OpenAI says Robinhood tokens are not equity in the company

OpenAI issued a statement on Wednesday clarifying that OpenAI tokens distributed to European Union users by the trading platform Robinhood do not represent equity in the company.

"We are not involved in this and do not endorse it,” representatives of the company wrote on social media. “Any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer. Please be careful."

Robinhood distributed $5 worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to clients in the EU region on Monday as part of the company's push into tokenized stock trading, which included launching a layer-2 blockchain network to settle tokenized equity trades.

Source: OpenAI Newsroom

In a statement to Cointelegraph, representatives for Robinhood said the token giveaways were restricted to “eligible European customers."

“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle.”

SpaceX and OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk took the opportunity to criticize OpenAI’s corporate structure. "Your 'equity' is fake," Musk said in a X post.

Musk left OpenAI's board in 2018 and has since been outspoken about what he sees as a departure from the nonprofit, mission-driven model toward a profit-first model. He has filed lawsuits accusing OpenAI of breaching its charter and diverting charitable assets for private gain.

Related: Tokenized funds are scaling fast, hitting $5.7B — Moody’s

Robinhood announces tokenized real-world asset trading

Robinhood first tipped plans to introduce tokenized stock trading for European customers in May 2025. No date or timeline has been given for a US rollout.

Speaking at Consensus 2025 in Toronto, Canada, senior vice president and general manager of Robinhood Crypto Johann Kerbrat said that the integration of tokenized real-world assets on the platform promotes financial inclusion.

The company’s foray into tokenized equities comes amid a broader effort by crypto exchanges to integrate tokenized stocks, government securities, corporate bonds and other traditional assets into their platforms, blurring the line between traditional and digital finance.

 Johann Kerbrat at Consensus 2025. Source: Cointelegraph

Robinhood argues that tokenization opens up previously inaccessible asset classes like private equity, private credit, and commercial real estate investing to the general public through the magic of asset fractionalization.

Private equity and private credit are typically reserved for accredited investors that have $1 million or more in investible assets or meet the annual income and licensing requirements of accreditation under EU and US regulations, making them prohibitive to average retail investors.

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev addresses the crowd at the recent event in Cannes, France. Source: Robinhood

The company announced the rollout of its layer-2 blockchain network and tokenized real-world asset trading during the company's event in Cannes, France on Monday.

"Crypto is much more than a speculative asset, it has the potential to become the backbone of the global financial system," CEO and co-founder Vlad Tenev said.

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