OKX and NYSE parent ICE file for 24/7 tokenized US stock venue

OKX and the owner of the New York Stock Exchange want to trade US stocks on a blockchain, around the clock. Their joint venture told the Securities and Exchange Commission on Sunday it plans a venue for tokenized versions of more than 60 companies.

OKXICE is a 50-50 partnership between the crypto exchange OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the Atlanta firm that runs the NYSE. CoinDesk and The Block, which both saw the filing, reported it on October 5. The plan is to work under a new SEC exemption that lets some platforms offer tokenized stocks without registering as a stock exchange.

What the venue would offer

Under the plan, people could buy and sell tokenized versions of large American companies at any hour, on any day. The list runs past 60 names. It includes Nvidia, Apple, Tesla, Amazon, Coinbase and even the private rocket maker SpaceX, according to The Block. Trades would run on OKX's own blockchain, called X Layer, and access would be permissioned rather than open to all comers. OKX says it has more than 120 million users worldwide.

Tokenized stocks are blockchain tokens that stand in for a real share. The appeal is reach and speed. The tokens can trade outside normal market hours and settle faster than ordinary stock trades, and a buyer outside the US could hold a slice of a listed company without a US brokerage account. That is the pitch. Whether it draws real volume is another matter. OKX already lists more than 70 tokenized tickers offshore, outside the US, CoinDesk reported. The filing is its bid to bring that business onshore, under US rules.

Companies whose shares get tokenized would keep their usual rights. Dividends and voting pass through to the token holder, CoinDesk reported. Issuers that want no part of it get 30 days to opt out. Nothing trades yet.

Andrew Cuomo, the former New York governor who co-chairs OKXICE, called the plan a "landmark step toward a truly global, 24/7 Wall Street." Star Xu, OKX's founder and chief executive, kept it shorter. "The future of markets is real ownership, onchain," he said.

The rule that opened the door

None of this would have been allowed in the US a year ago. On September 17, 2026, the SEC issued a five-year exemption that lets certain venues trade tokenized US stocks without registering as a full exchange. The relief is temporary. It is also the opening OKXICE is using.

Regulators built the exemption to answer a simple problem. Blockchain-based stock trading did not fit the old rulebook, so firms either stayed offshore or stayed out of the US. The relief, capped at five years, gives venues room to try the model under US oversight while the agency watches how it behaves. CoinDesk reported that the relief specifically clears automated market makers and liquidity pools to handle tokenized stock trades. OKXICE is among the first to step through.

ICE and OKX have been building toward this for months. In March 2026, ICE took a stake in OKX at a $25 billion valuation and said it would give OKX's users access to NYSE tokenized equities and ICE futures. The two firms set up the 50-50 venture in June. Jeffrey C. Sprecher, ICE's chair and chief executive, said at the time the tie-up would "expand global retail access" to the company's regulated markets.

What is still missing

A notice to a regulator is a plan, not a product. OKXICE has not said when trading would begin, and any launch still hangs on regulatory steps and that 30-day window. It has not named a single company that has agreed to take part. Not one. Timing is unclear.

The market it is chasing is small for now. Tokenized stocks were worth about $3.2 billion as of Sunday, October 5, up 15% over the prior month, according to CoinDesk. The tokens are wrappers around real shares, with dividends and votes passed through, so a token that tracks Apple is not quite the same as holding Apple through a broker. It is part of a wider push to put real-world assets on blockchains.

What to watch

Rivals are moving too. Robinhood already offers US stock tokens that are bumping up against the SEC's caps. For OKXICE, the near-term signals are the 30-day opt-out window, any sign of a launch date, and whether marquee issuers like Nvidia or Apple agree to take part or walk away. The practical test is simple: a way to trade big US names at 3 a.m. on a Sunday, if it ever goes live.