Broadcom, Verizon Among Nine US-Listed Companies Opposing OKX-ICE Tokenized Stock Plans
Key Takeaways
- •Nine U.S.-listed companies, among them Broadcom, Verizon and UnitedHealth, have formally objected to the listing of tokenized versions of their shares on the planned OKXICE trading platform.
- •The objections were filed two weeks after the OKX and Intercontinental Exchange joint venture submitted a regulatory filing to launch OKXICE, a platform for 24/7 trading of tokenized U.S. stocks.
- •The objecting companies cite concerns over pricing, liquidity, investor protection and potential confusion about whether issuers approved the tokenized offerings.
- •Under the SEC's September 2026 framework, qualifying platforms receive a five-year exemption to list tokenized securities, but must notify issuers beforehand and allow objections during a 30-day period.
- •The named objectors span three distinct sectors—semiconductors, telecommunications and health insurance—indicating the opposition is not limited to a single industry.
Broadcom, Verizon and other U.S.-listed companies are opposing plans by cryptocurrency exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) to offer tokenized versions of their shares, citing concerns over pricing, liquidity, investor protection and potential confusion about issuer approval.
Wall Street is pushing back against tokenized stocks. #Broadcom, #Verizon and #UnitedHealth are among nine companies that have objected to having their shares listed on OKX-ICE's planned blockchain trading platform. The SEC framework aims to enable 24/7 stock trading. Tokenization is advancing. Issuer buy-in remains a hurdle.
— BitKE (@BitcoinKE) October 19, 2026
https://x.com/BitcoinKE/status/2112048360005812386?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The objections come just two weeks after the joint venture filed with U.S. regulators to launch OKXICE, a platform for trading tokenized U.S. stocks around the clock. The venture pairs OKX with Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and one of the world's largest exchange operators — a combination that places a crypto-native trading platform alongside a pillar of traditional market infrastructure.
Related: INSTITUTIONAL | NYSE and OKX File for 24/7 Tokenised U.S Stock Trading
Tokenized stocks are blockchain-based representations of traditional shares. Supporters argue that they can extend trading beyond the fixed hours of conventional exchanges, while critics point to open questions around pricing, liquidity and how shareholder rights are enforced when equities trade in tokenized form.
The pushback highlights this central tension: crypto platforms want to expand stock trading beyond traditional market hours, while the objecting companies fear that third-party tokens could create parallel markets without adequate transparency or clear links to underlying shareholder rights.
Broadcom, a semiconductor and infrastructure software company, Verizon, a telecommunications carrier, and UnitedHealth, a health insurance and services group, are three of the nine companies identified as having objected. The named objectors come from three distinct sectors of the economy, meaning the opposition is not confined to a single industry. The remaining objecting companies were not named in the report.
The objections also test the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's (SEC) new framework, which allows qualifying venues to list tokenized securities unless issuers formally opt out. In September 2026, the SEC ruled that it would provide a five-year exemption for qualifying platforms trading tokenized securities. Under the framework, platforms must notify companies before listing tokenized versions of their shares, while issuers can object during a 30-day period — making formal objections the main lever available to issuers that do not want their shares tokenized.
The dispute centres on who controls how public shares are represented and traded on-chain, and whether tokenization can deliver new efficiencies without weakening existing market safeguards. How the SEC and the joint venture handle these nine objections will provide an early, concrete example of how the framework's opt-out mechanism functions in practice.
Related: EXPERT OPINION | Tokenization Alone Will Not Fix Illiquid Assets, Say Industry Experts
