According to AIbase, OpenAI recently issued a statement through its official X newsroom account, firmly clarifying that the so-called "OpenAI tokens" sold by Robinhood are not shares or stock of the company, and explicitly stating that it has not collaborated with Robinhood, nor participated in or endorsed this token sale. This move is a response to Robinhood's previous announcement that it would sell "tokenized stocks" of private companies, including OpenAI, to EU residents.
On Wednesday, OpenAI emphasized on its newsroom account: "These 'OpenAI tokens' are not OpenAI equity. We have not collaborated with Robinhood, have not participated in this matter, and do not endorse it. Any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we have never approved any transfer. Please proceed with caution."
Previously, Robinhood announced the launch of this service, aiming to allow ordinary people to invest in the equity of the world's most valuable private companies through blockchain. This news once caused Robinhood's stock price to surge. However, the stocks of private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX are typically not offered to the public, but only sold to specific investors.
In response to OpenAI's condemnation, Robinhood spokesperson Rouky Diallo explained to TechCrunch that these OpenAI tokens were part of a "limited" giveaway, intended to provide retail investors with indirect investment opportunities through Robinhood's ownership in a special purpose vehicle (SPV). This indicates that Robinhood owns shares in an SPV that controls a certain number of OpenAI shares. However, similar to the tokens, SPV shares are not direct ownership of shares, but rather ownership of the vehicle holding these shares, and the price of SPV shares may differ from the actual stock price.
Robinhood clearly states in its help center that when purchasing any of its stock tokens, "you are not buying actual stock, but rather a tokenized contract that follows its price and is recorded on the blockchain."
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev also posted on X, stating that although technically these are not "equity," they do allow retail investors to access these private assets, and called this free giveaway the beginning of a larger plan.
