Amazon, Tesla and SpaceX join OKX–ICE tokenized stock objections as deadline looms

Amazon AMZN$247.82, Tesla TSLA$400.39 and SpaceX SPCX$140.98 joined companies saying no to the blockchain-based stock market venue being built by crypto exchange OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange, as the deadline for some issuers to object approaches.

Netflix (NFLX), SoFi Technologies SOFI$16.75 and Lam Research (LRCX) also appeared in OKXICE’s updated public notice dated Monday, Nov. 2. The six additions bring disclosed objections to 56, up from 50 in Friday’s update.

The joint venture plans to let investors trade tokenized versions of U.S. shares around the clock on a blockchain-based venue, paying with stablecoins. It would operate under the SEC’s five-year “innovation exemption,” which allows qualifying marketplaces to use automated market makers, using software to executes trades through pools of assets instead of matching buyers and sellers in an order book.

The growing list shows how cautious companies remain about the experiment. Supporters promise longer trading hours and faster settlement, but issuers are still weighing whether the new markets would attract additional investors and how trading outside the familiar stock market would affect their shares.

Of the 62 companies OKXICE initially picked for trading, 49 — about 79% — have now objected, according to a CoinDesk tally. Seven other objectors were outside that original selection.

The clock is ticking

Companies have 30 days after receiving a venue’s written notice to object under the SEC’s rules. For issuers that received notice on Oct. 4, when OKXICE published its initial filing, that deadline would fall on Tuesday, Nov. 3. The clock runs from receipt of the individual notice, however, and the filing does not establish a common deadline for every company.

Venues like OKXICE have up to five business days to publish objections, meaning further responses could emerge after that deadline.

Thirteen companies from the initial selection have no disclosed objection as of Monday’s notice: Apple AAPL$330.51, Strategy MSTR$136.98, Robinhood HOOD$85.12, Coinbase COIN$149.78, Super Micro Computer (SMCI), Palantir (PLTR), Circle CRCL$75.39, ServiceNow (NOW), GE Vernova (GEV), Boeing (BA), Home Depot (HD), Securitize (SECZ) and BitGo BTGO$5.3800.

Securitize and BitGo previously told CoinDesk they did not plan to object.

Andrew Cuomo, OKXICE’s co-chairman and former New York governor, said during a Friday press conference that many companies wanted to see first how the market worked before participating.

Cuomo also said companies outside the initial selection had approached the venture about joining, but declined to name them or provide a count. He also did not give a launch date or say how many stocks would be available when trading begins.

“I think the more people become familiar with tokenization, and the more they see the benefits of tokenization, I think you'll see more and more companies participate,” he said during the press conference. “But we are at the very beginning of the rollout of fundamentally different market structure.”