Microsoft and Alphabet object to blockchain versions of their shares—but their veto only goes so far

A growing number of companies are pushing back against tokenized trading of their shares.

Microsoft and Alphabet are the latest to complain about the practice, joining 14 other public companies that have formally objected to a plan by OKXICE, a new platform co-chaired by former New York Gov.

Andrew Cuomo, to trade blockchain-based versions of their shares.

The two tech giants joined Goldman Sachs , Caterpillar , McDonald’s, Qualcomm and Western Digital in a new batch of objections disclosed Monday.

They joined nine companies—Cerebras Systems, AppLovin , Applied Digital, Rocket Lab, CoreWeave, Verizon , Applied Optoelectronics, Broadcom and UnitedHealth Group—whose objections were disclosed last week.

Cuomo downplayed the wave of objections, framing the pushback as a predictable reaction to a major market shift.

“We always anticipated that, because this is such a dramatic and revolutionary change, many companies would want to wait and see how it goes rather than be the first to participate,” he said in a written statement to Fortune .

OKX did not respond to questions about when trading would begin or whether the objections had changed its launch plans.

The objections come two weeks after Cuomo announced plans to launch OKXICE’s tokenized stock-trading platform.

The venture, a partnership between crypto exchange OKX and ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, would offer round-the-clock trading in blockchain-based versions of 63 U.S.-listed stocks.

The venture is seeking to use a temporary exemption granted by the Securities and Exchange Commission last month that allows qualifying platforms to offer trading in tokenized stocks without registering as national securities exchanges, provided they meet certain conditions.

The veto’s limits Under these rules, trading platforms do not need a company’s permission to offer tokenized versions of its shares.

Instead, they must notify the company, which then has 30 days from receiving the notice to object before the platform can proceed.

“There’s not a proactive consent right.