Wells Fargo Also Says No as 22 U.S. Companies Oppose Stock Tokenization

Plans by OKX and Intercontinental Exchange Inc. to trade U.S. stocks on blockchain are facing resistance. Six more companies, including Wells Fargo, have objected to tokenized trading of their shares, bringing the total number of companies rejecting the plan to 22.

Reuters reported on October 23 that Wells Fargo, Arm Holdings and Intuit were among the companies that objected to OKXICE, a joint platform created by OKX and ICE. Microsoft and Alphabet, Google’s parent, had already signaled they did not want their shares traded in tokenized form. Of the 22 companies opposing the plan, 16 are listed on Nasdaq and the other six on the New York Stock Exchange, which is owned by ICE.

Tokenized stocks are digital tokens representing conventional shares that can be traded on blockchain networks. OKXICE has been seeking to launch tokenized trading in 63 stocks through the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s innovation exemption program. The framework requires companies to be notified before listing, and trading cannot proceed if a company objects.

The platform said it had expected companies to take a wait-and-see approach. Andrew Cuomo, OKXICE’s co-chair and former New York governor, said he expected additional rejections because companies were reluctant to be the first to test a new model for tokenized securities.