Crypto markets never stop for the weekend, but the companies that make up the backbone of the global economy still operate on a traditional clock. This mismatch created a significant friction point on a recent Saturday. While the New York Stock Exchange was closed, selling pressure began to build on crypto exchanges like Binance and Hyperliquid. In a span of only 10 minutes, nearly $52 million in leveraged chip-stock positions were forcibly closed [1]. The underlying shares were not trading at the time. There were no fresh prices from Wall Street to anchor these contracts. This event highlights the primary tension in the growing market for tokenized stocks: the gap between 24/7 synthetic exposure and the five-day reality of the assets they track.
Weekend Liquidity Gaps
Ripple Prime, the brokerage formerly known as Hidden Road, is currently providing a way for institutional clients to bridge these two worlds. Their platform allows for the trading of swaps tied to more than 100 markets, including stocks, gold, and oil [1]. Unlike holding a tokenized share directly, a swap is a contract that pays out based on price movements. This allows a fund to take a position without buying the underlying asset. Ripple has integrated its brokerage with Hyperliquid and uses its dollar-pegged RLUSD stablecoin as collateral for these trades [1]. Trading firm Virtu is already using the service to manage positions when conventional markets are shut.
However, the depth of these markets remains a concern for traditional financial institutions. HSBC analyzed the offering and noted that finding enough buyers and sellers for large positions could be difficult [1]. Daragh Maher, head of digital assets research at HSBC, described the launch as an evolutionary step rather than a total shift in market structure. He pointed out that while this market is growing quickly, it remains small compared to the traditional finance markets it tracks [1]. Until there is more liquidity, activity will likely stay concentrated among market makers and hedge funds looking for basis trades. These traders try to profit from the price gaps that emerge between a crypto contract and the actual asset it represents.
Institutional Objections
The push to bring stocks onto the blockchain is not just coming from brokerages. OKX and Intercontinental Exchange, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, have formed a joint venture called OKXICE. This platform aims to offer round-the-clock trading of tokens backed one-for-one by actual shares [4]. These tokens are designed to carry equivalent dividend and voting rights, bringing them closer to the legal reality of stock ownership than a simple price swap.
The plan met immediate resistance from the very companies it intended to list. When OKXICE filed its proposal, it identified 63 tickers representing 62 different companies [4]. By October 19, a public notice showed that 16 of those companies had filed formal objections to having their shares traded on the venue [2]. The list of objectors includes some of the largest corporate giants in the world. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Goldman Sachs joined the list alongside Qualcomm, Caterpillar, McDonald’s, and Western Digital [4]. Earlier objectors included Broadcom, Verizon, and UnitedHealth. Roughly 25% of the companies in the initial proposal have now asked to opt out of the venture [3].
SEC Sandbox Rules
These objections are happening within a specific regulatory framework. About one month ago, the Securities and Exchange Commission introduced a five-year Innovation Exemption [2]. This framework allows qualifying venues to test new market structures, such as using automated market makers and liquidity pools to trade U.S. stocks. A key part of this experiment is a 30-day window that gives companies the right to determine if they want to participate.
Andrew Cuomo, a board member at OKX and co-chair of OKXICE, described this pushback as a natural response to a dramatic change in market structure [2]. He noted that the model was designed to let companies opt in or opt out. Many firms prefer to wait and see how the demonstration works before they commit their shares to a blockchain-based venue. The Innovation Exemption also includes caps on the number of participating companies and the total trading volume allowed, effectively creating a controlled sandbox for the technology [2].
On Chain Infrastructure
The technical side of these new markets relies on decentralized finance tools. OKXICE plans to use permissioned Uniswap v4 liquidity pools deployed on XLayer [3]. To facilitate trading, each tokenized stock would be paired with one of three stablecoins: Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC, or the Global Dollar, known as USDG [3]. This setup allows for settlement to happen instantly on the blockchain rather than waiting days for traditional banking rails to clear.
Even with the right plumbing, the lack of synchronization between systems is a hurdle. Dave Hendricks, the CEO of Vertalo, noted that there is currently no system that normalizes and synchronizes trading on traditional exchanges with trading on tokenized security venues [2]. Without a way to harmonize these two different worlds, more objections from issuers are likely. Carlos Domingo, CEO of Securitize, also pointed out that issuers need more information on how pricing and investor protections will work in this environment [2]. Securitize recently announced its own offering of 12 tokenized stocks for U.S. investors, though this is separate from the OKXICE proposal.
The friction between corporate governance and 24/7 trading is a defining feature of this transition. While Ripple Prime continues to earn fees by financing leveraged stock bets, a business long dominated by banks, the companies themselves remain cautious [1]. The 16 companies that have objected to the OKXICE listing represent a significant portion of the proposed market. The SEC’s five-year Innovation Exemption was rolled out roughly one month ago [2].
Sources
1. CoinDesk, Ripple brings Wall Street into 24/7 stock bets, but HSBC warns markets are still thin, https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/10/21/ripple-brings-wall-street-into-24-7-stock-bets-but-hsbc-warns-markets-are-still-thin
2. CoinDesk, OKX-ICE co-chair Andrew Cuomo calls issuer objections a ‘natural response’ to tokenized stock plans, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/20/okx-ice-s-andrew-cuomo-calls-issuer-objections-a-natural-response-to-tokenized-stock-plans
3. Cointelegraph, Alphabet, Microsoft add objections to OKX-ICE proposed tokenized stock platform, https://cointelegraph.com/news/alphabet-microsoft-goldman-object-okx-ice-tokenized-stock
4. CoinDesk, Microsoft, Alphabet and Goldman Sachs join objections to OKX-ICE tokenized stock trading, https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/10/19/microsoft-alphabet-and-goldman-sachs-join-objections-to-okx-ice-tokenized-stock-trading
Do you think 24/7 trading helps or hurts price stability for traditional stocks?
Charts and the full source list: https://medium.com/@tomasrada8080/the-24-7-equity-war-tokenized-stocks-vs-corporate-giants-2c6466467f2d