Nine Companies, Including Broadcom and Verizon, Formally Object to OKXICE Tokenized Share Trading
Published October 18, 2026, 12:15 PM PKT. Based on OKXICE's October 15, 2026 public notice (primary source), The Wall Street Journal's reporting via The Block's October 17, 2026 coverage (secondary source), news.bitcoin.com's October 18, 2026 report (secondary source), and OKXICE's October 4, 2026 token list notice (primary source).
Nine U.S.-listed companies have filed formal objections to having their shares tokenized on OKXICE, the 24/7 stock-trading venture owned equally by crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The objections appear in an October 15 public notice from OKXICE, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, and they strike at the venture's core product: trading digital versions of U.S. stocks around the clock.
The notice names Cerebras Systems (CBRS), AppLovin (APP), Applied Digital (APLD), Rocket Lab (RKLB), CoreWeave (CRWV), Verizon (VZ), Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI), Broadcom (AVGO) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH). It gives no reasons for any of the filings and says nothing about whether the companies oppose tokenization in general.
The veto inside the SEC exemption
The objections carry real weight because of the regulatory framework OKXICE operates under. The Securities and Exchange Commission's temporary exemption for tokenized stock trading includes an issuer-objection mechanism: once an issuer files an objection, its shares stay out of the venue's trading pool. The technology can be ready and the regulators can be on board, but the companies whose names are on the stock certificates still get a veto.
What Applied Optoelectronics told the Journal
At least one objector has explained itself. A spokeswoman for Applied Optoelectronics, a fiber-optic equipment maker, told the Journal the company was unsure how tokenization would affect its stock price, liquidity and volatility, according to The Block's October 17 coverage. She cited the risk that investors could confuse a token created by an unaffiliated third party with an offering the company itself sponsored or endorsed, and said the company saw no clear benefit "to AOI or our shareholders" that justified the uncertainty.
Eight of the 63 tickers
The objections shrink OKXICE's launch list but do not eliminate it. Eight of the nine objectors appeared among the 63 tickers OKXICE named on October 4 as the stocks it intended to offer, according to The Block. The ninth, Cerebras Systems, was not on that list. Reporting on the filings describes two waves: Cerebras, AppLovin, Applied Digital and Rocket Lab filed objections around October 8, and CoreWeave, Broadcom, Verizon, Applied Optoelectronics and UnitedHealth joined later, according to newisty's October 17 summary.
OKXICE told the Journal it still plans to launch trading for dozens of U.S.-listed companies, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, JPMorgan Chase and Walmart. Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who became OKXICE's co-chair when the venture formed in June, told the Journal he expects companies to be skeptical of tokenizing their stock and described the venue as a first step toward tokenizing securities, The Block reported.
How the venue would work
Under OKXICE's model, an independent third party holds the actual shares through a registered broker-dealer, and each token represents a claim on one underlying share, carrying its dividends and voting rights, according to the venue's notices as described by news.bitcoin.com and CoinOTAG. Trading would run 24 hours a day, seven days a week through permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on OKX's X Layer blockchain, settled against stablecoins including USDC, USDT and USDG, with identity verification and an approved digital wallet required to participate.
Nasdaq opts out
The resistance may not stop at the nine companies. Nasdaq told the Journal it will keep its own shares off tokenized platforms under the SEC's new framework, citing concerns about trading on market data delayed by 10 minutes, according to CoinOTAG's summary of the coverage.
This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.
Sources
- OKXICE, October 15, 2026, primary source: public notice listing nine formal issuer objections to tokenized share trading on the venue, filed by Cerebras Systems (CBRS), AppLovin (APP), Applied Digital (APLD), Rocket Lab (RKLB), CoreWeave (CRWV), Verizon (VZ), Applied Optoelectronics (AAOI), Broadcom (AVGO) and UnitedHealth Group (UNH); no reasons given for any filing; the SEC's temporary exemption for the venue includes an issuer-objection mechanism that keeps an objecting company's shares out of the trading pool
- OKXICE, October 4, 2026, primary source: notice naming 63 tickers the venture intended to offer as tokenized shares; eight of the nine objectors appeared on that list, Cerebras Systems did not
- The Wall Street Journal, via The Block and news.bitcoin.com, secondary source: first reported the nine objections; spokeswoman for Applied Optoelectronics said the company was unsure how tokenization would affect its stock price, liquidity and volatility, cited investor-confusion risk over an unsponsored offering and said the company saw no clear benefit "to AOI or our shareholders"; OKXICE said it still plans to launch trading for dozens of U.S.-listed companies including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, JPMorgan Chase and Walmart; Andrew Cuomo, OKXICE co-chair and former New York governor, said he expects companies to be skeptical of tokenizing their stock and called the venue a first step toward tokenizing securities
- The Block, October 17, 2026, secondary source: nine-company list with tickers; eight of nine among the 63 tickers named October 4; Applied Optoelectronics explanation; Nasdaq plans to opt out of having its own shares tokenized under the SEC's new framework
- news.bitcoin.com, October 18, 2026, secondary source: nine-company list; 24/7 trading model; independent third party holds real shares through a registered broker-dealer; each token a 1:1 claim on one share with dividends and voting rights; settlement in USDC, USDT and USDG on OKX's X Layer
- CoinOTAG, October 17, 2026, secondary source: Nasdaq keeping its listings off tokenized platforms, citing 10-minute delayed trade data; the venture is a 50/50 joint venture between ICE and OKC USA Holding
- newisty, October 17, 2026, secondary source: two filing waves (Cerebras, AppLovin, Applied Digital and Rocket Lab around October 8; CoreWeave, Broadcom, Verizon, Applied Optoelectronics and UnitedHealth later); 55 of the 63 symbols carry no disclosed objection
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