On Sep. 3, AMC Entertainment Holdings (NYSE: AMC) CEO Adam Aron slammed Robinhood Markets (Nasdaq: HOOD) for offering a tokenized version of the entertainment giant's stock.
Robinhood is an e-brokerage platform that is very popular among young traders due to its equity, crypto, and tokenized stock offerings.
A tokenized version of a stock is a digital token created on a blockchain that tracks the price of the stock of a publicly listed company. Though the token offers indirect exposure to the company's stock, it doesn't offer any traditional shareholder rights.
A tokenized stock is only a synthetic version of a stock existing on a blockchain, with no official relation to the company publicly listed on a stock exchange.
Related: What are tokenized stocks? Explained
Aron threatens legal action, Robinhood stands behind stock tokens
In a long X post , Aron sharply criticized Robinhood for offering a tokenized version of the AMC stock without registering under U.S. securities laws.
"I find this practice to be contemptible, outrageous, disgusting, detestable, inexcusable, vile. How can it possibly be legal?" the AMC CEO hinted at legal action. "We immediately are going to have our outside securities counsel look into this."
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev had a 3-word response to Aron's outburst, "What's the concern?"
Aron replied that his "list of concerns is almost existential." His company spends millions of dollars each year to comply with U.S. securities laws, which are there to protect investors.
But Robinhood, as a U.S. company, has set up an operation called Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited in "far offshore Jersey," markets a "security sort of posing" as AMC in any shape, and doesn't comply with U.S. securities laws, Aron complained.
Robinhood's stock tokens are not registered in the U.S. and can't be offered or delivered to U.S. persons, as per its own disclosure.
"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," Aron further complained.
The "quasi-fake" token market created by Robinhood makes people distrustful about financial markets in general, the AMC CEO added.
He asked Robinhood to voluntarily cease and desist the trading of the AMC stock tokens. Otherwise, the company's securities counsel will step in to "force you to stop," he added.
Aron also wondered how the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) can support Robinhood's "sham ignoring" of securities laws and said he will question the regulatory body about it.
Robinhood's chief legal officer Dan Gallagher said the company will not desist offering the AMC stock token and dared Aron to send his lawyers. Tenev said the company stands behind stock tokens.
A Robinhood spokesperson told TheStreet Roundtable ,
"We stand firmly behind our Stock Tokens and their ability to provide international exposure to US equities, modernize the financial system and expand opportunities for ownership globally."
Trending on TheStreet Roundtable:
AMC announces new film distribution company
After the market closed on Aug. 31, AMC Entertainment announced the creation of a film distribution company called Leawood Films to focus on small and medium-sized releases that find it difficult to secure distribution.
The AMC stock was trading at $2.68 at the time of writing, up 5% in a day.
The HOOD stock was trading at $123.25 at the time of writing, down 1% in a day.
Related: Jim Cramer issues bullish call on Robinhood after Morgan Stanley upgrade
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Sep 4, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
