Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) are among 38 companies that have objected to plans by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and cryptocurrency exchange OKX to offer tokenised versions of their shares. The objections, which had expanded by 29 October 2026, threaten to narrow the list of major companies available when the proposed trading platform launches. The latest filings show growing resistance to a new approach to trading traditional equities through blockchain technology.
The dispute follows a September decision by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to introduce a temporary five-year regulatory exemption allowing approved platforms to facilitate trading in tokenised stocks. The proposed OKX-ICE venue initially targeted shares in 62 publicly listed companies, with plans for round-the-clock trading. The regulatory order requires participating platforms to give companies an opportunity to object before third-party tokenised versions of their shares are listed.
The resistance grows
The latest additions include Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase, AMD, Adobe, Dell Technologies, Applied Materials and Sandisk. They joined earlier objectors including Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Intel, Oracle and McDonald’s, taking the disclosed number of companies opposing inclusion on the OKX-ICE platform to 38 by 28 October.
JPMorgan said it had decided against participating in the venue at this stage, while indicating that it would continue evaluating opportunities as the market develops. The regulatory notices do not provide individual explanations for every objection, and companies declining inclusion on this platform are not automatically barred from participating in other tokenisation arrangements.
What tokenisation changes
Tokenised stocks are digital representations of conventional company shares recorded on blockchain networks. Depending on their structure, they can give investors exposure to underlying equities while allowing transactions to take place through digital platforms, potentially outside the trading hours of conventional stock exchanges.
OKX and ICE plan to use permissioned automated market-maker liquidity pools on OKX’s XLayer blockchain, with transactions settled using stablecoins such as USDC. The proposed system is designed to allow eligible investors to trade around the clock, while the SEC’s conditions require tokenised shares to provide equivalent ownership rights, including voting and dividend entitlements. The SEC’s framework also requires platforms to publish information about their operations and trading activities.
The ownership question
The resistance reflects concerns about how companies’ shares could be represented and traded outside the exchanges where their conventional securities are listed. Potential problems include fragmented liquidity, differences in prices across trading platforms, weaker visibility over shareholders and confusion among investors about whether a company has authorised or endorsed a tokenised product.
The SEC framework gives companies 30 calendar days after receiving formal notification to object to a third-party tokenisation proposal. The exemption is temporary, lasting five years, and remains subject to conditions intended to protect investors. Meanwhile, Nasdaq has also chosen to exclude its own shares from this particular exemption-based approach as it pursues a separate tokenisation strategy.
For ICE and OKX, the immediate challenge is securing sufficient participation to make the proposed marketplace commercially attractive. The growing objection list suggests that access to blockchain technology alone will not persuade established companies to surrender control over how their shares enter new trading environments.
