AI giant said in a social media post that Robinhood users in Europe are being offered tokens for OpenaiI.
“These ‘Openi Tokens’ are not Open Equity. We did not partner with Robinhood, not involved, and did not support it,” Openai posted on X. “Any transfer of Openai Equity requires our approval – we did not approve any transfer.”
Earlier this week, Robinhood announced that it was starting token trading trading based on arbitrum blockchain for its users in Europe. As coindesk had previously reported, users will have access to 200 equity and ETF, as well as a secondary market for equity in hot startups such as Openai and Spacex.
The idea of token equity in public companies is nothing new.
In 2018, a blockchain startup called Swarma said it would soon offer tokens shares in startups – including Robinhood.
Coindesk said at the time that several companies said the flock claimed that it would offer equity to push back and said that such sales would be unauthorized, but the flock said that everything came from “sanctioned secondary market transactions”.
Given the offering of the current token of Robinhood, it is not clear where the source of equity is. There are some speculation Equity represents interest in OpenAI shares that have already acquired through channels already authorized by the comments made by the CEO of Robinhood.
Estimate:
During the presentation, Vlad specifically referred to having a relationship with a wealthy investor with Openai / Spacex stocks.
These shares may still be under the names of original investors (either a person, or one unit), which Openai has already … https://t.co/bskadwf5o
– David Hoffman (@Trustlessstate) July 2, 2025
Others have warned that Openi – and other startups – will be well within their rights to not respect the sale.
This highlights another risk in favor of a private company that I did not address yesterday, but we often see in these secondary markets. There is no need for these companies to respect equity sales that you think you are yourself – in fact I recently said at a private conference that I … https://t.co/nyzhjfgxwv
– Rob Headic ＞ | ＜ (@hadickm) July 2, 2025
“I hope that this natural stress resulted in more private companies as a result of the sales of equity for those who violate their shareholders agreements,” Dragonful General Partner Rob Headic Posted on X,
Robinhood did not respond to a request to comment from coindesk.
