Alphabet, Microsoft add objections to OKX-ICE proposed tokenized stock platform

More companies are formally objecting to having tokenized versions of their shares available on the stock platform proposed by cryptocurrency exchange OKX and the New York Stock Exchange’s parent, the Intercontinental Exchange.

In a notice updated Monday, the joint venture between OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), called OKXICE, reported receiving 16 notices of issuer objection from companies including Microsoft, Google’s parent company Alphabet and Goldman Sachs. The objections did not include specific reasons for the notice to OKX, but one expert told Cointelegraph that they could relate to “not knowing what happens to their price” on the proposed platform.

Speaking to Cointelegraph on Tuesday, OKXICE co-chair and former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said that these notices were “not objections,” citing the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) “opening up to a global 24/7 marketplace.” He characterized objections as some companies standing on the side of a pool while letting others jump in and test the waters for OKXICE’s tokenized stock model.

Cuomo added:

“There are going to be a lot of companies that say ‘we don’t want to be the first, we wanna see how it goes’ [...] that is 100% to be expected, and there will be more.”

Cuomo said earlier this month, when OKX and ICE filed with the SEC, that the proposed tokenized stock trading platform would offer shares for more than 60 companies listed on US exchanges. Of the 62 proposed companies, about 25% have issued objections.

According to OKXICE, the proposed platform would operate 24/7 using permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools deployed on XLayer. Each tokenized stock would be paired with one of three payment stablecoins: Tether’s USDt (USDT), Circle’s USDC (USDC) or Global Dollar (USDG).