Cerebras Systems, AppLovin, Applied Digital, Rocket Lab, CoreWeave, Verizon Communications, Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom and UnitedHealth Group have objected to having tokenized versions of their shares traded on the proposed OKXICE venue.
The platform would not operate an order book, hold participant assets, extend credit or conduct primary securities offerings. For third-party tokenized stocks, the underlying shares would be held one-for-one through an SEC-registered broker-dealer, with ownership and transfers recorded on the blockchain.
The objections use a safeguard in the Securities and Exchange Commission’s temporary innovation exemption issued Sept. The framework requires a tokenized securities venue to notify an issuer and give it an opportunity to object before offering a stock tokenized by an unaffiliated third party. It also limits symbols and trading volume, requires token holders to receive the same economic and voting rights as holders of equivalent traditional shares, and requires public, auditable smart contracts.
The exemption allows permissioned onchain trading through automated market makers and liquidity pools, but it expires five years after publication. A venue must also halt tokenized trading when trading in the underlying stock is halted on its primary exchange.
The nine objections prevent those companies’ tokenized shares from being offered on this specific venue under the exemption, while leaving open the possibility of tokenized trading elsewhere if a different venue completes its own notice process and receives no objection.