OpenAI disavows Robinhood’s ‘OpenAI tokens,’ says demo stock was not approved and has no equity backing

OpenAI stated on July 2 that digital tokens buying and selling beneath its title on Robinhood’s new blockchain platform do not represent OpenAI equity and have been listed with out the corporate’s consent.

In an announcement posted on X, the unreal intelligence developer wrote: 

“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are usually not 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.” 

The corporate requested buyers to “watch out,” highlighting that any fairness motion within the personal agency should be accredited by its board.

Tokenized-stock pilot spurs confusion

OpenAI’s remark follows Robinhood’s June 30 occasion in Cannes, France, the place CEO Vlad Tenev demonstrated a tokenized inventory commerce for an “OpenAI” place on the dealer’s forthcoming layer-2 blockchain. 

Robinhood stated the community, constructed with Arbitrum expertise, will let eligible European customers commerce greater than 200 US equities and exchange-traded funds 24/7 with no commissions or spreads. The shares might be transformed into on-chain tokens for switch and settlement.

The presentation helped push Robinhood’s class-A shares up about 11% to a file $92, extending a month-long rally of roughly 34%. 

Market chatter quickly started treating the demo asset as de facto OpenAI fairness, regardless of the corporate remaining privately held.

Push for tokenized shares

Robinhood’s initiative arrives amid a broader marketing campaign to shift typical equities onto public blockchains.

In late June, Dinari gained broker-dealer registration for a subsidiary, positioning it to distribute its tokenized “dShares” to US brokerages after finishing SEC onboarding. 

The agency already points blockchain-recorded shares to non-US customers on Coinbase’s Base community and states that it’s going to settle future trades on a public chain whereas routing orders by way of registered market facilities. 

Kraken has in the meantime launched a 24/7 platform for tokenized US shares, and Coinbase has requested clearance from the SEC to roll out an analogous service. 

Proponents contend that placing equities on-chain trims clearing charges, shrinks settlement instances to close real-time, and allows steady buying and selling.

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