Robinhood is currently getting heat for its AMC tokenized stock by no other than AMC Entertainment (NYSE:AMC) CEO Adam Aron.
“Robinhood apparently is behind an effort related to “tokenized real-world assets including Stock Tokens” for AMC Entertainment (and supposedly 190+ other companies). They are not registered under U.S. securities laws !!!!!!,” Aron posted to X.
But it didn’t stop there.
Aron didn’t hold back, stating that AMC’s tokenized stock is “outrageous” and “disgusting”.
“I find this practice to be contemptible, outrageous, disgusting, detestable, inexcusable, vile. How can it possibly be legal? We have no connection to this at all, and do not condone it in any way.
We immediately are going to have our outside securities counsel look into this.”
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev’s response to Aron gained over a thousand likes.
Vlad Tenev responds to AMC CEO Adam Aron about the AMC tokenized stock.
His only response, “What’s the concern?”.
Whether Tenev was serious or trolling Aron, it led to a substantial number of comments from both supporters and haters.
“The concern you pompous twat is that you’ve already fleeced retail by removing the buy button, when you and your overlords were sacked and facing complete destruction by the little guy,” said Icy-assistance on X.
“Now you’re tokenizing a stock that is undoubtedly oversold by the same retards who couldn’t close their naked short positions and decided to shut the valve off, based on the stock being 1:1 which you know could never happen.”
Others say the hype has the potential to drive AMC’s stock price up.
“Im [sic] not sure what he is worried about, when dozens of memes paired with $AMC could drive more volume and hype for his stock 👀,” said AndreaPN.
Others ridiculed AMC CEO Adam Aron for his ‘lack of innovation’.
X user Traplorrd said, “noticed [sic] how these types of opinions usually come from old [stuck-up] people who [don’t] want innovation, [their] generation is coming to an end and [I] feel [Robinhood] positioned [themselves] accordingly and they will benefit strongly since new generations of traders are being born.”
But Tenev’s army of followers (many evidently bots), fail to realize the biggest concern here isn’t innovation, but rather the issuance of synthetic shares.
Adam Aron Responds to Vlad Tenev
Hours after Vlad’s post, AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron responded to Tenev, stating:
“Seriously? What’s the concern you ask, @vladtenev? The list of concerns is almost existential.”
“U.S. securities laws are in place to protect investors. For good reason, we spend millions and millions of dollars every year to comply with U.S. securities laws. In good. conscience, how can Robinhood as a U.S. company set up an operation in far offshore Jersey, an island 3000 miles away, and market a security sort of posing as AMC in some shape or fashion, and not comply with U.S. securities laws. That is shocking and shameful.”
“Our past issuance of equity to strengthen our balance sheet was vital to our success. Your setting up some kind of fictitious synthetic equity market decouples stock token ownership from a company’s ability to control its own capital raising efforts.
Share ownership gives shareholders various rights, including the right to vote their shares. Your stock token pretend to be some form of stock ownership, but disclosures to the contrary notwithstanding, they are not ownership and they deprive investors of their rights.
This quasi-fake market you are creating on the island of Jersey sows distrust amongst the public about financial markets in general. There already is distrust in financial institutions, you are potentially making it far worse.”
Aron then publicly called out Tenev to voluntarily cease and desist the trading of AMC tokens on Robinhood.
He further questioned how the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) could allow this synthetic market and ignore securities laws.
The SEC at the moment has even delayed transparency laws meant to protect investors until the year 2027, marking the fourth time rules have been delayed.
Thes rules would provide regulators with a deeper dive into connections and relationships among brokers and hedge funds, alerts on overleveraged positions, and identify other systematic risks.
On X, some AMC shareholders are suggesting Aron sue Robinhood and its CEO for these synthetic AMC token shares.
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The Problem With An AMC Tokenized Stock
Aron highlighted a few posts from investors directing them at Tenev going over the problems with an AMC tokenized stock.
User Brad M. states, “The concern is not mysterious. You put AMC’s name on a Jersey debt note, sold it as an “AMC Stock Token,” and then asked the CEO of AMC what the problem is. That is the problem.
Retail is not confused about the wrapper. We know it is not a share. No vote. No ownership. No claim on the company. You said that in the fine print. You still used the ticker, the brand, and the price of a company that never hired you to package its equity.
Then you put that wrapper on a permissionless chain with a thin float. It trades 24/7. It sits in DeFi pools. It gets used as collateral and as the quote asset for memecoins. When a small token float gets shoved away from the NYSE print, that is not “innovation.” That is a second AMC market you created without AMC.
A 1:1 claim is not an answer. It only helps the listed stock if you buy real shares to mint. If you mint against inventory, hedges, locates, or delayed settlement, you created extra AMC exposure without extra demand on the tape. Discount arbitrage can hit the real stock. Premium minting can add more wrappers instead of lifting offers.
You blocked this from U.S. persons and still wrapped a U.S. company. Then you replied to the CEO with “What’s the concern?”
The concern is you built a synthetic AMC market, kept the economics, left AMC with none of the control, and treated a shareholder-rights question like a support ticket.”
Aron also shared TheRoaringRockets post, stating, “The concern is that you’re offering synthetic exposure to 190+ public companies’ stock without registering these as securities. ‘Tokenized’ doesn’t exempt you from the Securities Act..”
What Happens Next?
Robinhood’s AMC tokenized stock is a heated debate on X that could result in a legal battle if Tenev’s Robinhood keeps trading the token.
Aron’s concerns have merit and AMC’s legal team seems to be getting the SEC involved.
You can follow me for more updates and information on this development.
Frank Nez is an American entrepreneur, journalist, writer, and investor. Frank's work has been cited by SEC and Congressional reports. Franknez.com is a personal finance and market news publication, dedicated to publishing content on money, investing, entrepreneurship, and retail investor news.
