OKX and NYSE Owner ICE File for 24/7 Tokenized Stock Trading Under SEC Innovation Exemption

OKXICE, the joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to launch a venue for tokenized stock trading that would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The notice, dated Sunday, October 4, relies on the SEC's new Innovation Exemption, which the agency issued on September 17 to let qualifying venues trade tokenized U.S. stocks using automated market makers and liquidity pools without registering as exchanges.

The filing matters because it puts the SEC's five-year exemption into practice for the first time at this scale, pairing a major U.S. exchange operator with one of the largest crypto platforms. The plan covers 63 stock tokens and remains subject to regulatory steps, including a 30-day window during which listed companies can object to the tokenization of their shares.

What OKXICE Filed

OKXICE LLC notified the SEC that it intends to operate as a Tokenized Securities Venue, or TSV, a new category of platform the agency created through its September 17 order. The venture plans to run permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools on X Layer, OKX's layer-2 network, offering around-the-clock trading in more than 60 U.S.-listed companies.

The initial list of 63 stock tokens includes Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, along with crypto-linked companies such as Coinbase, Strategy, Circle and Robinhood, according to reports by Cointelegraph and Yahoo Finance. Each tokenized stock would be paired with USDC, Global Dollar (USDG) or USDt, Cointelegraph reported.

The tokens listed so far come from a third-party tokenizer, which the notice does not name, that holds the underlying shares one-for-one through an SEC-registered broker-dealer, Yahoo Finance reported. The notice also states that OKXICE is not registered with the SEC in any capacity for this activity, according to Finance Magnates.

The SEC Innovation Exemption Behind Tokenized Stock Trading

The SEC order grants temporary, conditional exemptive relief to Tokenized Securities Venues from the definition of "exchange" in the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, allowing them to trade tokenized National Market System stock through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools. The relief was issued under Section 36(a)(1) of the Exchange Act and also exempts certain liquidity providers, called Covered Firms, from the definition of "dealer."

SEC Chairman Paul Atkins framed the order as a deliberate policy choice. Today, the Securities and Exchange Commission is taking a significant step forward, within its statutory authority, to bring America's capital markets into the digital age by facilitating onchain trading of certain tokenized stocks through the 'Innovation Exemption,' he said. Jamie Selway, Director of the SEC Division of Trading and Markets, called the approval "an important milestone for the Commission's work to open our capital markets for tokenized securities."

The exemption carries conditions. Tokenized NMS stocks traded on a TSV face limits on the number of symbols and volume traded; each venue may list no more than 75 large U.S. stocks, with volume capped at 0.25 percent of each stock's average daily volume, according to Trending Topics. A TSV must verify that tokenized stock gives holders the same rights and privileges as the equivalent traditional shares, including dividends and voting rights, and must stop trading a token whenever the underlying stock is halted on its primary listing exchange.

Issuers retain a say in the process. Before a TSV lists a stock tokenized by an unaffiliated third party, it must give the underlying issuer written notice and an opportunity to object, and issuers that do not want their shares trading on such venues can opt out. Smart contracts used by a TSV must be auditable, public and deployed on a public, permissionless distributed ledger, and venues must provide public notice about their operations and trading activities.

The SEC described the relief as an interim step. The Innovation Exemption would allow TSVs to trade tokenized NMS stock in a permissioned environment today while the Commission considers the need for additional action to facilitate onchain trading, the agency said, adding that insights gained during the temporary window will inform durable, comprehensive rules. The order will be published on SEC.gov and in the Federal Register.

Cuomo and Xu on the 24/7 Plan

Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who co-chairs OKXICE, announced the filing on X on Sunday night. "This is a landmark step toward a truly global, 24/7 Wall Street — and toward keeping the future of digital finance anchored here in the United States," Cuomo said in a statement shared with The Block, adding that "Tokenized securities are part of what comes next."

Cuomo told CoinDesk the venture combines strengths from both parents, saying OKX and ICE bring together deep expertise from both sides of the equation. The opportunity now is to build on this first step and show how 24/7, onchain markets can make trading and settlement more efficient, accessible and global, he said, adding: "And we're just getting started."

Star Xu, founder and chief executive of OKX, emphasized the shareholder-rights condition at the center of the SEC framework. The future of markets is real ownership, onchain. Full shareholder rights are what make that possible, Xu said, according to The Block and Trending Topics. He also said tokenization could make public markets "more open, seamless and always available."

The venture is co-chaired by Cuomo and Trabue Bland, Senior Vice President of Futures Exchanges at ICE, The Crypto Times reported. Cuomo also sits on the OKX board of directors, a role The Crypto Times reported in July after he spent several years as an adviser to the exchange.

The OKX-ICE Partnership Behind the Venue

OKX and ICE announced OKXICE as a 50-50 joint venture on June 22, 2026, to build infrastructure for tokenized and digitally native financial products. The venture followed ICE's strategic investment in OKX in March 2026, a deal that valued the crypto exchange at about $25 billion.

Under the broader arrangement, OKX customers could gain access to ICE futures and tokenized NYSE shares, subject to regulatory approval, according to ICE's announcement. The two companies have since expanded their ties, including the launch of OKX perpetual futures based on ICE oil benchmarks in May, The Crypto Times reported.

OKX already operates tokenized stocks outside the U.S. under the xStocks brand, covering over 70 U.S. equities and ETFs settled on Solana and X Layer and priced in USDT, according to Coingape. OKXICE now wants to bring that trading onshore to a regulated U.S. venue, where tokenized versions of stocks carry the same dividend and voting rights as regular shares, CoinDesk reported.

OKB, the native token of the OKX ecosystem, traded at $124.62 at the time of writing, up 3.4% over 24 hours and 5.3% over seven days, according to CoinGecko data cited by The Crypto Times.

Industry Pushback and What Comes Next

Not all market groups support the SEC's approach. SIFMA, the trade group for U.S. securities firms, warned that the exemption could allow multiple tokenized versions of the same stock to trade in parallel on lightly regulated markets, which could confuse and harm investors, its chief executive Kenneth Bentsen said in a statement, according to Trending Topics.

Better Markets, an advocacy group, was blunter. "The SEC has essentially created two regulatory regimes for stock trading," said Benjamin Schiffrin, its director of securities policy.

The filing lands amid a broader industry push toward extended trading hours. Nasdaq is set to move to 23-hour trading five days a week in December, while the London Stock Exchange is preparing its own 24/5 venue for 2027, DailyCoin reported. The SEC also approved a Nasdaq pilot in March in which tokenized shares trade in the same order book and under the same ticker as conventional ones, according to Finance Magnates.

OKXICE enters a race that includes Ondo, Robinhood and NYSE's separate tokenized-stock access talks with Blockchain.com, Coingape reported. Robinhood is reportedly approaching SEC volume caps under the same exemption framework.

Before trading can begin, OKXICE must complete the 30-day issuer opt-out period and meet every condition of the exemption, including symbol limits, volume caps and full shareholder rights for token holders. The number of companies that remain on the initial list of 63 will indicate how willing NYSE-listed issuers are to see their shares traded on blockchain-based venues, and the SEC has said it will use data from the five-year window to shape longer-term rules for tokenized securities.

Conclusion

OKXICE's October 4 filing is the first large-scale attempt to use the SEC's Innovation Exemption, proposing 24/7 trading of 63 tokenized U.S. stocks on X Layer through permissioned Uniswap v4 pools. The venue still faces concrete steps before launch: a 30-day window for issuers to object to tokenization of their shares, plus compliance with the exemption's conditions on symbol limits, volume caps, shareholder rights and halt linkages. The SEC has said it will use observations from the five-year exemption period to develop permanent rules for onchain trading of tokenized securities.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is OKXICE and who owns it?

OKXICE is a 50-50 joint venture between crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The two companies announced the venture on June 22, 2026, to build infrastructure for tokenized and digitally native financial products, following ICE's March 2026 investment in OKX at a valuation of about $25 billion.

Which stocks will OKXICE's tokenized stock trading venue offer?

The notice lists 63 stock tokens, including Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, plus crypto-linked companies such as Coinbase, Strategy, Circle and Robinhood. The tokens come from an unnamed third-party tokenizer that holds the underlying shares one-for-one through an SEC-registered broker-dealer.

What is the SEC Innovation Exemption issued on September 17, 2026?

The Innovation Exemption is a five-year SEC order granting temporary, conditional relief that lets Tokenized Securities Venues trade tokenized U.S. stocks through permissioned automated market makers and liquidity pools without registering as exchanges. It also exempts certain liquidity providers from the definition of "dealer" under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.

When can OKXICE begin 24/7 trading of tokenized stocks?

No launch date has been set. OKXICE must first complete a 30-day period during which issuers can object to the tokenization of their shares, and it must meet all exemption conditions, including symbol limits, volume caps and full shareholder rights for token holders, before trading can begin.

What protections does the SEC require for tokenized stock holders?

Tokenized stocks must give holders the same rights and privileges as traditional shares, including dividends and voting rights. Trading in a token must stop whenever the underlying stock is halted on its primary exchange, venues may list no more than 75 large U.S. stocks, and volume is capped at 0.25 percent of each stock's average daily volume.