Crypto exchanges have sold tokenized U.S. stocks for a while now. You just couldn’t buy them if you lived in the U.S.
That could change. OKXICE has told the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it plans to launch a tokenized stock trading venue. OKXICE is a joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the company that owns the NYSE. It would start with more than 60 companies listed on U.S. stock exchanges.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the venture’s co-chair, announced the filing on X.
Moving offshore trading onshore
A tokenized stock is a digital version of a regular share that lives on a blockchain. That’s why it can trade outside normal market hours and settle faster than a traditional stock. In practice, that means Wall Street trading around the clock.
The trading already exists, just not for U.S. investors. OKX lists more than 70 tokenized tickers on its own platform, but they’re issued under offshore rules, so U.S. investors are locked out. Even with that restriction, tokenized stocks are now worth about $3.2 billion, up 15% in the past month, according to RWA.xyz.
OKXICE wants to bring that trading onto a regulated U.S. venue. And the tokens would carry the same dividend and voting rights as the shares they represent.
The SEC rule that made this possible
The filing depends on an SEC rule that’s only a few weeks old. On Sept. 17, the agency issued an “Innovation Exemption” that lets qualifying venues trade tokenized U.S. stocks using automated market makers and liquidity pools. It’s temporary and runs for five years.
There are guardrails. Tokenized shares have to carry the same rights as regular stock, including dividends and voting. Companies whose shares are listed also get 30 days to object to having their stock tokenized.
That second rule matters more than it looks. Any company on that initial list of more than 60 could opt out before trading starts.
Why ICE’s name on the filing matters
OKX and ICE formed the 50-50 joint venture in June to build infrastructure for tokenized financial products. With the NYSE’s parent company backing it, tokenization is no longer a side project for offshore crypto platforms. It’s moving into the mainstream.
But there’s no launch date yet. Timing depends on the 30-day objection period and other regulatory steps, so you won’t be trading tokenized Apple shares at 2 a.m. this week.
Cuomo isn’t worried about any of that.
“And we’re just getting started,” Cuomo said.