• Openai doesn’t distant from Robinhood’s tokenized stock and explicitly defines its inventory illustration.
• Robinhood protects tokenized shares and emphasizes publicity to inventory possession.
• EU regulators assessment Robinhood’s tokenized stock merchandise for authorized compliance and transparency.

Robinhood Markets is at present underneath investigation by European Union regulators concerning new tokenized inventory choices tied to non-public corporations like Openai. The trouble, launched on June 30, 2025, was designed to supply EU retail traders with digital publicity to main US corporations.

Nevertheless, Openai is publicly distanced from its merchandise, making it clear that the tokens don’t symbolize the corporate’s precise equity. This raises issues about doable disruption amongst traders.

Openai’s public denial of tokens

Openai has revealed that it doesn’t approve Robinhood’s tokenized inventory merchandise. In a press release posted to X, Openai defined that the tokens supplied will not be corresponding to the precise inventory of the corporate.

Openai additionally confirmed that prior approval is required to switch the corporate’s capital, and this isn’t granted to Robinhood.

Associated: Robinhood faces scrutiny of EU laws over new Openai and SpaceX inventory tokens

Robin Hood’s protection: “It is about publicity, not honest.”

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev defended the corporate’s merchandise in response to the backlash. Talking about CNBC’s “Squawk Field Europe,” TENEV acknowledged that tokens are technically unfair, however argued that this distinction shouldn’t be a very powerful issue.

He mentioned the worth of the tokens lies within the publicity they supply to non-public corporations. That is just like the best way through which institutional traders typically have oblique entry to those corporations. TENEV emphasised that tokens enable retail traders to take part within the efficiency of personal corporations like Openai, even with out direct possession.

The Core of the Battle: True Equity or Deceptive Derivatives?

The Financial institution of Lithuania, the regulator that oversees Robinhood’s operations within the EU, has begun a assessment of the providing of tokenized shares. Regulators are at present questioning the authorized construction of merchandise and compliance with EU monetary laws.

Associated: Robinhood Europe expands crypto entry with Argo & Ondo: token value evaluation and short-term outlook

The guts of this query lies in whether or not Robinhood’s tokenized shares can mislead traders and mislead the actual equity of corporations like Openai. The token is supported by a particular function car (SPV) that gives “artificial publicity” however doesn’t symbolize precise inventory or possession of the underlying firm.