OpenAI opposes Robinhood's token issuance of shares

OpenAI has just criticized Robinhood for the issuance of tokenized shares of its company without consent. "We do not collaborate with Robinhood, are not involved, and do not support this activity," OpenAI posted on platform X. "The transfer of OpenAI shares requires our approval – and we have never approved any transactions. Proceed with caution."

Elon Musk took the opportunity to roast OpenAI, claiming that their stocks are just fake stuff (Elon is suing OpenAI)Previously on Monday, CEO of Robinhood Vlad Tenev announced that the platform would offer "stock tokens" – tokens representing shares of over 200 private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX – to users in the European Union. This is part of a series of new products from Robinhood, including perpetual trading, staking in the US, and developing a layer 2 blockchain network on Arbitrum.

According to the description on Robinhood's website, "stock tokens" are derivative products that mimic the price of publicly listed stocks and ETFs, allowing users to access the US market through blockchain. However, buying stock tokens does not equate to owning actual shares.

Besides Robinhood, the investment platform Republic has also announced plans for the issuance of stock tokens for OpenAI and Anthropic, aiming to create opportunities for individual investors to access private AI companies. However, Republic also notes that these tokens do not confer shareholder rights, but merely reflect the equity value of the companies.