OpenAI needs to clarify that Robinhood’s sale of “OpenAI tokens” won’t give on a regular basis shoppers fairness — or inventory — in OpenAI, the corporate stated in a publish from its official newsroom account on X. OpenAI says it doesn’t endorse Robinhood’s effort, nor was it concerned in facilitating the token sale.
“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ aren’t OpenAI fairness,” stated OpenAI’s newsroom account on Wednesday. “We didn’t companion with Robinhood, weren’t concerned on this, and don’t endorse it. Any switch of OpenAI fairness requires our approval—we didn’t approve any switch. Please watch out.”
These “OpenAI tokens” aren’t OpenAI fairness. We didn’t companion with Robinhood, weren’t concerned on this, and don’t endorse it. Any switch of OpenAI fairness requires our approval—we didn’t approve any switch.
Please watch out.
— OpenAI Newsroom (@OpenAINewsroom) July 2, 2025
OpenAI’s assertion is a response to Robinhood’s announcement earlier this week that it might begin promoting so-called tokenized shares of OpenAI, SpaceX, and different personal corporations to folks within the European Union.
Robinhood says the launch represents an try to provide on a regular basis folks publicity to fairness on this planet’s Most worthy personal corporations by way of blockchain. Hours after asserting these token gross sales, Robinhood’s inventory value shot to an all-time excessive.
However inventory in personal corporations like OpenAI and SpaceX aren’t out there to the general public. That’s what makes them personal. They promote shares to traders of their selecting.
So OpenAI is brazenly disavowing Robinhood’s effort.
In response to OpenAI’s condemnation, Robinhood spokesperson Rouky Diallo instructed TechCrunch that OpenAI tokens had been a part of a “restricted” giveaway to supply retail traders oblique publicity “by way of Robinhood’s possession stake in a particular function car (SPV).”
That means Robinhood owns shares of an SPV that controls a sure variety of OpenAI’s shares. Just like the tokens, shares of SPVs aren’t direct possession of shares, both. They’re possession in a car that owns the shares. In a method or one other, Robinhood appears to be tying the worth of its new tokenized product to the OpenAI shares in that SPV. However shares costs in an SPV may also differ from costs of an precise share of inventory, as nicely.
In Robinhood’s assist heart, the corporate notes that when shopping for any of its inventory tokens, “you aren’t shopping for the precise shares — you’re shopping for tokenized contracts that comply with their value, recorded on a blockchain.”
“Whereas it’s true that they aren’t technically “fairness,” … the tokens successfully give retail traders publicity to those personal belongings,” stated Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev in a publish on X on Wednesday. “Our giveaway vegetation a seed for one thing a lot larger, and since our announcement we’ve been listening to from many personal corporations which are keen to affix us within the tokenization revolution.”
OpenAI declined to remark additional. Robinhood didn’t reply to TechCrunch’s extra questions on its SPV.
Non-public corporations are recognized to push again in opposition to something that might affect how their fairness is valued. In latest months, humanoid robotics startup Determine AI despatched cease-and-desist letters to 2 brokers operating secondary markets that had been advertising the corporate’s inventory. After all, these conditions are totally different, however most startups don’t need folks to consider that they’ve approved share gross sales in the event that they haven’t.
