Company objections to OKX-ICE, the planned tokenized stock venue from OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, reached 67 in the November 5 update, and 56 of the 62 companies on the original list have said no. In the same week, US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $1.28 billion in outflows and Vitalik Buterin proposed valuing ETH as a store of value.
Objections to OKX-ICE reach 67, with Apple, Meta and Nvidia on the list
OKX-ICE plans to trade tokenized US stocks around the clock, with stablecoin settlement and no order book, using automated market makers instead. It operates under the SEC's five-year "innovation exemption." Under that exemption, the venue notifies a company before offering a tokenized version of its shares from a third party, and the company has 30 days to object in writing. If it does, the stock cannot trade there. The objection applies only to that venue.
The list grew fast. On October 15 there were nine objections, and on October 28 there were 38, when Walmart and Eli Lilly were added. The October 30 update took the count to 50, with 12 new names: Nvidia, Nike, Costco, Micron, CrowdStrike, Palo Alto Networks, Reddit, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Corning, Bloom Energy, IREN and USA Rare Earth. The November 2 update brought Amazon, Tesla, SpaceX, Netflix, SoFi and Lam Research, and the November 5 update added Meta, Palantir, S&P Global, KLA and Super Micro Computer. Earlier that week Apple, Home Depot, GE Vernova, Nebius, Boeing and ServiceNow had been added. According to CoinDesk's count, 56 of the 62 companies in the original selection (about 90%) have objections, along with 11 companies from outside the list. Filing dates differ by company, and venues have up to five business days to publish the objections, so the list could grow further.
None of the companies has explained its decision. Nasdaq, which pulled its own stocks out of the exemption, told the Wall Street Journal it does not want its name on a venue that neither shows the best prices in real time nor reports trades to the consolidated tape. Crypto in America also relayed a statement from an executive at a Nasdaq-listed company, who said a Nasdaq representative suggested they object. OKX-ICE itself acknowledges in its announcement that it is not subject to Regulation NMS and that there are open questions about trade reporting and best execution.
In the episode we read the most likely explanation as the lack of clear legislation on how stocks get onto a blockchain. What happens in a gray zone is not necessarily legal, and companies do not want to be caught inside it. This is our reading, and no company has said it. The ones without objections are easy to guess: Strategy, Coinbase, Circle and Robinhood, all deep in crypto. Securitize and BitGo had said they do not intend to object. OKX-ICE co-chair Andrew Cuomo said many companies want to see how the market works first and that companies outside the list have been in touch, without giving names, a number or a start date. Meanwhile, Canton TSV began trading tokenized shares of Canton Strategic Holdings (CNTN) this week, using an issuer-sponsored model that avoids the 30-day process.
Bitcoin ETF outflows of $1.28 billion push 2026 into the red
US spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $1.28 billion last week, their worst week since late June and their second negative week in a row. The cumulative 2026 total turned negative, at about -$914.1 million. On November 6, BlackRock's IBIT lost $403 million, about 88% of that day's gross outflows. The 12 funds now hold bitcoin worth $95.9 billion, about 6.3% of the Bitcoin (BTC) market. Analysts linked Bitcoin's 5.6% drop on November 5 to the market decline after the midterm elections, the Democratic win in Congress and doubts about AI spending. We saw the ETFs simply following the large volatility of the previous week.
Ether ETFs lost $365.3 million, their sixth negative week in a row, and have lost about $2.02 billion since late September. Solana (SOL) ETFs lost $26.3 million in a fifth negative week, the longest streak since they launched in October 2025. The three Hyperliquid ETFs lost $15.6 million, also for a fifth week.
Vitalik Buterin proposes valuing ETH as a store of value
In an X thread on November 8, the Ethereum (ETH) co-founder argued that the case for ETH as a fee-burning token is weaker than it looked in the previous market cycle. EIP-1559 "is good" and should stay, he wrote, but "we shouldn't be sad if the fee burn stays below 10% of break-even indefinitely." The "floor" price that the ultrasound money theory offered was never real, he said, because most of the burn in 2021 to 2023 came from crypto-internal uses that would fall along with the price. The annual burn has declined: about 1.48 million ETH in 2022 against about 19,200 ETH this year, according to The Block.
Buterin named decentralization, censorship resistance, privacy and security as the real sources of value, and stability as the main benefit for the financial ecosystem: "In the age of AI disruption, stability will be especially valued." Solana co-founder Anatoly Yakovenko wrote that Buterin is absolutely right, that no one can focus on fees as a product, and that you need to pick a product that brings value to people and do it very well. We agree with that view. ETH traded at $2,236 on November 8.
In brief
Nvidia and Jensen Huang: Nvidia is opening an investigation into reports that its CEO, Jensen Huang, had a "romantic relationship" with an alleged Chinese spy. In a message to employees he admitted he was "unfaithful" to his wife and took full responsibility.
Stock markets: Nasdaq 100 futures recovered their losses and turned green after the 6:00 p.m. Eastern open. We did not expect to be tracking markets based on the personal relationships of company CEOs.
The market
Bitcoin is around $74,000 and barely holding support after the price touched $73,000. Two unexpected events drove the move: the case of Nvidia's CEO and the stalled talks with Iran.