JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Alphabet and 30 other publicly traded companies have formally objected to having their shares traded as blockchain-based tokens on a proposed platform operated by cryptocurrency exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange.According to an updated public notice dated October 27, 2026, the number of objecting companies has reached 33, up from 26 a day earlier and nine on October 15.The latest additions include JPMorgan Chase, Advanced Micro Devices, Applied Materials, Coca-Cola, Adobe, Dell Technologies and Sandisk. Earlier objections came from Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Oracle, Intel, IBM and several other major corporations.Of the 62 companies included in the platform’s original proposed trading roster, 30 have now objected, representing approximately 48% of the initial selection.The objections highlight emerging resistance to a regulatory initiative intended to bring traditional securities onto blockchain infrastructure while enabling continuous trading and faster settlement.
SEC exemption gives companies authority to block tokenization
OKXICE, a joint venture equally owned by OKX’s US holding company and ICE, announced its tokenized securities initiative in early October.The platform intends to operate under the Securities and Exchange Commission’s five-year Innovation Exemption, introduced in September 2026 to facilitate experimental blockchain-based securities markets.Under the framework, eligible operators can offer tokenized representations of publicly traded US equities through permissioned automated market maker pools without complying with certain conventional exchange-registration requirements.OKXICE plans to use OKX’s XLayer blockchain and Uniswap v4 infrastructure to support round-the-clock trading, with transactions settled using supported stablecoins.The proposed tokens would be backed one-for-one by underlying shares and preserve economic and governance rights, including dividends and shareholder voting.However, the exemption requires operators to notify issuers before listing third-party tokenized representations of their shares.Companies have 30 days to submit written objections, which prevent the relevant platform from offering their tokenized securities under the exemption.The restriction applies to the specific venue rather than constituting a universal prohibition on tokenization.The public notices generally do not explain individual companies’ objections, although JPMorgan said it remains interested in tokenization while evaluating how its shares would be represented and traded.
Corporate resistance complicates blockchain equity expansion
The objections expose a significant obstacle for financial institutions seeking to integrate traditional equities with decentralized trading infrastructure.Supporters argue that tokenized securities could improve settlement efficiency, expand trading hours and reduce dependence on existing market intermediaries.However, traditional financial institutions have raised concerns about liquidity fragmentation, price discovery, investor protections and the relationship between blockchain venues and established exchanges.Nasdaq, which is developing a competing tokenization initiative with Kraken parent Payward, has warned that insufficiently coordinated market structures could divide liquidity across competing platforms.The objections are particularly notable because several opposing companies, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, have separately invested in blockchain-based financial infrastructure.Their opposition therefore does not necessarily indicate rejection of tokenization as a technology, but rather caution regarding this particular trading arrangement.The development also creates uncertainty about the breadth of equities initially available on OKXICE, although the platform has not announced a definitive launch date.For the broader cryptocurrency industry, the dispute illustrates the challenges of connecting permissioned securities markets with blockchain trading systems.While regulators have created a framework for experimentation, issuer consent, shareholder protections and integration with existing financial infrastructure remain central considerations for bringing tokenized equities into mainstream markets.
