NYSE Owner and OKX File Plan for 24-7 Tokenized Stock Trading
OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the owner of the New York Stock Exchange, has told the Securities and Exchange Commission it plans to launch a venue for trading tokenized U.S. stocks around the clock, according to The Block and CoinDesk.
The notice, dated Oct. 4 and announced Oct. 5, says the platform would offer blockchain-based versions of more than 60 U.S.-listed companies, including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Tesla. Trading would run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, breaking from the traditional market schedule.
The venture is relying on the SEC’s “Innovation Exemption,” issued Sept. 17, which gives qualifying venues a five-year exemption from registering as exchanges while they trade tokenized versions of U.S.-listed stocks. The exemption is temporary and is meant to let regulators study how these markets work before writing permanent rules.
Each token would represent a real share held one-for-one through an SEC-registered broker-dealer, according to the filing. Holders would keep the same dividend and voting rights as ordinary shareholders, and trading in a token would halt whenever the underlying stock is halted on its home exchange.
Access would be permissioned rather than open to all. Only wallets that pass identity, anti-money-laundering and sanctions checks could trade or supply liquidity, and trades would run through automated market maker pools on X Layer, OKX’s public blockchain, instead of a traditional order book.
The venture is co-chaired by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who called the filing a step toward a global 24-7 Wall Street. OKX founder Star Xu said tokenization could make public markets more open and always available.
A notice to the SEC is not an approval. The plan still faces regulatory steps, including a 30-day window for listed companies to object to having their shares tokenized. Bitzo, a crypto news outlet, cautioned that the filing alone does not indicate the venue has received regulatory approval.
If it launches, the venue would be the first regulated onshore market of its kind in the United States. Crypto exchanges have offered tokenized U.S. stocks for years, but only to customers outside the country. The OKXICE plan would bring that concept under U.S. oversight, testing whether Wall Street’s infrastructure and blockchain rails can operate as one market.
