ICE- and OKX-owned OKXICE plans 24/7 stock tokens outside Regulation NMS
In brief
- OKXICE is owned by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) and an affiliate of OKX.
- Stock tokens would trade 24/7 against Uniswap v4 pools on XLayer, not an order book.
- Regulation NMS price protections won't apply to the venue, according to the notice.
- Sixteen companies, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs, had objected as of Oct. 19.
How the pools would work
Ordinary US exchanges use order books, which collect bids to buy and offers to sell. Those prices sit inside a wider system that links exchanges through market data and rules meant to stop trades from going through at worse prices when better protected quotes are available elsewhere.
OKXICE's model is different. Under the arrangement in its notice, traders would deposit stock tokens and stablecoins (USDC could be one of them) into automated pools running on XLayer with Uniswap v4 software. Buyers would trade against the pool's inventory. Traders would still need identity checks and permission to trade, so it's not an open defi free-for-all.
Pricing is where it gets unusual.
Software would adjust the price as the token-to-dollar balance shifts, so a single purchase could make each additional fraction of a share more expensive than the last, per CryptoSlate's analysis. Off-market prices wouldn't hinge on a new NYSE bid; they'd depend on how much stock others had put up for sale in the pool.
The SEC exemption
OKXICE's notice says the exchange won't be subject to Regulation NMS, the framework that includes some of the ordinary price protections connecting US equity markets. The SEC granted qualifying tokenized stock exchanges temporary, conditional relief from registering as conventional exchanges for five years, with requirements covering shareholder rights, permitted trading activity, issuer objections and trading halts. Antifraud rules still apply, CryptoSlate noted.
Each token would be backed one-for-one. A tokenization provider would buy ordinary shares through a registered broker-dealer and issue one digital token per share held, with arrangements covering dividends, voting and other shareholder rights. Under the SEC's September exemption, eligible tokenized shares have to provide rights equivalent to the conventional shares they represent.
Issuers push back
As of Oct. 19, sixteen companies had objected to third-party tokenized versions of their stocks trading on OKXICE, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs, CryptoSlate reported. Fifteen were on the exchange's original proposed roster of 62 companies (roughly 25% of it). The sixteenth, Cerebras, wasn't on that roster at all.
The rest hadn't objected publicly by that date. That doesn't amount to support.
Frequently asked questions
How would OKXICE price stock tokens after the market closes?
According to CryptoSlate, the 24/7 venue won't use NYSE prices once the traditional market closes. Prices would depend on how much stock others had put up for sale in a DeFi-style pool, with software adjusting the price as the token-to-dollar balance shifts.
Is OKXICE subject to Regulation NMS?
No. OKXICE's notice says the exchange won't be subject to Regulation NMS, the framework that includes some ordinary price protections connecting US equity markets. Antifraud rules still apply, and brokers handling covered customer orders can have their own best-execution obligations.
Which companies objected to their stocks being tokenized on OKXICE?
As of Oct. 19, sixteen companies had objected, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs, CryptoSlate reported. Fifteen were on the original 62-company roster, while Cerebras was not. The rest hadn't objected publicly, which doesn't amount to support.
