OKXICE LLC, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange, filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Sunday to launch a tokenized stock trading platform, Bloomberg reported. The filing covers tokenized shares of 63 companies listed on the NYSE, and would make the venture one of the first major crypto groups to use Washington’s new rules for onchain versions of public-company shares.
A joint venture built for this exact moment
The vehicle behind the filing is a 50-50 joint venture formed in June by OKX and ICE, the exchange operator that also owns the NYSE. ICE took an equity stake in OKX in March, a deal that valued the crypto exchange at $25 billion, and the two sides agreed to work together on US-regulated crypto futures. OKXICE’s operating entity, OKXICE LLC, now wants to run what regulators call a tokenized securities venue under the SEC’s recently introduced innovation exemption.
That exemption, rolled out in September as a temporary measure, allows limited trading of tokenized US stocks on approved onchain venues. Platforms operating under it can offer permissioned trading of tokenized National Market System stocks through automated market makers and liquidity pools, an arrangement that differs from a conventional exchange order book but still settles against real, regulated securities.
“This is a landmark step toward a truly global, 24/7 Wall Street, and toward keeping the future of digital finance anchored here in the United States,” said Andrew Cuomo, co-chair of OKXICE, in a statement.
What has to change for US users
OKX already sells tokenized stocks offshore under its Unified Tokenized Stocks product, but those tokens are synthetic and distributed under Regulation S, which bars them from US investors. They also do not carry the full shareholder rights the new US framework demands. Under the exemption, tokenized securities must include real dividends flowing to token holders and real voting rights attached to each unit. Simply switching on access for American users would not qualify the existing product, so the planned platform has to be built differently from the ground up.
The tokens on the future US venue would be backed one-to-one by underlying shares held with third-party issuers, with OKX acting as distributor rather than issuer. Issuers of the 63 covered companies can opt out within 30 days before trading begins, and OKXICE’s launch timeline depends on that opt-out window closing and other regulatory conditions being met.
| Offshore product | Planned US platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Synthetic tokens | Tokenized NMS stocks |
| Shareholder rights | Not included | Dividends and votes required |
| Market access | Regulation S, non-US only | SEC innovation exemption |
| Trading model | Exchange listing | Permissioned AMMs and pools |
Why the timing matters
The filing lands weeks after the SEC opened the door. In September the regulator granted a temporary exemption letting blockchain-based versions of securities trade in the United States, an experiment with no exact precedent in American markets. Wall Street firms and crypto exchanges have been circling the opportunity since, because tokenized equities promise something traditional markets do not: a stock that trades around the clock, settles in minutes and can move through the same wallets as crypto.
For OKX, the prize is the one market its flagship product cannot touch. The Regulation S wall has capped the reach of its offshore tokenized stocks no matter how many tickers it added. A US platform under the innovation exemption opens the largest equity market in the world, with ICE’s market technology and regulatory standing behind it.
The move also fits a broader pattern this autumn. Cboe BZX cleared the first 3x leveraged bitcoin and ether products for listing in early October, the CFTC is drafting crypto rules under existing authority, and exchanges are racing to claim space in a market that regulators are only now defining. Whoever files first and builds to the required standard sets the template for everyone else.
How the plumbing works
Tokenized equities only mean something if the share behind the token is real, held by a regulated custodian and reconciled daily. Under the setup OKXICE described, each token tracks one share held by a third-party issuer, and dividend payments and shareholder votes flow to whoever holds the token at the record time. That last part is harder than it sounds. Corporate actions run on shareholder registers compiled by transfer agents, not on wallets, so a venue trading tokenized Apple or Microsoft has to build a bridge between two systems that were never designed to talk to each other.
Settlement is the other half. A conventional US equity trade settles the next business day through the Depository Trust Company. A tokenized venue settles onchain, often within minutes, which means cash leg and securities leg both have to be available around the clock. That is the reason the SEC’s exemption is permissioned rather than open: participants need to be known and vetted before trading can run without the usual market hours to catch errors.
What to watch next
Three things decide whether this goes live. First, the 30-day opt-out window: if a meaningful share of the 63 NYSE companies refuse, the venue starts smaller. Second, the SEC’s process for the venue itself, since the temporary exemption is exactly that, temporary. Third, demand from traders used to equities that close at 4pm New York time, because overnight liquidity will make or break the promise of a 24-hour Wall Street. None of those questions has an answer yet. The filing only says OKXICE intends to be ready when the rules let it trade.