Robinhood defends stock tokens amid EU probe, says more firms want in

The trading platform’s CEO has spoken out in defense of the newly launched investment products, following news that regulators are taking a closer look.

In a Tuesday interview with Bloomberg, Tenev addressed the ongoing probe led by the Central Bank of Lithuania, which is currently reviewing the structure and marketing of the blockchain-based investment products.

According to the CEO, the firm is in discussions with the regulator and aims to prove the legitimacy of the stock tokens. He emphasized that the tokens are meant to give retail investors access to private companies, expressing confidence that they will hold up under regulatory review.

“We’re confident, we think that these are not only important but they’ll withstand the highest form of scrutiny. So, we welcome the discussion with regulators as always,” he said.

Tenev’s remarks follow recent controversy around the tokens, which are promoted as offering eligible EU-based users exposure to shares of private companies like OpenAI and SpaceX. The offering came under fire after OpenAI publicly denied any affiliation, clarifying that Robinhood was not authorized to offer equity in the company.

Despite the pushback, the CEO added that interest in the model is growing. He noted that many firms are now actively exploring ways to offer their own shares through similar tokenized structures aimed at retail investors.

“Since our announcement, I’ve had a deluge of inquiries, private companies that actually want to access retail, to have their shares tokenized,” he said.

When asked about the classification of the stock tokens, the Robinhood CEO stated that the products are technically derivatives under the EU MiCA framework, but still qualify as crypto assets under Europe’s digital asset regulations.

He also confirmed that the company is in ongoing talks with financial authorities in other markets, including the United States and the United Kingdom, and hopes to expand access to the tokens globally in the near future.