Key Takeaways
- Walmart, Eli Lilly, Cigna, Carnival, and Arcos Dorados are the latest companies to oppose OKXICE’s stock tokenization plan.
- A total of 38 of the 63 targeted companies, or roughly 60%, have now objected, including JPMorgan, Coca-Cola, Microsoft, and Alphabet.
- OKXICE aims to enable 24/7 tokenized stock trading, but growing corporate opposition threatens to limit the platform’s initial offerings.
The latest objections were disclosed in an updated public notice dated Oct. 28 from OKXICE, a joint venture between cryptocurrency exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), which owns the New York Stock Exchange. Alongside Walmart and Eli Lilly, the newest companies to object are health insurance giant Cigna, cruise operator Carnival Corporation, and Arcos Dorados, the largest independent McDonald’s franchisee in the world.
Eli Lilly, one of the world’s most valuable pharmaceutical companies and a leader in the booming weight-loss drug market, represents a particularly significant addition to the list. Walmart, the world’s largest retailer by revenue, is another major holdout, extending opposition across industries ranging from technology and finance to healthcare and consumer retail.
The five additions bring the tally to 38 objecting companies out of the 63 initially identified for tokenization, meaning roughly 60% of the targeted firms have now formally opposed the initiative. All told, the objecting companies represent more than $19.4 billion in combined market cap.
As Bitcoin.com News reported Wednesday, Coca-Cola, JPMorgan Chase, Dell Technologies, AMD, Applied Materials, Adobe, and Sandisk were among seven companies added in the previous update. Earlier objectors include Microsoft, Google parent company Alphabet, Intel, Oracle, IBM, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, McDonald’s, and Verizon.
OKXICE’s proposed platform would let eligible investors trade blockchain representations of U.S. stocks around the clock using stablecoins. The tokens would be backed by actual shares held through registered broker-dealers, with trading conducted through permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on OKX’s X Layer network.
The initiative operates under temporary regulatory relief established by the Securities and Exchange Commission in September, allowing qualifying platforms to facilitate tokenized stock trading without complying with certain traditional exchange requirements. The framework also allows publicly traded companies to object to third-party tokenization of their shares.
The public notices identify the companies submitting objections, but do not detail their individual reasons for doing so.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who serves on OKX’s board and co-chairs OKXICE, previously played down the objections during an Oct. 20 press conference.
Cuomo characterized the regulatory initiative as an experiment, suggesting that some companies would embrace tokenization early while others might prefer to observe its development. He also questioned the limitations of conventional U.S. stock trading hours in an increasingly global financial marketplace.
With a clear majority of targeted companies now opting out, however, OKXICE faces an increasingly narrow initial selection of equities for its proposed trading platform.
