From CoinDesk · By Krisztian Sandor
OKX-ICE co-chair Andrew Cuomo called issuer objections to tokenized stock trading a “natural response,” saying companies were expected to take a wait-and-see approach.
Sixteen companies, including Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs, have objected to trading on the planned venue under the SEC’s experimental framework.
Securitize and Vertalo executives said issuers need answers about pricing, investor protections, custody and shareholder rights as the new markets develop.
A growing list of companies rejecting tokenized trading of their shares is an expected part of testing a new market structure, Andrew Cuomo, co-chairman of the OKX-ICE joint venture, said after Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs joined the objectors.
“This is a very natural response,” Cuomo, an OKX board member and former New York governor, said during a press call on Tuesday. “The model was designed to give companies the right to determine whether they want to opt in or opt out.”
“We always anticipated that, because this is such a dramatic and revolutionary change, many companies would want to wait and see how it goes rather than be the first to participate,” he added.
His remarks followed a Monday public notice showing 16 companies had objected to having tokenized versions of their shares traded on OKXICE, the planned venue from crypto exchange OKX and New York Stock Exchange parent Intercontinental Exchange (ICE).
Seven newly disclosed objectors — Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs, Qualcomm, Caterpillar, McDonald’s and Western Digital — joined companies including Broadcom, Verizon and UnitedHealth.
The objections offer an early look at how companies are navigating a new market structure that could let U.S. investors trade stocks around the clock on blockchain plumbing. The SEC’s five-year “Innovation Exemption,” rolled out roughly a month ago, gives qualifying venues room to test trading through automated market makers and liquidity pools, while giving issuers a say in whether their shares participate.
Cuomo described that approach as a deliberately limited experiment, with caps on the number of stocks and trading volumes.
“There are limits on how many companies can participate and on the volume that can be traded, so by definition, it really is a sandbox — a model demonstration,” he said.
A learning curve for issuers
Carlos Domingo, CEO of tokenization firm Securitize, also said issuers’ concerns warrant attention.
“We think it's entirely reasonable for issuers to ask questions about how these new markets work, particularly around pricing, investor protections and shareholder rights,” Domingo said.
“There's an important education process underway, and issuers should understand that they have different options for participating in tokenization, including issuer-sponsored approaches.”