OKX to Offer Trading in More Than 70 Digital Assets Starting November 23

Key Facts

OKX announced on November 11 that eligible U.S. customers will be able to trade digital securities through the OKXICE platform around the clock and via its app starting November 23. The announcement sets a specific date for the service to begin, allowing assets to be traded through digital infrastructure rather than being limited to traditional stock-market hours. The company said the expected launch list includes more than 70 assets, including securities linked to companies and exchange-traded funds. Access to the service is limited to eligible customers in the United States, and the announcement does not mean it will be available to all OKX users or in all markets. Access also requires identity verification and compliance with geographic conditions and other eligibility requirements. The announced launch date comes as companies continue to object to tokens linked to their securities being traded on the platform.

The assets cited by OKX include securities linked to Better.com, BitGo, Circle, Coinbase, Robinhood, Securitize and Strategy, as well as 59 exchange-traded funds from Direxion. It also said Strategy will list its preferred shares. The announcement described the list as comprising more than 70 assets, not more than 70 stocks; the figure includes different categories of securities and funds. In a development before the announcement, a notice dated October 30 added 12 companies to the list of objectors, according to CoinDesk. The names included Nvidia, Costco, Nike, Micron, Reddit and CrowdStrike, among other companies. This corporate opposition puts companies' consent to the use of their securities at the center of the debate over the digital-asset launch.

OKX says each token will represent a one-to-one paper entitlement backed by an underlying U.S. stock, with the economic benefits and shareholder rights that apply to it. The rights cited include dividends, voting and participation in corporate actions. Securitize will provide the tokenization infrastructure, according to the announcement, while the wallets will be self-custodial. OKXICE describes itself as a joint venture between OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. But the OKXICE TSV platform is not a registered exchange or registered broker, according to the company's disclosure, and it is not approved by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. OKX says the service is being offered under a temporary exemption from the agency, making the scope of operations subject to the exemption's conditions.

Trading will take place through automated liquidity pools built on Uniswap v4 within the X Layer network, OKX's layer-2 network on Ethereum. Smart contracts restrict trading and liquidity provision to eligible wallets. Under the Securities and Exchange Commission's order, the trading platform must verify that the token gives its holder the same rights and privileges as the traditional security in the equivalent class. Token trading must also be halted whenever trading in the underlying stock is halted on its primary listing exchange. The agency staff's guidance says the platform must publish public notice at least 30 calendar days before operations begin. If a company objects within the period, the platform must update its notice and may not make its stock available for trading, according to the guidance.

Computershare asked the agency to provide companies with a permanent mechanism to object to the trading of their tokenized shares by an unaffiliated third party, and to establish a searchable central register of platforms and company objections. The company said tracking scattered notices falls in practice to issuers. The objection mechanism outlined by Computershare requires a company to submit written notice to the trading platform no later than the 30th calendar day after receiving the notice. The agency, in turn, said the conditional exemption is limited to a licensed and restricted trading environment, and opened the door to public comments on potential amendments and subsequent regulatory steps. The temporary exemption is set to expire 5 years after the order is published. OKXICE's launch and trading in each security therefore remain subject to the exemption's conditions and notices from the companies concerned.