Robinhood CEO Defends Tokenized Stocks Amid Public Clash With AMC Chief

Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev pushed back against AMC Entertainment’s chief executive in a CNBC interview Wednesday, arguing that publicly traded companies do not have veto power over third-party financial products that reference their shares. The comments marked Tenev’s first public response since AMC’s CEO accused Robinhood last week of creating a misleading market around AMC stock and threatened to involve securities regulators.

Tokenized Product Structure Clarified

Tenev explained that Robinhood’s stock tokens are backed one-to-one by underlying shares held as collateral, with each token structured as a debt security. Token holders receive dividends but not voting rights tied to the underlying stock, and Tenev said the company has not yet decided how it will handle voting on shares held as collateral.

Dispute Sparks Wider Industry Debate

The conflict began when AMC’s CEO publicly distanced the company from Robinhood’s tokenized offering, calling the practice contemptible and demanding it be stopped. The disagreement has fueled broader discussion within the industry about what qualifies as a genuine tokenized stock versus a separate tracking instrument, with some executives raising concerns about pricing discrepancies in thinly traded token markets, including one case where an AMC-linked token traded at roughly 60 times the reference share price.