Seven additional companies have objected to having tokenized versions of their shares traded on a planned platform from crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the operator of the New York Stock Exchange, bringing the total number of publicly disclosed objectors to 16, up from nine before the update.

Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm,pillar, McDonald's, and Western Digital were named in an updated notice dated October 19. The seven companies span a broad cross-section of the U.S. economy: Microsoft in software, Alphabet in internet services, Goldman Sachs in investment banking, Qualcomm in semiconductors, Caterpillar in heavy machinery, McDonald's in quick-service restaurants, and Western Digital in data storage. They join earlier objectors, including Broadcom, Verizon, and United Health Group.

The proposed venue would allow around-the-clock trading of on-chain representations of U.S.-listed stocks. Tokens traded on the platform would be backed by the underlying shares, and trades would be settled in stablecoins. The joint venture is among the initiatives seeking to bring traditional equities on-chain and extend trading beyond standard market hours — a model that reaches well beyond the crypto industry, as the widening objector list now shows.

Andrew Cuomo, co-chair of the OKX-ICE joint venture and a former Governor of New York, described the objections as a natural response to a new market structure. He said companies were expected to take a wait-and-see approach before participating.

The objections highlight growing resistance among major listed companies as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's five-year Innovation Exemption opens the door to alternative models for tokenized securities trading. Under the framework, issuers can object to having tokenized versions of their shares traded on such a venue. Because those objections are disclosed publicly, the running tally offers a visible measure of how listed issuers are responding as tokenized-equity models move closer to operation.

The latest notices do not disclose the companies' reasons for opting out. As tokenized securities markets develop, industry participants have raised questions about how pricing would work, what investor protections would apply, how custody would be handled, and what rights tokenized shareholders would hold.

Cuomo described the initiative as a limited experiment, noting that restrictions on participating companies and trading volumes would constrain its initial scale. How many more issuers file objections, and how those participation and volume limits are ultimately defined, will help shape the platform's early footprint.