Tesla and SpaceX Block Shares From OKX-ICE Tokenized Trading Venue

Tesla and SpaceX have officially moved to keep their shares off the planned tokenized stock venue being developed by OKX and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE). This decision comes as many people search for information regarding Elon Musk and his various business interests, including his net worth and the companies under his control. The two firms are among six new companies that have submitted formal objections to the venue, bringing the total number of holdout issuers to 56.

The growing list of objectors

The updated notice from OKXICE TSV, dated Monday, includes Amazon, Netflix, Lam Research, and SoFi Technologies alongside the two Musk-led companies. This latest batch follows a trend of increasing resistance from major corporations. The list of objectors has grown steadily from nine companies on October 15 to 38 by October 28, and 50 by the end of October. Other prominent names already on the list include Microsoft, Alphabet, and Nvidia.

The venue, a joint venture between ICE and OKX, intends to offer tokenized versions of U.S. stocks 24/7. These would be facilitated through permissioned Uniswap v4 pools on OKX’s XLayer blockchain, utilizing stablecoins like USDC. To ensure compliance, the platform requires users to pass identity and sanctions checks, while also holding a nontransferable “soulbound” token verified by smart contracts before every transaction.

Tesla and SpaceX joined 54 other companies in blocking their shares from the OKX-ICE tokenized trading venue.

Regulatory framework and venue limitations

The ability for companies to opt out of such trading platforms is rooted in an innovation exemption unveiled by the Securities and Exchange Commission in September. Under these rules, a venue is required to notify a company before offering a version of its shares tokenized by an unaffiliated third party. If the company submits a written objection within 30 days, the venue is prohibited from making that specific stock available for trading. This objection is platform-specific and does not prevent other forms of tokenization.

While the current list of objectors includes many of the world's largest companies, Apple remains a notable omission. Furthermore, the venue’s notice clarifies that it could still potentially list shares if they were tokenized by the issuers themselves, though no such arrangements have been identified. The current restrictions only apply to third-party tokenized versions of the listed stocks.

Why it matters

The increasing number of objections highlights a significant hurdle for the launch of the OKX-ICE tokenized venue. By exercising their right to block these offerings, major corporations are effectively limiting the scope of assets available on the platform, which could impact the venue's utility for investors interested in digital asset versions of traditional stocks.