Walmart Blocks Its Stock From OKX-ICE Tokenized Trading Venue

In brief

• Walmart, Eli Lilly, Cigna Group, Carnival and Arcos Dorados joined the list of companies objecting to OKXICE TSV, according to its Oct. 28 notice.
• The total has climbed from nine on Oct. 15 to 38, broadening the pushback into retail, health care and travel.
• Under the SEC’s innovation exemption, a timely objection bars the venue from listing a third-party tokenized version of a company’s stock.

The world’s largest retailer is now keeping its shares off OKX and ICE’s planned tokenized stock venue.

Walmart, Eli Lilly, Cigna Group, Carnival, and Arcos Dorados have objected to having their shares offered on OKXICE TSV, according to an updated notice from the venue dated Wednesday. The five additions bring the total to 38 companies.

That’s up from 33 a day earlier, when JPMorgan Chase, Coca-Cola and Dell were among seven newcomers. The tally has more than quadrupled since the venue’s first list of nine objectors on Oct. 15. It grew to 16 on Oct. 19, with names including Microsoft, and 22 on Oct. 23 when Wells Fargo joined the list.

The latest batch broadens the pushback beyond tech and finance into retail, health care, and travel. Arcos Dorados, the largest McDonald’s franchisee in Latin America, joins McDonald’s itself, which objected earlier this month. Eli Lilly and Cigna join UnitedHealth Group and Moderna among the health care companies on the list.