OKXICE's tokenized-stock venue opens Nov. 23, a week before MSCI drops confirmed issuer Strategy

OKXICE, the joint venture between OKX and NYSE parent Intercontinental Exchange, says its Tokenized Securities Venue will open on Nov. 23 under the SEC's Innovation Exemption. CoinDesk reports that this makes it the second venue to start under that five-year experiment, after a Canton-based venue. OKX says more than 70 assets are expected to list. They include securities from Better.com, BitGo, Circle, Coinbase, Robinhood, Securitize and Strategy, plus 59 Direxion ETFs, and Strategy will also list its preferred stock. According to CoinDesk, a spokesperson said not all assets will be available at the start.⁴¹

The count

MMOTIMES calculation: The Block reports 70 assets confirmed so far, 59 of them ETFs. That leaves 11 slots for everything else, so ETFs make up about 84% of the confirmed list. OKX says more than 70 assets are expected, so that share should fall as the list grows, and nobody has said which assets will trade on day one. Objections set the shape of the list. The SEC framework gives an issuer 30 calendar days to object when an unaffiliated third party arranges the tokenization. A Nov. 5 filing showed 67 companies had opted out. By CoinDesk's tally, 56 of the 62 companies OKXICE originally proposed, about 90%, objected, which leaves six from the original list that had not. CoinDesk describes the remaining lineup as concentrated in companies tied to digital assets, plus Direxion's funds.²¹

Pools, not order books

"Our greater concern, however, is that the Innovation Exemption allows tokenized securities to trade outside the government-regulated National Market System, which maintains a market data, reporting, and transparency framework that all stock trading must abide by." — John Zecca, Nasdaq Chief Legal and Regulatory Officer, in a Barron's op-ed quoted by The Block²

The Block reports that Zecca added that fragmentation could follow, and that Nasdaq plans to opt its own stock out of tokenized securities venues.²

Strategy: a new rail, a passive exit

MSCI's final November review list marks "STRATEGY A" as "Deleted," effective after the Nov. 30 close, seven days after the venue opens. No source confirms that Strategy's tokens will trade on day one. JPMorgan had estimated the exclusion could trigger about $2.8 billion of selling. In its consultation response, Strategy said MSCI-linked funds held about 13 million shares, 3.1% of its basic shares outstanding and less than one day's trading volume. MMOTIMES calculation: at the $122.26 MSTR price CoinDesk displayed after the Nov. 11 close, 13 million shares are worth about $1.6 billion, roughly 57% of JPMorgan's estimate. The two figures come from different parties and different dates and may cover different funds, and the sources do not reconcile them. No source puts a size on demand for tokenized Strategy shares. The dates line up by calendar, not by cause.³¹