Fiber-optic component maker Applied Optoelectronics objected to OKXICE tokenizing its shares, citing concerns over potential investor confusion, lack of shareholder benefit, and unpredictable impacts on stock price, volatility, and liquidity

Overview Debates Related claims Topics Sources

Under the SEC's September 17, 2026 innovation exemption, a trading venue must notify an equity issuer 30 calendar days before listing third-party stock tokens, giving the issuer a 30-day window to file an objection notice

On September 17, 2026, the SEC enacted a five-year innovation exemption order allowing permissioned venues such as OKXICE to trade tokenized U.S. equities without registering as traditional securities exchanges or market maker dealers

An issuer's formal objection under the SEC's innovation exemption legally blocks only the specific venue that sent the notice, requiring each new trading venue to initiate its own separate 30-day opt-out window

Nine U.S.-listed companies, including Broadcom, CoreWeave, Verizon, UnitedHealth Group, and Cerebras Systems, filed formal notices objecting to tokenized versions of their stock trading on OKXICE

Legal analysis from Davis Polk notes that the SEC's September 17, 2026 innovation exemption relief remains active through September 17, 2031, providing a regulatory testing period to gather data for permanent equity tokenization rules

Computershare requested in an October 2, 2026 comment letter that the SEC allow companies to file standing objections against stock tokenization

OKXICE plans to operate 24/7 permissioned liquidity pools on the X Layer network, pairing stock tokens against USDC, USDG, or USDT stablecoins for identity-verified traders holding non-transferable soulbound tokens

Formed in June 2026 and co-chaired by former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, joint venture OKXICE notified the SEC on October 4, 2026 of plans to offer tokenized stock trading across 63 tickers

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron publicly criticized Robinhood's offshore-issued stock tokens tied to AMC shares in a September 3, 2026 post on X after AMC issued a cease-and-desist demand to the platform

In October 2026 comment letters to the SEC regarding its innovation exemption, stock transfer agent Computershare and law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth requested an explicit consent requirement and a centralized public register for issuer objections to stock tokenization

OKXICE intends to launch tokenized stock trading for major companies including Apple, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Tesla, JPMorgan Chase, and Walmart

Nasdaq announced it will opt out of having its shares tokenized under the SEC's innovation exemption, stating that OKXICE fails to display real-time best prices or report trades to the consolidated tape

Robinhood refused a cease-and-desist demand from AMC Entertainment regarding digital stock tokens tied to AMC shares

In September 2026, Binance enabled eligible users to use supported bStocks as margin and futures collateral, allowing borrowing up to 5x leverage

Binance's tokenized U.S. equities product, bStocks, reached $1 billion in assets under management on October 15, 2026, roughly four months after its June 11, 2026 launch

Binance subsidiary BTech Holdings issues bStocks under an Abu Dhabi Global Market approved prospectus, excluding U.S. persons, while legal disclaimers note they are not direct company shares

Users converted $6 billion worth of shares into and out of Binance's bStocks token form at a one-to-one rate with direct stock positions

Tokenized stock transfers across the market exceeded $100 billion in Q3 2026, representing a 16-fold increase from Q1 2026

In July 2026, 62% of Binance's bStocks trading volume occurred outside regular U.S. stock market hours

An August 2026 review by Kairos Research noted bStocks represent unsecured credit exposure to a Binance affiliate until a side letter with Ethena restricts the issuer's use of backing shares