Fifty public companies, including Nvidia, Microsoft, JPMorgan Chase, and Alphabet, have filed written objections to prevent OKX and Intercontinental Exchange from tokenizing their shares under the SEC’s new Innovation Exemption. The objection window closes November 4, 2026.
The companies represent 69 percent of the 62 firms OKXICE initially proposed to tokenize. Objections began trickling in on October 15, when nine companies filed. By October 19, the count had risen to 16. On October 28, 38 companies had objected. A final notice on October 30 added 12 objectors, including Nvidia, Costco, Nike, Micron, and Reddit, bringing the total to 50.
Under the SEC’s Innovation Exemption, issued September 17, tokenized securities venues can trade blockchain versions of U.S. stocks through automated market makers without registering as exchanges. When an unaffiliated third party tokenizes a company’s stock, the venue must notify the issuer. The issuer then has 30 days to object in writing. Silence counts as consent, and the order offers no mechanism to object after the window closes.
OKXICE plans to offer 24/7 trading of tokens backed one-for-one by shares, paired against stablecoins such as USDC in permissioned pools on OKX’s X Layer blockchain. Andrew Cuomo, OKXICE co-chair and former New York Governor, characterized the venture as a structural shift. “We are at the very beginning of the rollout of fundamentally different market structure,” Cuomo said.
JPMorgan stated it remains encouraged by tokenization broadly but wants to be thoughtful about how its shares are represented and traded. Other objecting companies include Goldman Sachs, Walmart, Broadcom, Verizon, Intel, and Costco.
Olivia Vande Woude, head of tokenization at Ava Labs, predicted the objection count could continue rising. “Given how easy the opt-out is, the list of objectors is likely to keep growing,” she said.
Nasdaq is building its own issuer-centric Nasdaq Equity Token with Kraken, targeted for Q2 2027. Nasdaq has argued that venues outside the National Market System could fragment liquidity and lack real-time best-price display and consolidated-tape reporting. Nasdaq declined to comment on a claim that a Nasdaq representative urged a Nasdaq-listed company to object to OKXICE, but reiterated that tokenized securities venues are not the best path forward. Nasdaq also said it had no connection to a full-page Wall Street Journal ad urging CEOs to opt out and never funded the Common Sense Leadership Fund, which paid for the advertisement.
