Overview
- OKXICE, a collaboration between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, has filed with the SEC to establish a 24/7 trading platform for tokenized U.S. stocks under the new Innovation Exemption.
- The filing includes tokenized versions of over 60 stocks listed in the U.S., with trading pairs available in USDC, USDG, or Tether's USDT.
- Cerebras Systems, a chip manufacturer, has already expressed its objections regarding this trading venue, which has not disclosed the name of the token issuer.
OKXICE, the joint venture formed by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has announced its intention to create a round-the-clock trading platform for tokenized U.S. stocks, as stated by co-chair Andrew Cuomo in a tweet on Monday.
The venture filed a notice on October 4 under the SEC's "Innovation Exemption," which allows qualifying platforms to trade tokenized stocks without the need for exchange registration since its introduction on September 17. According to the notice, OKXICE will operate continuously, 24/7.
Today we are announcing a major step forward for OKXICE, the joint venture between @okx and Intercontinental Exchange, parent company of @NYSE:
OKXICE has notified the SEC that we intend to launch our Tokenized Securities Venue (TSV) under the SEC’s new Innovation Exemption.…
— Andrew Cuomo (@andrewcuomo) October 5, 2026
The SEC does not provide individual approval for trading venues; instead, companies that meet the exemption criteria can simply notify the agency and proceed under the stipulated conditions.
Cuomo, a former governor of New York, described the filing as "a landmark step toward a truly global, 24/7 Wall Street."
The notice includes major companies like Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, and SpaceX, as well as crypto-related firms such as Coinbase, Circle, Strategy, Robinhood, BitGo, and Securitize. Each tokenized stock will be traded against one of three stablecoins: USDC, USDG, or Tether's USDT.
In June, an OKX representative informed Fortune that the focus of the venture would be on tokenizing equities listed on the NYSE. Notably, Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, and Microsoft are listed on the Nasdaq exchange.
Chipmaker Cerebras Systems has already submitted a notice of objection regarding the issuer, as the exemption allows third parties to tokenize company shares without direct involvement from the companies themselves. However, the venue is required to notify the issuer and provide a 30-day period for objections. If an objection is raised, the tokens cannot be traded on that platform. Cerebras is not mentioned in the notice's list of tokenized stocks.
Details on the OKXICE Venue
The trading will utilize permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on XLayer, a layer-2 blockchain, with a custom smart contract overseeing each transaction. Only wallets that possess a non-transferable soulbound token, issued after undergoing identity verification, anti-money laundering checks, and sanctions compliance by OKX's U.S. entity, will have the ability to trade or provide liquidity.
The notice cautions that the prices of tokenized securities, determined solely by the liquidity pools, may not always align with the prices of the underlying shares, especially outside of standard trading hours.
The tokens are issued by an unnamed third party, referred to in the notice simply as "the Tokenizer," which holds the actual shares in a one-to-one ratio through a registered broker-dealer. The notice does not specify who this party is. Token holders will enjoy the same dividends and voting rights as traditional shareholders, according to the filing.
ICE and OKX established the 50-50 joint venture in June, following ICE's minority investment in OKX, valued at a remarkable $25 billion. The two entities had previously introduced crypto-native perpetual futures for oil aimed at non-U.S. clients. Cuomo, who previously served as New York's attorney general, has been collaborating with OKX since 2023.
The SEC introduced the Innovation Exemption on September 17, a decision that came months after Chair Paul Atkins revised a previous timeline due to feedback from Wall Street, and shortly after the Clarity Act failed to progress in the Senate.
Atkins asserted that the SEC was acting "within its statutory authority," and described the exemption as a temporary measure leading toward permanent regulations.
According to Chris Hayes, executive director of the Coalition for Tokenized Markets, the exemption "could put DeFi trading platforms and liquidity pools in much more direct competition with traditional exchanges," as he told Crypto in America at the time of the announcement.
The filing does not specify a launch date for the trading venue.