OKX and Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, have filed plans to offer round-the-clock tokenized stock trading. The filing asks the Securities and Exchange Commission to let the two firms run the service under the regulator's new Innovation Exemption.
The notice lists more than 60 stocks, including Nvidia and SpaceX. The tokenized versions of those shares would be paired with stablecoins, meaning trades would settle against crypto tokens pegged to traditional currencies rather than only the U.S. dollar.
What the SEC's Innovation Exemption actually allows
The Innovation Exemption is a fresh mechanism at the SEC for firms that want to test products or market structures that don't fit neatly into existing rules. It gives applicants room to operate outside some standard requirements while the agency watches how the experiment goes. In this case, that means OKX and ICE can pursue a tokenized equity market that trades 24 hours a day, seven days a week — a schedule that traditional stock exchanges don't keep.
Regular U.S. stock exchanges close overnight and on weekends. A tokenized market tied to stablecoins would stay open, potentially serving traders in time zones where Wall Street's hours are inconvenient or impossible.
Which stocks are on the list
The notice names more than 60 equities. Nvidia and SpaceX are two of them. SpaceX isn't a publicly traded company in the traditional sense, which makes its presence on the list notable — it suggests the tokenized offering could include private-company exposure that ordinary brokerage accounts usually can't reach.
The full roster hasn't been broken out beyond the initial notice. What's clear is that the filing treats tokenized versions of these shares as the core product, not as a side feature.
Stablecoins as the settlement layer
Pairing tokenized stocks with stablecoins sets up a specific trading model. Instead of converting in and out of bank-held dollars for every transaction, users would trade equities against stablecoins — crypto tokens designed to hold a steady value, typically around $1. The structure is meant to make settlement faster and keep the market running when banks are closed.
It also raises questions regulators will want answered: how the stablecoins are backed, who audits them, and what happens if one loses its peg while a tokenized stock trade is mid-settlement. The filing doesn't spell out those safeguards in the facts available so far.
What happens next
The SEC now has the filing in hand. The Innovation Exemption is new, so there's no deep track record of how the agency has handled similar requests. Approval isn't guaranteed, and the filing could draw public comment or revisions before anything goes live.
For now, the plan is on paper. OKX and ICE are waiting on the SEC. The next concrete step is the agency's response to the exemption request — and whether it lets a 24/7, stablecoin-settled stock market open for business.
