuer hesitation. Morgan Lewis notes that the order cites concerns about control of the shareholder register and possible price dislocation from a company’s traditional stock.
How OKXICE Plans to Run the Venue
OKXICE LLC is a Texas limited liability company owned 50% by Intercontinental Exchange Holdings, Inc. and 50% by OKC USA Holding Inc., an OKX affiliate, according to the October 15 notice. Former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo co-chairs the venture.
Trading is planned through permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on XLayer, OKX’s blockchain network. Each token would be paired with one of three payment stablecoins: USD Coin (USDC), Global Dollar (USDG), or Tether (USDT). Access is limited to participants who pass know-your-customer and know-your-business (KYC/KYB) verification, anti-money laundering (AML) checks, and sanctions screening. Approved users then receive a soulbound token (SBT), a non-transferable token held in a wallet that proves eligibility to trade.
OKXICE does not hold customer assets, run an order book, or conduct primary offerings. Each token is meant to represent a security entitlement to one underlying share held by a registered broker-dealer, with dividend and voting rights passed through to holders. Securitize has said it expects its tokenized stocks to trade on the OKXICE venue.
What Comes Next
OKXICE has told The Wall Street Journal it still plans to offer dozens of other U.S.-listed stocks, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, JPMorgan Chase and Walmart. No launch date has been announced. The notice states that the venue’s custom smart contract, the OKXICE TSV Hook, will be audited internally and by an independent security firm before operations begin.
The same issuers are likely to face the decision again. Other platforms, including Perpetuals.com, are preparing to offer tokenized U.S. stocks under the same exemption, and each venue must send its own notices. Whether the 55 remaining companies on OKXICE’s list stay silent will show how much of the U.S. equity market third-party tokenization can realistically reach during the SEC’s five-year test period.
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