A new Securities and Exchange Commission framework designed to bring U.S. equities onto blockchain infrastructure is hitting immediate resistance from major issuers.
Twenty-two public companies have formally objected to having their shares listed on a tokenized securities venue developed by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange. Microsoft, Alphabet, Goldman Sachs and McDonald's led the objections Monday, followed by Wells Fargo, Cisco and others on Friday.
The mechanism is straightforward: a trading venue must notify an issuer before tokenizing its shares. The issuer then has 30 days to object. Silence equals consent—trading can commence if no objection is filed.
Latham Watkins has advised issuers that remaining silent constitutes an irrevocable decision. The SEC order provides no mechanism to object after the 30-day window or to withdraw a prior non-objection once trading begins.
Dave Hendricks, CEO of tokenization firm Vertalo, said many companies were unaware their stock had been tokenized until receiving the OKX-ICE notice. He highlighted critical questions issuers face: who holds the underlying shares, how do dividends and votes reach token holders, and what do transfer agent records show.
Without answers within 30 days, objection becomes rational for legal and investor-relations teams. The process tilts toward caution for public companies evaluating unfamiliar market structure.
Olivia Vande Woude, head of tokenization at Ava Labs, cautioned against reading the objections as a verdict on the OKX-ICE platform itself. OKX-ICE is the first venue to issue notices under the SEC's Innovation Exemption, making it the first to receive direct responses.
Vande Woude expects the objection list to grow. Opting out costs nothing, while silence is treated as consent. Any subsequent venue sending similar notices should expect comparable resistance.
