OpenAI condemns Robinhood's ‘OpenAI tokens'
'These 'OpenAI tokens' are not OpenAI equity,' said OpenAI's newsroom account on Wednesday. '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. Please be careful.'
OpenAI's statement is a response to Robinhood's announcement earlier this week that it would started selling so-called tokenized shares of OpenAI, SpaceX, and other private companies to people in the European Union.
Robinhood says the launch represents an attempt to give everyday people exposure to equity in the world's most valuable private companies via blockchain. Hours after announcing these token sales, Robinhood's stock price shot to an all-time high.
But stock in private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX are not available to the public. That's what makes them private. They sell shares to investors of their choosing.
So OpenAI is openly disavowing Robinhood's effort.
In response to OpenAI's condemnation, Robinhood spokesperson Rouky Diallo told TechCrunch that OpenAI tokens were part of a 'limited' giveaway to offer retail investors indirect exposure 'through Robinhood's ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle (SPV).'
That suggests Robinhood owns shares of a SPV that controls a certain number of OpenAI's shares. Like the tokens, shares of SPVs are not direct ownership of shares, either. They are ownership in a vehicle that owns the shares. In one way or another, Robinhood seems to be tying the price of its new tokenized product to the OpenAI shares in that SPV. But shares prices in an SPV can also differ from prices of an actual share of stock, as well.
In Robinhood's help center, the company notes that when buying any of its stock tokens, 'you are not buying the actual stocks — you are buying tokenized contracts that follow their price, recorded on a blockchain.'
'While it is true that they aren't technically 'equity,' […] the tokens effectively give retail investors exposure to these private assets,' said Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev in a post on X on Wednesday. 'Our giveaway plants a seed for something much bigger, and since our announcement we've been hearing from many private companies that are eager to join us in the tokenization revolution.'
OpenAI declined to comment further. Robinhood did not respond to TechCrunch's additional questions about its SPV.
Private companies are known to push back against anything that could influence how their equity is valued. In recent months, humanoid robotics startup Figure AI sent cease-and-desist letters to two brokers running secondary markets that were marketing the company's stock. Of course, these situations are different, but most startups don't want people to believe that they've authorized share sales if they haven't.
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Inicia sesión para acceder a tu portafolio
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Se produjo un error al recuperar la información
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
19 minutes ago
- CNBC
Stocks making the biggest moves premarket: Synopsys, Tripadvisor, Datadog, Robinhood and more
Check out the companies making headlines in premarket trading. Synopsys , Cadence Design Systems — Shares of the Silicon Valley chip designers rallied more than 5% and 6%, respectively. The U.S. government lifted restrictions on exporting chip-design software to China, according to announcements from companies in the industry. Datadog — The cloud monitoring provider surged more than 9% after S & P Global added it to the S & P 500 index , effective before trading starts July 9. The move will force passive index funds to buy Datadog shares to reflect the composition of the underlying, benchmark index. Tripadvisor — The online travel-review company popped 7% following a Wall Street Journal report that activist investor Starboard took a 9% stake. Robinhood — The online brokerage fell nearly 2%, giving back some of its 6% rally Wednesday. Robinhood was seen as a leading candidate to replace Juniper Networks in the S & P 500, and privately-held OpenAI is pushing back against Robinhood's recent announcement of tokenized shares in the artificial intelligence startup. Crypto stocks — Stocks with ether (ETH) treasury ambitions extended gains a second day amid a surge of renewed interest in stablecoins and stock tokenization, both of which are largely supported by the Ethereum network. Bit Digital rose 6%, while betting platform SharpLink Gaming jumped 9%. BitMine Immersion Technologies was little changed but has surged more than 1,000% since announcing its own ETH treasury plans Monday. Kratos Defense and Security Solutions — The drone maker added 1.5% after RBC Capital Markets reiterated an outperform investment opinion. The firm raised its 12-month price target on Kratos, believing the small cap defense tech sector will continue to outperform, driven by growth in fiscal 2026 defense spending and "valuation mismatches." Kratos shares are coming off of a a fresh 52-week high earlier this week. — CNBC's Tanaya Macheel, Pia Singh, Jesse Pound, Dylan Butts and Michelle Fox contributed reporting
Forbes
20 minutes ago
- Forbes
‘Please Be Careful'—ChatGPT's OpenAI Issues Serious Warning
ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has become one of the world's most valuable private companies, scoring a $300 billion valuation earlier this year. Front-run Donald Trump, the White House and Wall Street by subscribing now to Forbes' CryptoAsset & Blockchain Advisor where you can "uncover blockchain blockbusters poised for 1,000% plus gains!" OpenAI's massively popular ChatGPT chatbot helped it hit $10 billion in annual recurring revenue last month, with the runaway success of ChatGPT driving huge investor interest in the privately held company. Now, as the likes of trading app Robinhood use blockchain technology to offer people tokenized exposure to private companies including OpenAI and Elon Musk's SpaceX, OpenAI has warned people to 'be careful' of the tokens. Sign up now for the free CryptoCodex—A daily five-minute newsletter for traders, investors and the crypto-curious that will get you up to date and keep you ahead of the bitcoin and crypto market bull run OpenAI, led by chief executive Sam Altman, has warned people to "be careful" due to Robinhood's ... More "OpenAI tokens." 'These 'OpenAI tokens' are not OpenAI equity,' an OpenAI official X account posted. '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. Please be careful.''These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood's ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,' a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.
New York Times
20 minutes ago
- New York Times
Deciphering what's real about the WNBA. Plus: A pair of U.S. Soccer wins
The Pulse Newsletter 📣 | This is The Athletic's daily sports newsletter. Sign up here to receive The Pulse directly in your inbox. Good morning. Tragic news overnight, as Liverpool's Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva were killed in a car accident in Spain. More here. Lately, it's never a dull week in the W. We just wrote Sunday about the flurry of activity around Caitlin Clark and the Indiana Fever, but we already have updates there. Plus: veritably seismic news about the league's expansion plans. So as we barrel toward the second half of the season, I thought it would be worth bringing in an expert to provide some fresh, well-informed talking points to have in mind while hanging around the BBQ this weekend. Here's Sabreena Merchant: In your story with Ben Pickman earlier this week, we got concrete details on the disparity between Clark's pay and what she's actually worth — potentially $1 billion — to the league. What's the biggest takeaway? 💬 Although various economists threw out different numbers regarding Clark's overall value, no one disputed the rocket fuel she has poured onto the WNBA economy, in terms of ticket sales, TV viewership, merchandise sales and even the number of people voting for the All-Star game. It's a monumental shift. Advertisement The problem that kept popping up is that the convoluted ownership structure of the WNBA — 42 percent belongs to the WNBA, 42 percent to the NBA owners and 16 percent to investors in a 2022 capital raise — prevents the players from recouping that value. While NBA players get a 50/50 split of basketball-related income, WNBA salaries account for about 10 percent of the league's revenue. The league announced Monday it's expanding to 18 teams by 2030. Give us a vibe check on the reaction. 💬 I may be the wrong person to ask, but there has been a general swell of enthusiasm about adding more roster spots and being able to grow the business of the WNBA. Players have consistently advocated for more investment in their product, and the three new ownership groups are doing that, to the tune of $250 million in expansion fees per team. For reference, the expansion fee for Golden State, which debuted less than two months ago, was $50 million. There is some concern about the league chasing expansion instead of solidifying the business of the 13 existing franchises — check out Satou Sabally's comments on that front. The WNBA is also publicly touting its growth while privately keeping money away from players in CBA negotiations. It's a tough balancing act to strike. Oh, right: the actual basketball! What's an underrated story on the court as we approach the second half? 💬 Phoenix (12-5) has five rookies in its rotation, four of whom were undrafted and played the first part of their professional careers abroad, yet sits second in the standings. While Indiana (8-8), Las Vegas (8-8) and even Seattle (10-7) were projected to be the biggest threats to a Minnesota-New York finals encore, the Mercury have been the most consistent team outside that duo, and their offseason acquisitions of Sabally and Alyssa Thomas have meshed seamlessly. How Phoenix holds up now that the rest of the league has tape on its new roster is something to keep an eye on moving forward. Advertisement Thank you, Sabreena! My take: This league is genuinely rising, but there's some reason to worry about the bubble bursting. Let's keep it moving A pair of U.S. Soccer wins There was just something about concurrent U.S. men's and women's national team games on a summer evening that felt … so right. It apparently did for the players, too: The men's side advanced to the Gold Cup final with a 2-1 win over Guatemala last night, thanks to a pair of goals from Real Salt Lake star Diego Luna, while the women handled rival Canada 3-0 in a friendly. Luna's second goal within 11 minutes was a banger: DIEGO LUNA ARE YOU SERIOUS?! 🔥 HE SCORES HIS SECOND OF THE NIGHT FOR THE @USMNT! 🇺🇸 — FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 2, 2025 Emma Hayes' USWNT went 3-0 in this window, scoring 11 goals and conceding none. Mauricio Pochettino's team will play Mexico on Sunday with a chance to win his first trophy as USMNT manager. 🍿 Kershaw's big milestone Dodgers veteran Clayton Kershaw became the 20th pitcher — and just the fourth lefty — in MLB history to reach 3,000 career strikeouts last night in a win over the White Sox. The 37-year-old joins Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer as active members of the club. Our story notes Buster Posey has the most career plate appearances against Kershaw (120), which got me wondering: Who has the presumptive Hall of Famer struck out most? Check tomorrow's newsletter for the answer. More news 📫 Love The Pulse? Check out our other newsletters. 📺 Women's Euros: Spain vs. Portugal 3 p.m. ET on Fox Our summer of soccer continues. Spain, the reigning women's World Cup winner, begins its tournament as the favorite, while Portugal hopes to advance past the group stage for the first time in its four major tournament appearances. Follow our Euro 2025 coverage here. 📺 WNBA: Fever vs. Aces 7 p.m. ET on Prime Video Two star-studded teams, each sitting at .500 with one-third of the season behind them. Caitlin Clark is set to miss her fourth straight game with a groin injury, but her team should be in good spirits coming off its Commissioner's Cup win earlier this week. There's probably something we could all learn from 73-year-old Pete Carroll, now the oldest head coach in NFL history, about aging gracefully. His consistency in approach has made Carroll the NFL's 'Benjamin Button,' as Michael-Shawn Dugar and Tashan Reed write. The grass on which Coco Gauff announced herself six years ago now appears to be her worst surface, rather than her best. What's the problem? Advertisement Smart piece here from Asli Pelit on how women's soccer players are building media ventures to 'seize the mic, shape the narrative and open doors for the next generation.' Jesse Granger has a comprehensive piece on how the Vegas Golden Knights have adopted a 'home run' philosophy as an organization. Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: The Bobby Bonilla Day explainer. Good for him. Most-read on the website yesterday: Live updates from Day 3 at Wimbledon. More there today!
