OKX-ICE venture plans tokenized trading in 60-plus US stocks

OKXICE, a joint venture between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, plans to offer trading in more than 60 tokenized U.S. stocks through pools on XLayer. The venue’s notice says approved users will trade with stablecoins under a temporary SEC exemption.

OKXICE’s Oct. 4 public notice describes the proposed venue, while The Block’s report says the venture notified the SEC of its plan. The notice identifies OKXICE LLC as a 50-50 venture between ICE and OKC USA Holding, an OKX affiliate.

How would the stock trading work?

Approved users would trade tokenized shares in permissioned automated market maker pools, rather than through an order book. The pools use Uniswap v4 contracts on XLayer, an OKX blockchain, and pair each tokenized stock with USDC, USDG or USDT.

You would need to pass identity, anti-money laundering and sanctions checks, verify a self-custodial wallet and receive a non-transferable access token before trading. The notice says the venture does not hold users’ assets or issue the stock tokens itself.

The notice lists shares including Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Coinbase and Robinhood. It says tokens may be issued by the underlying company or by a third-party tokenizer. In the third-party model, a registered broker-dealer would hold one share for each token issued. The notice says the venue checks that tokens provide the same rights as the underlying shares, including dividends and voting rights.

What does the SEC exemption allow?

The exemption gives certain distributed-ledger venues temporary, conditional relief from registering as exchanges for trading tokenized U.S. stocks. OKXICE says its use remains subject to SEC oversight, but also states that the venue is not registered with the agency for these activities.

That means the plan is not the same as a fully registered stock exchange. The public notice says the SEC has not reviewed or endorsed its accuracy, and that OKXICE is not subject to some rules that apply to registered exchanges and trading systems.

What happens before the venue can grow?

Issuers have 30 days to object to having their shares included, The Block reported. The notice records an objection from Cerebras Systems as of Oct. 4, showing that a company can opt out.

Watch the issuer objection window and whether OKXICE meets the exemption’s conditions as it moves toward trading. The notice does not give a launch date.

Source material

• OKXICE’s Oct. 4 public notice — okx.com
• The Block’s report — theblock.co