At the beginning of July, Robinhood announced the launch of tokenized stocks for OpenAI and SpaceX, opening subscriptions to its European users and offering a credit of 5 euros to each person, marking the beginning of tokenization in private equity.

However, almost at the same time, OpenAI’s official Twitter account responded, stating: “These OpenAI Tokens are not equity in OpenAI; we have not participated in or endorsed this plan, and any transfer of equity must be approved by us.”

Tokenized private equity waves the banner of “equality,” opening its doors to retail investors, yet is slapped in the face by OpenAI. Is “equity tokenization” truly a breakthrough in financial innovation for the future, or just a scam disguised as “equality”?

What exactly is “tokenized equity”?

Tokenized equity does not equate to the equity itself, but is a on-chain contract product anchored by stocks.

Taking Robinhood’s operations as an example: it does not directly own shares in OpenAI but holds equity stakes in an SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) that possesses shares of OpenAI. Then, Robinhood tokenizes this portion of indirect equity “economic rights” and ties it to the valuation changes of OpenAI, circulating it on its cryptocurrency trading platform.

In the structure of tokenized equity, the SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) is an indispensable core intermediary. Simply put, an SPV is a specially established “shell company” or “channel” used to hold the actual equity of the target company. The platform does not directly sell the company’s stock; instead, it allows the SPV to hold the shares first and then “packages” the SPV’s rights into tokens to be issued to users. The benefit of this approach is that it circumvents the legal and regulatory restrictions of direct equity transfer, but it also means that the tokens purchased by users do not represent shareholder status in companies like OpenAI or SpaceX, but rather an indirect holding in this intermediary.

In other words, what users are purchasing is not OpenAI shares, nor SPV shares, but a token contract based on the performance of OpenAI’s stock price. Robinhood clearly states in its help documentation: “What you are buying is not actual stock, but a contract recorded on the blockchain.”

Legally, these tokens do not have any voting rights, rights to information, nor do they represent actual ownership of OpenAI. They are more like a “valuation tracker”, similar to structured products in over-the-counter trading—only this time, the trading platform is blockchain.

In fact, Robinhood is not the first mover. Several platforms have attempted to put “primary market rights” on the blockchain before it.

Investment platform Republic launched the Mirror Token product in June this year, with the first project rSpaceX, using the Solana chain as a carrier, pegged to SpaceX’s valuation performance. The minimum threshold for the token is $50, and users can purchase it via Apple Pay or stablecoins. The Mirror Token is not equity and does not represent ownership, but rather a debt instrument that is dynamically linked to the valuation of the target company. When the company goes public, is acquired, or experiences other “liquidity events,” Republic will return stablecoins to investors based on the proportion of tokens.

Another platform, Jarsy, adopts the approach of “on-chain traceability and off-chain physical assets.” It first purchases equity in target companies in the actual primary market and then maps the economic rights 1:1 onto the blockchain as tokens. The total amount, flow, and holding information of these tokens are completely visible on-chain, and users can participate using USDC or a credit card, with a minimum investment threshold of only $10. This is not merely a mapping of securities, but a substantial transfer of economic rights.

A struggle over equity pricing?

Under the tweet where OpenAI denied any partnership with Robinhood, Musk was the first to comment “Your equity is fake,” indicating that different ideological camps have already emerged behind this financial equality movement.

The robotics company Figure AI has issued a cease and desist letter to two brokerage platforms promoting its stock on the secondary market, stating that they promoted the company’s stock without board approval. A spokesperson for Figure stated that the company “will continue to protect itself from interference by third-party brokerage platforms” and emphasized that all stock transactions must be authorized by the board.

Several secondary market platforms that received a letter from Figure’s lawyers believe that some CEOs are in violation of secondary market trading, with other underlying reasons. According to these brokers, some shareholders are attempting to sell their shares at a price below the company’s new target valuation for the latest funding round, which may raise concerns for the company that lower-priced secondary market transactions could impact their upcoming new round of financing.

It is against this backdrop that Robinhood’s attempt at tokenization appears particularly bold. Vlad Tenev stated from the outset that the token “is technically not equity,” but “provides retail investors with the opportunity to access private assets.” He defined this initiative as “sowing a seed” and revealed that several private companies have expressed their willingness to join the “tokenization revolution.”

Robinhood stated that the token does not truly represent shares, but is an indirect mapping based on Robinhood’s SPV holding shares in OpenAI. In other words, users do not directly hold OpenAI stock, but rather gain an indirect exposure to the share price within the SPV.

However, this structure of “indirect equity exposure” is not transparent and can easily be misunderstood as holding shares in OpenAI. Under the banner of financial democratization, is Robinhood truly promoting the innovative liberation of capital markets, or is it blurring the line between real assets and digital derivatives? This has become the core of the controversy.

Comments from the community show a clear division. Supporters believe that Robinhood’s OpenAI token grants ordinary people unprecedented rights to participate: they no longer need to wait for an IPO, navigate complex venture capital structures, or be restricted by the thresholds of “qualified investors.” They have gained access to a digital asset linked to the valuation of a world-changing company, which can be traded instantly and flows autonomously, somewhat realizing the ideal of “countering elite capital monopoly.”

However, critics point out that these products do not possess true equity attributes—no voting rights, no profit sharing, no shareholder identity, and certainly not officially recognized shares by the company. More importantly, if investors misunderstand the nature of the tokens, they may incur risks beyond their expectations due to insufficient disclosure.

Against the backdrop of an immature decentralized asset trading environment and unclear regulatory gray areas, whether this “financial equality movement” can continue to embody its idealistic colors or will ultimately be halted due to compliance and trust deficiencies remains to be tested by both the market and the law.

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