Broadcom, Verizon and UnitedHealth are among nine U.S.-listed companies objecting to plans by OKXICE to trade blockchain-based versions of their shares, adding issuer resistance to uncertainty around the Securities and Exchange Commission’s temporary framework for tokenized stocks.
The objections were disclosed in an October 15 public notice from OKXICE, a joint venture between cryptocurrency exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. According to CoinDesk, the filing names eight newly disclosed objectors: Broadcom, Verizon, UnitedHealth, AppLovin, Applied Digital, Rocket Lab, CoreWeave and Applied Optoelectronics.
The notice lists nine objecting issuers in total. Cerebras Systems, an artificial-intelligence chip company, had previously formally opted out of being listed. The filing did not explain why the companies objected or indicate when their notices were submitted.
Nasdaq has separately said it would not allow its own shares to be tokenized under the same framework. Nasdaq is not among the nine companies identified in the OKXICE notice. A company spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that Nasdaq did not want its shares traded on a venue that would not show best prices in real time or report transactions to the consolidated tape, the system that combines trading information from U.S. stock markets.
How the proposed venue would work
OKXICE announced on October 5 that it had notified the SEC of plans to launch a venue initially targeting shares of 63 U.S.-listed companies. Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who serves as the venture’s co-chair, announced the plan on X.
The proposed platform would rely on the SEC’s five-year “Innovation Exemption,” issued on September 17. The exemption allows qualifying platforms to trade tokenized U.S. stocks through automated market makers and liquidity pools.
A tokenized stock is a blockchain-based representation of an equity share. Under OKXICE’s model, trading would take place around the clock through Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on OKX’s XLayer blockchain, with transactions settled in stablecoins, digital tokens designed to maintain a stable value against an underlying asset such as a currency.
The underlying shares would be held one-for-one against the tokens in circulation through a registered broker-dealer. Token holders would be entitled to equivalent economic and corporate rights, including dividends and voting rights, according to the model described in the notice.
This structure differs from a product that merely tracks a stock’s price without holding the corresponding shares. The one-for-one backing is intended to connect each blockchain token to an underlying equity position, while the proposed blockchain infrastructure would support continuous trading outside the usual structure of stock-market hours.
Why issuers are hesitant
The objections highlight a central challenge for tokenized equity markets: a venue may need participation from stock issuers and market institutions to build sufficient liquidity and credibility, while companies may be reluctant to join a platform whose regulatory status and market structure remain unsettled.
The concerns are consistent with research from TD Securities analysts led by Reid Noch, the firm’s vice president of U.S. equity market structure. After speaking with dozens of issuers, the analysts reported “little interest in tokenizing their shares outside a small group of crypto-adjacent companies.” Their report, shared with CoinDesk, said several issuers contacted the firm after learning about the framework and raised significant concerns.
The analysts identified the temporary nature of the SEC’s relief as the biggest obstacle. Because the framework is based on a five-year exemption rather than permanent rules, a future commission could change or reverse the approach. That possibility may make companies cautious about participating and make institutions less willing to invest in supporting infrastructure or integrate their systems with the new venues.
TD Securities also said the framework creates an uneven operating environment. Overseas platforms can continue offering synthetic stock products without taking on the same operational requirements imposed by the U.S. exemption, according to the analysts. Synthetic products are designed to provide exposure to an asset’s price without representing direct ownership of the underlying share.
For OKXICE, the issuer responses could affect the number of companies available when the platform launches. They also show that extending stock trading onto blockchain networks involves more than developing wallets, liquidity pools and settlement systems. It requires agreement from companies whose shares are being represented, as well as confidence that the regulatory and reporting arrangements will endure.
Moneyiar market picture
Moneyiar data at 22:04 on October 19, 2026, showed Compound (COMP) at $21.5137509536, up 3.05% over 24 hours but down 8.83% over seven days. Ore (ORE) was $111.3585349352, rising 5.31% in 24 hours and falling 3.18% over the week.
Telcoin (TEL) stood at $0.0015134505, up 0.12% over 24 hours and down 13.92% over seven days. WOULD was listed at $0.0351412837, with a 24-hour gain of 0.33% and a seven-day increase of 10.6%; its Moneyiar data timestamp was September 22, 2026, at 21:04.
