EddieJayonCrypto
3 Jul 25
OpenAI condemned Robinhood's unauthorized issuance of digital stock tokens labeled "OpenAI" and "SpaceX," stating these tokens do not represent real equity and were not approved by the company. Elon Musk, a former OpenAI co-founder, called the tokens "fake" and clarified he has been distanced from O...
OpenAI strongly rejected an unauthorized effort to tokenize its equity following Robinhood's announcement that it had listed digital stock tokens labeled “OpenAI” and “SpaceX.” OpenAI clarified that these tokens do not represent real equity and that it did not approve nor participate in their issuance. The company emphasized that any transfer of its equity requires explicit approval, which was not given in this instance.
Elon Musk, co-founder of OpenAI and CEO of SpaceX and Tesla, responded sharply to OpenAI's statement, calling the purported equity “fake.” Musk distanced himself from OpenAI since 2018, when he left amid disagreements over the organization’s shift from nonprofit to for-profit status.
Robinhood explained that these OpenAI tokenized stocks would operate on the Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution, Arbitrum. The platform positioned these tokens as offering investors indirect exposure to private markets, enabled through Robinhood’s stake in a special purpose vehicle. They described this move as part of a recent crypto event and a limited stock token giveaway aimed at eligible European customers.
Crucially, Robinhood highlighted that stock tokens differ from traditional stocks in key ways: buyers do not own the actual shares nor possess voting rights. Instead, these tokens are tokenized contracts tracked on a blockchain, designed to mirror price movements rather than confer direct ownership.