Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev defended the company’s AMC stock tokens on Sept. 9, arguing that public companies should not automatically control third-party securities referencing their listed shares.
Summary
- Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said AMC consent is unnecessary for tokens referencing publicly traded shares.
- Robinhood describes each stock token as a debt security backed one-for-one by underlying collateral shares.
- Token holders receive dividend adjustments but lack voting rights attached to the referenced AMC shares.
- AMC CEO Adam Aron threatened legal and regulatory action unless Robinhood stops offering AMC tokens.
- Robinhood has not announced how it will vote the underlying shares held as collateral yet.
Tenev made the remarks during a CNBC “Squawk Box” interview, his first televised response since the dispute with AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron escalated.
“Issuers should have control and do have control over the rights and obligations of the stock that they issue, but that doesn’t mean they control everything about it,” Tenev said. He argued that companies cannot prevent independent firms from issuing separate securities that reference publicly traded shares.
“Issuer consent depends on what exactly you’re doing,” Tenev added. He said Robinhood’s products “should not automatically require issuer consent,” although that position has not received a public ruling from the SEC or a court.
Aron has disputed that interpretation. He argues Robinhood is using AMC’s name and share price to create a parallel financial product without the company’s involvement. The disagreement centers on whether economic exposure should be marketed as a stock token when the holder does not legally own the referenced share.
AMC stock tokens are debt securities, not shares
Tenev said each Robinhood stock token is backed one-for-one by an underlying share held as collateral. The token itself is a debt security issued by Robinhood Assets Jersey Limited rather than a share issued by AMC.
Investors receive exposure to changes in AMC’s share price and payments reflecting dividends. They do not receive voting rights and are not recorded on AMC’s shareholder register. Their legal claim is against the token issuer, not directly against AMC.
Robinhood launched its stock-token offering for European customers in June 2025 before expanding access through Robinhood Wallet. The products are unavailable to U.S. customers and are not registered under U.S. securities laws.
The company has connected its tokenization strategy to a dedicated blockchain based on Arbitrum technology. As crypto.news reported, Robinhood Chain fees provide a revenue stream for Arbitrum while supporting tokenized assets and other financial applications.
AMC CEO threatens legal action and SEC referral
Aron initially said AMC had no connection to Robinhood’s token and did not authorize or endorse it. He later called on Robinhood to “cease and desist” trading the product and said AMC’s securities lawyers would examine possible legal action.
The AMC CEO also said the company would raise the matter with the SEC. No public lawsuit or SEC enforcement action concerning the AMC token had been identified as of Sept. 10.
Robinhood chief legal officer Dan Gallagher rejected Aron’s demand. “We know a little something about the U.S. securities laws and will not ‘DECIST,’” Gallagher wrote, referencing a spelling error in Aron’s original post. Aron later said the misspelling was intentional humor.
Tenev subsequently reinforced Gallagher’s position by saying Robinhood stood behind its stock tokens. The company has not indicated that it plans to remove the AMC-linked product.
Voting rights and token pricing remain unresolved
Robinhood controls the underlying shares used as collateral, but Tenev said the company has not announced how those shares will be voted. This leaves an unresolved governance question because token holders receive no direct voting power.
The debate also covers price formation. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo pointed to an AMC-linked token pair that reportedly traded at roughly 60 times the reference share price. Thin liquidity and limited arbitrage routes can allow a token’s price to separate from the asset it tracks.
Robinhood says its tokens provide international investors with exposure to U.S. equities. Critics argue that products called stock tokens should either represent direct legal ownership or carry clearer descriptions explaining their debt-based structure.
The Federal Reserve has recognized that tokenized securities can use different legal models. Its regulatory guidance distinguishes instruments representing direct ownership from separate securities referencing underlying assets.
The next formal development could come from AMC’s legal team or the SEC. Until either takes public action, Robinhood’s AMC tokens remain available to eligible international users, and Tenev’s interpretation of issuer consent remains the company’s legal position rather than a settled precedent.
