Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev defended the company’s Stock Tokens in September 2026, saying issuers cannot control every third-party financial product built on their shares. His comments, made in response to criticism from AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron, matter because AMC has demanded that Robinhood stop trading tokens linked to its stock and has threatened legal and regulatory action.

In a CNBC interview, Tenev said companies define the rights and obligations attached to the shares they issue, but that authority does not extend to all third-party instruments using those shares as underlying assets.

“Issuers should control the rights and obligations of the shares they issue, but that doesn’t mean they control everything,” Tenev said.

He said whether an issuer’s consent is necessary depends on the product’s structure and should not automatically be required for Robinhood’s Stock Tokens. Tenev cited American depositary receipts, exchange-traded funds and structured products as analogous instruments.

How Robinhood’s Stock Tokens work

According to Tenev, Robinhood’s Stock Tokens are debt securities backed 1:1 by the relevant underlying shares. Holders receive economic exposure to the shares and their dividends, but they do not receive voting rights.

Robinhood has not said how it plans to handle the voting rights attached to the shares backing the tokens.

Robinhood’s official documentation identifies Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited as the issuer. It describes the instruments as tokenized debt securities that do not give holders legal or beneficial rights in the companies whose shares underlie them.

AMC threatens legal and regulatory action

The dispute began in early September 2026, when Aron highlighted Robinhood’s issuance of tokens linked to AMC shares and shares of more than 190 other companies. He said AMC was not involved in creating the instrument and had not consented to it.

Aron later demanded that Robinhood stop trading Stock Tokens linked to AMC. He said he was prepared to involve lawyers and file a complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. One of his central objections was that the tokens provide price exposure to AMC without conferring the rights held by ordinary shareholders.

“This quasi-fake market you’re creating on the island of Jersey is undermining public trust in financial markets as a whole,” Aron said.

Robinhood Chief Legal Officer Dan Gallagher, a former SEC commissioner, also rejected AMC’s demands. Tenev said the company continued to support Stock Tokens.

Questions over pricing and structure

The dispute extended beyond the legal status of tokenized assets. A meme coin tied to tokenized AMC, MEME, appeared on Robinhood Chain. Over 24 hours, its fully diluted valuation surged 206,400% to $131.7 million, while trading volume reached $41.5 million.

The debate also raised questions about what qualifies as a tokenized stock. Graham Rodford, CEO of U.K.-regulated crypto exchange Archax, pointed to a significant distinction between placing a share itself on a blockchain and issuing a separate instrument that only tracks its price.

Carlos Domingo, CEO of tokenization platform Securitize, highlighted the risk that prices could diverge in illiquid onchain markets. In comments to CoinDesk, he cited a trading pair involving a token linked to AMC whose price was about 60 times the reference value of the company’s share.

Tenev has repeatedly supported stock-market tokenization. In August 2026, he identified near-real-time settlement, round-the-clock trading and the ability to move assets more freely between platforms as potential advantages.

Source: Incrypted