OpenAI shuts down Robinhood’s “OpenAI tokens”. The company clarified these tokens aren’t stock or equity and didn’t give Robinhood permission for the sale.
The issue started after Robinhood announced it would sell tokenized shares of private firms like OpenAI and SpaceX to EU customers. The brokerage aims to let everyday investors access shares of private companies via blockchain.
Soon after the token announcement, Robinhood’s stock hit an all-time high. But OpenAI quickly pushed back. It said: 
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.
Please be careful.
OpenAI is distancing itself from Robinhood’s token move, stressing it never agreed to any equity transfer.
Robinhood responded calling the tokens a “limited” giveaway for retail investors to get indirect exposure through Robinhood’s stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV). This means buyers don’t own actual shares but contracts tied to shares owned by the SPV.
Robinhood’s help center explains:
When buying any of its stock tokens, “you are not buying the actual stocks — you are buying tokenized contracts that follow their price, recorded on a blockchain.”
CEO Vlad Tenev tweeted:
Our giveaway plants a seed for something much bigger, and since our announcement we’ve been hearing from many private companies that are eager to join us in the tokenization revolution.
OpenAI declined further comment. Robinhood did not answer questions on the SPV details.
The conflict highlights how private companies push back on unauthorized equity claims. Startups like Figure AI have recently sent cease-and-desist letters to secondary markets over share sales they didn’t approve.
This one’s heating up fast.
