AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron and Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev are in a public dispute over the brokerage's issuance of tokenized AMC shares. The conflict began on September 3, when Aron labeled the tokens as unauthorized synthetic equity and demanded a cease-and-desist, threatening to involve the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Robinhood defended its position on September 9. The company's Chief Legal Officer, Dan Gallagher, rejected the claims, asserting the legality of the offering. Robinhood issues these tokens through a Jersey-based affiliate, structuring them as debt securities under Regulation S, which targets non-US investors and exempts the instruments from US registration requirements.
The tokens provide 1:1 economic exposure to AMC stock price movements but do not grant voting rights or direct ownership. Aron argues that this model creates an uncontrolled parallel market and undermines the rights of original shareholders. AMC shares saw a price increase of approximately 21% during the period of the public feud.
This clash centers on whether financial intermediaries have the right to tokenize public equities without the issuer's consent. The outcome may force the SEC to provide regulatory guidance on whether such tokens function as securities requiring issuer involvement, potentially setting a precedent for the future of equity tokenization.
