Robinhood moves to calm EU regulators over OpenAI's tokenized stocks complaints

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the company is in discussion with European regulators about its token-based equity product after companies like OpenAI raised concerns.

The Menlo Park, California based company revealed last week that investors across the European Union would soon have the opportunity to trade blockchain tokens representing U.S. corporate shares.

As part of the rollout, Robinhood distributed complimentary tokens for privately held entities such as OpenAI, which subsequently advised participants that these digital assets do not equate to genuine ownership stakes.

Regarding inquiries from the Bank of Lithuania, the body supervising Robinhood’s European arm, Tenev noted, “They have some questions. They want to make sure that everything is proper because it’s a new innovative offering. We’re confident. We think that these are not only important, but they’ll withstand the highest form of scrutiny.”

On Monday, the Bank of Lithuania informed that it had requested additional details about the tokens’ structure. The bank did not respond to further inquiries.

Tokens for OpenAI and SpaceX aren’t tradable yet

Tenev also clarified that tokens linked to unlisted firms such as OpenAI and SpaceX are currently non-tradable. Because these companies aren’t publicly quoted, Robinhood applies its proprietary valuation model, as outlined in the promotional legal notice.

According to Tenev, the company aims to expand tokenized equity trading to markets like the U.S. and U.K., subject to regulatory sign-off. He noted, “For tokenization in the US, we do believe that the SEC has the authority to make it happen without legislation.”

Blockchain-based tokenized securities, whose prices reflect those of the actual underlying shares, are gaining traction among global investors targeting U.S. equities. Though conventional exchange-listed stocks are accessible throughout most of Europe, advocates argue that tokenized options deliver identical features, such as dividends and stock splits, while enhancing transparency and efficiency with near-instant settlement.

Robinhood eyes opportunity in $24 billion tokenization market

Robinhood is also competing for a slice of the fast-growing tokenization market, which industry estimates value at more than $24 billion.

Some analysts question whether the market is truly that large, pointing to gaps in available data. Still, major institutions such as BlackRock and Franklin Templeton have made moves into tokenization.

A RedStone report last month found that tokenization is gaining ground in private credit markets by lowering entry hurdles, speeding up settlements and improving liquidity. The study identified private credit and U.S. Treasury debt as the biggest current drivers of token activity.

Ethereum is the leading network for tokenized real-world assets, even as newer blockchains offer faster and more scalable alternatives, the report found.

As of June 2025, the Ethereum blockchain held about $7.5 billion in tokenized value across 335 products, making up roughly 59% of the entire market. “While Ethereum’s decentralized governance has historically limited its institutional outreach, the launch of Etherealize in January 2025 marked a strategic pivot,” said the report, pointing to the Ethereum Foundation’s push to bring more institutional investors on-chain.

Despite Ethereum’s dominance, the report highlighted Solana as a “high-performance challenger” as it’s handling more tokenized Treasury trades. Solana hosted around $351 million in tokenized assets by mid-2025.

Aptos also saw notable growth, with $349 million in tokenized assets by June. The report observed that Aptos became the first non-Ethereum Virtual Machine network used by BlackRock’s BUIDL fund.

Avalanche now holds $188 million in tokenized assets, including KKR’s blockchain fund, and the XRP Ledger, seen as a “regulated newcomer,” has $157 million in tokenized real-world assets.

Cryptopolitan Academy: Want to grow your money in 2025? Learn how to do it with DeFi in our upcoming webclass. Save Your Spot