Why Microsoft and Alphabet Can’t Fully Block Tokenized Stocks

A temporary Securities and Exchange Commission exemption is forcing public companies into a race against the clock to prevent their shares from being traded as blockchain tokens, exposing a structural gap in how corporate America controls its own equity.

Microsoft and Alphabet are among 16 public companies that have formally objected to OKXICE, a venture backed by crypto exchange OKX and ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange. The platform, co-chaired by former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, plans to offer round-the-clock trading in tokenized versions of 63 U.S.-listed stocks. Goldman Sachs, Caterpillar, McDonald’s, Qualcomm and Western Digital joined the objection list Monday, according to disclosures reported by Fortune. They followed nine earlier objectors: Cerebras Systems, AppLovin, Applied Digital, Rocket Lab, CoreWeave, Verizon, Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom and UnitedHealth Group.

But the objections carry a hard expiration date. Under the SEC exemption granted last month, platforms do not need a company’s permission to tokenize its stock. They only need to send a notice. The company then has exactly 30 days to object before the platform can legally proceed.

“There’s not a proactive consent right. Rather, it is a reactive right to object,” Erin Martin, a partner and co-lead of fintech and digital assets at law firm Morgan Lewis, told Fortune. Martin spent over a decade as a senior lawyer at the SEC. “If they don’t object within that 30-day notice period, the [venue] can go ahead and start to tokenize and list those securities.”

That deadline introduces logistical risks that have nothing to do with blockchain technology. Notices must be sent to a company’s main executive office, where they risk getting buried in routine mail before reaching legal departments, Martin noted. If a notice goes unanswered for 30 days, the platform moves forward. Whether a company can withdraw its stock after that window closes remains unresolved. “It has not been contemplated in the existing SEC order,” Martin said.

The 30-day clock started ticking in early October for several firms on the 63-stock list. Apple, Nvidia and Amazon are among the 47 companies that have not yet publicly objected. Depending on when they received their notices, their deadlines could expire in early November.

For issuers, the financial mechanics of 24/7 tokenized trading threaten established market rhythms. Applied Optoelectronics, which manufactures equipment for high-speed networks, cited concerns over unpredictable effects on pricing, liquidity and volatility. “At this stage, we don’t see a clear benefit to AOI or our shareholders that justifies these uncertainties,” a spokesperson told Fortune. The company also warned investors might mistakenly believe it endorsed the offering.

Corporate earnings seasons rely on market closures. Companies typically release quarterly results after the closing bell, giving institutional investors and analysts overnight to parse the data before trading resumes. A continuous tokenized market eliminates that buffer entirely, leaving issuers exposed to immediate, unfiltered price swings driven by algorithmic trading or retail speculation operating outside standard exchange hours.

Price fragmentation presents another risk. Digital tokens representing a share could trade at different prices than the underlying equity listed on the NYSE or Nasdaq, particularly during periods of low volume. Risk disclosures detailed in OKXICE’s public notice with the SEC also flagged potential hurdles if the software handling trades fails or if the firms holding the underlying shares encounter financial trouble.

Cuomo framed the corporate resistance as standard friction accompanying market shifts. “We always anticipated that, because this is such a dramatic and revolutionary change, many companies would want to wait and see how it goes rather than be the first to participate,” he said in a written statement to Fortune. He previously pitched the $35 billion target market by arguing that ownership should not have office hours.

OKX did not respond to questions about when trading would begin or whether the wave of objections had altered its launch timeline.

Even a unanimous rejection from all 63 targeted companies would only neutralize OKXICE’s specific use of the SEC exemption. Ignoring valid objections would cost the platform its regulatory carve-out, according to Martin. But the objection carries no jurisdiction beyond the platform itself. It does not prevent other firms from offering tokenized versions of the same shares overseas or through alternative legal arrangements.