Nvidia, Costco, and Nike Push Back Against OKX Tokenized Stocks
Nvidia, Costco, and Nike join 50 companies objecting to OKXICE. The plan for 24/7 tokenized U.S. stocks falls under an SEC rule and uses stablecoins.
Key Takeaways
- Nvidia, Costco, Nike, and Micron Technology have objected to trading their shares on the blockchain platform from OKX and ICE.
- In total, 50 companies have now objected, including 43 of the 62 companies originally selected.
- The platform is supposed to make digital versions of U.S. stocks tradable 24 hours a day with stablecoins under an SEC rule.
Nvidia, Costco, Nike, and Micron Technology have joined the companies that do not want their shares traded on the new blockchain platform for stocks from crypto exchange OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange. That brings the total to 50 companies that have objected to the plan, while the deadline for responses from many companies is almost up.
More Companies Say No
According to an updated public notice from Friday, October 30, OKXICE, the joint venture of both parties, added 12 new objections. Along with Nvidia, Costco, Nike, and Micron, these include CrowdStrike, Corning, IREN, USA Rare Earth, Bloom Energy, Palo Alto Networks, Reddit, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Of the 62 companies OKXICE initially selected for trading, 43 have now objected, about 69 percent. On top of that, seven more companies outside that original selection have also said no. The list shows that many issuers are still hesitant about a market where digital versions of U.S. stocks would be tradable 24 hours a day.
What OKX and ICE Are Building
The platform is meant to give investors the ability to trade digital versions of U.S. stocks around the clock while using stablecoins. The project falls under the SEC's so-called Innovation Exemption, a temporary rule that expires five years after publication and on which the regulator has also asked for public feedback.
Under that framework, companies must be informed in advance before their shares are tokenized. They can then object, but they do not have to take part. That makes the current list of objections important, but not the same as rejecting tokenization as a technology.
Earlier, objections from other major issuers also led to an initial wave of resistance to the plan.
Why This Matters for Europe
For European crypto followers, this is especially relevant because it shows how tokenization of traditional stocks runs into existing market structures in practice. If major U.S. companies do not want their shares on a platform like this, that says something about the hurdles that still exist around oversight, trading formats, and control over their own shares. It is also a sign that the debate over tokenized assets is not just about technology, but just as much about who sets the rules.