Robinhoods (Hood) Openai token Balancing on a legal wire rope, says Crypto lawyer
Robinhood's plan to democratize private equity through tokenized start-up shares may be brave, but, according to the florida-based cryptocurrency lawyer John Montague, has unintentional legal consequences in an interview with Coindesk. He referred to risks such as complaints, regulatory counter -reactions and losses for investors in the event of bankruptcy of the platform.
Robinhood recently introduced a new product for European users that tokenized exposure to private companies such as Openaai. These tokens are not actual stocks; They provide fractional shares in a purpose society (Special Purpose Vehicle, SPV) it. While Robinhood argues that this opens up access to shops that were previously only accessible to the elite, Openaai remains firm with the view that the offer is not authorized and legally questionable.
Montague recognizes the ambitions behind the product, but warns that it could result in serious legal consequences.
“I think that private companies may also submit complaints in which they say that this violates their governance documents, shareholders' agreements, investor law agreements or statutes,” he said. “I see it as the right of the issuer to control the transmission conditions.”
In April, another Ki startup, Figure AI, sent in injunctive relief to unnamed brokers who sold their shares on the secondary market, laut TechCrunch.
“We do not allow our shares to be traded on the secondary market without the approval of the board, and the company will continue to protect itself against undesirable third -party providers in the market,” Figure Ai told Techcrunch at that time. “
Montague expects this trend to continue.
“If a participant in the secondary market acquires shares and then violates the statutes of the company, the shareholder contract or the investor contract (for example by the establishment of a purpose company or resale to other investors)it is probably a clear breach of contract, and the issuer would be entitled to an injunction, “he continued.
The supervisory authorities have started to become aware of, and there are also securities laws.
In a Explanation published On Wednesday, SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce-without Robinhood-said that tokenized shares are actually securities and that market participants have to comply with the Federal Working Act when using these instruments.
“Distributors of tokenized securities must take their disclosure obligations into account in accordance with the federal securities laws,” she said in her statement.
The question of bankruptcy also arises.
Linqto, which offers comparable services such as Robinhood for structured participations in startups, recently registered bankruptcyWhich raises an important question of what will happen to the token owners of equity.
“If Robinhood would register bankruptcy, I don't think any share that you hold in an SPV would be assigned to these owners in the bankruptcy court,” said Montague.
Montague also warned that the structure could inflate a bubble in private markets, since retail demand invests in tokens, offer economic participation without actual property.
Detached from voting rights or supervision by the board, these synthetic assets run the risk of becoming purely speculative, generate hype without substance and leave investors unprotected in the event of mood swings.
But Montague continued to be optimistic. Although he explained that the regulatory paths for the offer of tokenized equity via an SPV or derivatives to private companies are still underdeveloped and unclear, Robinhood's brave steps are exactly what the industry needs to force clarity.
“You take a real risk by launching these products, but I think the additional liquidity in private stocks will benefit the entire industry,” he said.
