OKX and ICE file for a 24/7 venue where stablecoin pools price more than 60 U.S. stocks

OKXICE, a joint venture between OKX and NYSE owner Intercontinental Exchange, filed a regulatory notice listing more than 60 U.S. securities it plans to offer in tokenized form on a venue operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week, including nights and weekends.

On Oct. 4, OKXICE, the companies' 50-50 joint venture, notified the SEC it intends to launch a Tokenized Securities Venue under the Innovation Exemption, initially supporting 63 securities including Nvidia, Tesla, Apple, Microsoft, JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Coinbase and Circle.

OKXICE's smart contracts will not rely on the prevailing NYSE or Nasdaq price; prices will be set by the ratio of assets in automated market maker liquidity pools, with external stock-market data used for displays and trading-halt checks but not feeding the contracts that determine executable prices.

OKXICE's filing says third-party tokenizers must maintain one underlying share for each token outstanding, with minting and redemption channels available to eligible participants, and tokens must carry equivalent economic and governance rights including dividends and voting rights.

Inclusion in the filing does not guarantee a stock will trade, as companies can object during a 30-day window; Cerebras objected to the inclusion of its stock, according to the filing.

"No symbol is a given," TD Securities analysts wrote in a report on Monday.

TD Securities analysts said: "We see Prop AMMs and managed Multi-Pool Venues as much more consequential than conventional AMM models," arguing that liquidity providers can actively adjust prices and inventory and are "less likely to be picked off by stale prices."

Under the prop AMM model, a market maker would set prices using market data and its own inventory.

Weekend shocks would leave arbitrageurs without an open cash market in which to immediately hedge or acquire the underlying shares.

A weekend price on the venue would not determine where the underlying stock opens Monday, but a sufficiently liquid market could give traders a continuously updated indication of how investors are responding before conventional trading resumes.

In granting the exemption, the SEC sought public comment on how overnight tokenized-stock trading could affect liquidity, pricing and the opening, reopening and closing processes of conventional exchanges, and cited potential price dislocations as a concern for public companies whose stocks may be tokenized by third parties.

CryptoSlate wrote that issuer objections, thin liquidity and SEC volume caps will test whether the market can influence conventional pricing.

Per the notice, OKXICE TSV does not operate an order book, does not hold or take custody of participants' assets, does not extend credit, and does not conduct primary offerings of securities.

Intercontinental Exchange acquired a stake in OKX in March.

"This is a landmark step toward a truly global, 24/7 Wall Street," OKXICE co-chair and former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.

CoinDesk wrote that corporate objections, liquidity concerns and temporary regulatory relief may limit adoption of the platform.

Only wallets holding a valid soulbound token issued by OKXICE TSV may trade in or provide liquidity to a pool; eligible participants include institutions and retail investors, all subject to KYC/CFT review.

The one-for-one linkage with minting and redemption could turn differences between the onchain and conventional price into opportunities for market makers rather than permanent divergences, once the traditional market is available.

Thin pools could produce larger swings or wider deviations from the value investors eventually assign to the underlying shares once traditional markets reopen.

A venue open 24 hours a day, seven days a week is open 168 hours a week.

Saturday and Sunday account for 48 of the venue's weekly hours, when no cash market is open for the underlying shares.

Weekend hours are about 29% of the venue's weekly trading time.