“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity. We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it. Any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval—we did not approve any transfer.”
The company asked investors to “be careful,” highlighting that any equity movement in the private firm must be approved by its board.
The presentation helped push Robinhood’s class-A shares up about 11% to a record $92, extending a month-long rally of roughly 34%.
Market chatter soon began treating the demo asset as de facto OpenAI equity, despite the company remaining privately held.
Robinhood’s initiative arrives amid a broader campaign to shift conventional equities onto public blockchains.
The firm already issues blockchain-recorded shares to non-US users on Coinbase’s Base network and states that it will settle future trades on a public chain while routing orders through registered market centers.
Proponents contend that putting equities on-chain trims clearing fees, shrinks settlement times to near real-time, and enables continuous trading.
