OpenAI Refutes Robinhood Tokens: What's Behind the New Product
Date: 2025-07-03 Author: Henry Casey Categories: BUSINESS
In an official statement, the startup emphasized that the so-called "OpenAI tokens" have nothing to do with the company's shares. The startup's representatives noted that they did not agree to the issue of such assets, did not cooperate with Robinhood and do not support this product. Any transfer of part of the shares is possible only with the direct approval of OpenAI, which was not the case in this case.
In turn, Robinhood explained that the new tool is designed for retail investors and provides them with indirect access to private markets. To implement the idea, the company uses its stake in a specialized firm, allowing users to trade digital equivalents of assets.
According to expert Amit Kukrej, the publication of a refutation by OpenAI was expected and necessary to protect its reputation. He noted that Robinhood does not sell real OpenAI shares - in practice, users purchase a token that only reflects the market valuation of the company in closed trades. Kukrej added that a similar practice has already been implemented for hundreds of other public companies whose tokens are available on the platform.
The expert is confident that in the future, the market for decentralized exchanges will only expand, and the ability to freely acquire tokenized shares of companies such as OpenAI will become widespread. According to him, this will lead to increased liquidity and a decrease in the spread between purchase and sale prices, which will make such assets even more accessible to users around the world. Robinhood, in his opinion, was just one of the first companies to decide on this step.
At the end of June, Robinhood also announced the launch of its own blockchain network based on Arbitrum and the start of trading tokenized shares through this infrastructure. The new L2 platform has already listed tokens of OpenAI, Robinhood Markets, Trump Media & Technology Group, Schwab U.S. Dividend Equity ETF and YieldMax MSTR Option Income Strategy.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev confirmed that the proposed tokens are not legally full-fledged shares. However, he emphasized that they give ordinary investors an opportunity to touch private assets, which opens the way to larger-scale changes in the market.
It is worth recalling that back in February, Tenev announced his intention to develop the cryptocurrency direction and identified four key vectors that will help Robinhood accelerate the development of its products and services in this area.
