Costco and 66 other companies have objected to plans for third-party tokens representing their shares to trade on the proposed OKXICE platform. The move does not automatically block perpetual contracts linked to Costco’s share price: tokens may represent shareholder rights, while perpetuals offer leveraged price exposure. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s authority to approve the contracts is now under review in a U.S. court.
OKXICE stock tokens would carry shareholder rights
OKXICE is backed by Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), the parent of the New York Stock Exchange. A notice of objection published by the platform on November 5 listed 67 issuers seeking to prevent their shares from being tokenized by unaffiliated third parties and traded on the proposed venue. The companies have not issued a joint explanation, and their objections do not establish whether they oppose other tokenization models or contracts that track share prices.
Under OKXICE’s proposed model, a tokenization provider would hold the underlying shares through a registered broker-dealer. Each token would represent an interest in one share, and customers would trade tokens in automated pools using dollar-pegged stablecoins. Prices in those pools may differ from those on traditional exchanges, making the distinction between the rights attached to a token and its trading price significant.
An exemption framework issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission in September allows eligible trading venues to avoid registering as ordinary exchanges if they meet specified conditions. Tokens must preserve the rights of the relevant class of shareholders, including voting rights, dividends and claims on residual assets in a liquidation. A token that merely tracks a stock’s price does not meet that standard.
Issuers also have a formal right to object. Before a venue offers tokens issued by an unaffiliated third party, it must notify the company. The issuer then has 30 days to object. SEC staff guidance says timely objections must be disclosed and prevent the venue from offering those tokens under the exemption. The companies’ objections apply to OKXICE’s proposed platform and do not automatically extend to other products.
Perpetuals provide price exposure, not ownership
Holders of stock perpetual contracts do not acquire shares or voting rights. Kalshi’s product description, for example, allows traders to take long positions on a rising share price or short positions on a fall. The contracts have no scheduled expiry, but “perpetual” does not mean positions can be managed at any time: Kalshi lists trading hours for its Costco contract from Sunday evening to Friday afternoon, Eastern Time, and warns that customers cannot open or close positions while the market is shut.
The contracts also offer leveraged exposure. Kalshi’s Costco page showed maximum leverage of 4.9 times on November 6, 2026. At that level, $1,000 in margin would support $4,900 of price exposure. A 10% adverse move would mean a $490 loss on that exposure, before fees and other adjustments—nearly half the initial margin. If collateral falls below the required level, the platform may close the position, leaving traders unable to wait for a possible rebound.
Perpetuals use periodic payments, including funding rates, to keep contract prices close to a reference asset. When a contract trades above that reference, long holders pay short holders; when it trades below, the payment runs the other way. Funding can therefore affect returns even when a trader’s view on the share-price direction is correct. Kalshi says cash dividends trigger contractual cash adjustments to long and short positions, but those adjustments do not make contract holders shareholders.
Court weighs CFTC’s authority to approve contracts
On November 3, Commodity Futures Trading Commission Chair Michael Selig said eligible exchanges registered with the derivatives regulator and having filed a notice registration with the SEC could begin offering stock perpetuals. He said the products were deemed approved under Regulation 40.3, which permits approval to take effect after a review period if the regulator has not issued a notice of disapproval. Regulators have placed the contracts within a joint securities-futures oversight framework, but their lack of an expiry date is central to the dispute over how they should be classified.
The Capital Markets Alliance Association is seeking to block the approvals. Its court filings include statements from Cboe and Citadel Securities. The association argues that contracts without future delivery cannot be classified as securities futures. In an October submission to the SEC, Cboe argued that the products are security-based swaps and should follow a different set of rules. It also warned that perpetual trading could fall outside the consolidated surveillance system for securities markets, even when traders hedge with ordinary shares. Cboe has commercial interests in the markets, but its submission also raises questions about which market safeguards should apply.
On November 3, Judge Valerie Caproni said the challengers’ argument that the CFTC may have exceeded its authority appeared likely to succeed. She nevertheless declined to issue an emergency restraining order, finding that the group had not shown imminent and irreparable harm. The approvals therefore remained in place at that point. The court set November 6 for the government to oppose a preliminary injunction and November 10 for the challengers to respond.
ICE expands into tokens and perpetual markets
On October 29, ICE announced an investment in TradeXYZ and an agreement to bring a Hyperliquid-based perpetual-contract market to the United States. The regulated venue still needs approvals, including permissions related to leveraged trading. ICE expects distribution channels to include its joint venture with OKX, which must also obtain any approvals it requires.
The plans put the same exchange group in both stock tokens and share-price contracts. The key distinction is that qualifying stock tokens must carry shareholder rights, while perpetuals provide price exposure subject to margin, funding rates and contractual adjustments. Issuers can use a defined process to block stock tokens on a particular platform; whether stock perpetuals can continue to launch depends on the dispute over regulatory authority and subsequent approvals.