JPMorgan, Coca-Cola, Dell also say 'no' to OKX-ICE tokenized tock trading plan

JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Coca-Cola (KO) and Dell Technologies (DELL) have joined the growing pushback against tokenized stock trading plans by crypto exchange OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange, with nearly half the companies on the venture’s original roster now opting out.

The companies, alongside Applied Materials, Adobe, Dell Technologies and Sandisk, appeared in an updated public notice dated Tuesday, Oct. 27, from OKXICE, the two firms’ joint venture. The seven additions bring disclosed objections to 33, up from 26 in Monday’s notice.

Nearly half the venture’s original selection has now opted out. All seven newly disclosed objectors were among the 62 companies initially proposed for trading, bringing objections from that roster to 30, or about 48%, according to CoinDesk’s tally. Some of the firms that objected — Wells Fargo, Arm, Cerebras — were not listed in that filing.

Issuer caution

The growing list of objections highlights issuers’ caution about a new market structure taking shape under the SEC’s “Innovation Exemption.” The framework gives venues room to test blockchain-based stock trading, but companies are still weighing how those markets would work and what they stand to gain, experts told CoinDesk earlier.

OKXICE issued its initial notice on Oct. 4, outlining plans for round-the-clock trading through Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on OKX’s XLayer blockchain, with transactions settled in stablecoins.

The venue would operate under the SEC’s five-year “Innovation Exemption,” which allows qualifying platforms to trade tokenized stocks using automated market makers. Companies have 30 days after notification to object to their inclusion.

OKXICE co-chairman Andrew Cuomo previously said many companies were expected to wait and see how the market develops before participating, describing the SEC’s limited experiment as “a sandbox—a model demonstration.”