Robinhood slips amid cross talk on its tokenization plans
Robinhood gave back a bit of the sharp gains that pushed it to new highs in recent days after OpenAI issued a statement on Robinhood’s announcement that it planned to sell “tokenized” versions of shares in the hot AI startup.
Robinhood Markets shares slipped roughly 4% in early trading after OpenAI issued a public statement that “tokens” do not represent equity investments at the $300 billion privately held AI startup.
(Disclosure: Robinhood Markets Inc. is the parent company of Sherwood Media, an independently operated media company. I own Robinhood stock as part of my compensation.)
Earlier this week, Robinhood had spotlighted plans to sell what it called “stock tokens” in Europe, as well a limited “stock token giveaway on OpenAI and SpaceX” to eligible customers on the continent.
The market seemed to love the notion of tokenized stock trading — as well as the company’s general push deeper into the world of crypto and decentralized finance — with shares seeing a nearly 13% gain on Monday after the token announcement.
That added to weeks of romping for Robinhood, against the backdrop of an increasingly rapid regulatory revolution connecting cryptocurrencies with the broader financial system.
Despite the excitement, a plan to “tokenize” trading will involve plenty of technical details that it seems traders are trying to grok in real time.
For example, OpenAI on Wednesday stressed in a public statement that tokens are not the same as actual equity shares in the company, posting this at the close of trading on Wednesday, sending Robinhood shares down.
These “OpenAI tokens” are not OpenAI equity. We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it. Any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval—we did not approve any transfer.
— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) July 2, 2025
Please be careful.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev posted this response, acknowledging that while the tokens aren’t “equity” per se, they “effectively give retail investors exposure to these private assets.”
At our recent crypto event, we announced a limited Stock Token giveaway on OpenAI and SpaceX to eligible European customers. While it is true that they aren’t technically “equity” (you can see the precise dynamics in our Terms for those interested), the tokens effectively give…
— Vlad Tenev (@vladtenev) July 2, 2025
For good measure, Barclays analysts on Thursday published a note clarifying their understanding of what Robinhood’s stock tokens actually are, writing:
“Rather than owning the equity, the tokenholder technically enters into a derivatives contract with Robinhood Europe, and that derivatives contract, which is designed to track the price of the underlying asset, is what is tokenized and recorded on a blockchain. Some of the additional technical details provided have, from our conversations, caused some consternation among investors.”
But as investor consternation goes, any surrounding Robinhood seems pretty small in context. The shares remain up 150% so far in 2025, with most of that gain booked in the last three months.
