AMC CEO Threatens Legal Action Against Robinhood Over Stock…

AMC Entertainment chief executive Adam Aron has intensified a public dispute with Robinhood over tokenized equities, calling on the brokerage to halt trading of tokens tied to AMC shares and saying the company intends to raise the matter with U.S. regulators, including the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The conflict hinges on how Robinhood's stock tokens are built. The products give eligible customers outside the United States economic exposure to U.S. equities without making them registered shareholders of the companies whose prices the tokens track. Aron argues that structure can hamper AMC's ability to raise capital, because demand for a synthetic AMC-linked instrument does not automatically translate into buying pressure on AMC stock itself. Writing on X, he said such an arrangement "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." He also questioned whether buyers understand the rights attached to the tokens and criticised Robinhood for running the product through an offshore structure in Jersey.

Robinhood holds its ground

Robinhood has rejected the criticism and signalled it will not pull the products. Chief legal officer Dan Gallagher, a former SEC commissioner, replied directly to Aron's legal threat, and CEO Vlad Tenev later reinforced the position, writing: "We stand behind Stock Tokens."

The disagreement reaches beyond one issuer. Tokenized equity products come in different forms: some place real shares with a regulated custodian and issue blockchain representations tied to those holdings; others put shares onchain with shareholder rights attached. Robinhood's model is synthetic, tracking price without granting voting rights or direct ownership claims against the company, and it is unavailable to U.S.-based customers.

Market participants have highlighted the practical consequences. Backpack CEO Armani Ferrante said buying pressure in Robinhood's token market does not necessarily reach the underlying stock, and retail holders cannot redeem tokens for shares directly, with conversions handled by authorized participants. Fairmint CEO Joris Delanoue framed the ownership question bluntly: "A token is not equity, but equity can be a token." Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo pointed to one AMC-linked token trading at roughly 60 times AMC's reference share price, illustrating how thin liquidity, fragmented venues and limited arbitrage can push a tracking instrument far from the underlying stock's value.

The standoff comes as tokenized equities expand. The tokenized stock market has reached about $3.6 billion, and Citi has projected that $5.5 trillion of assets could be tokenized by 2030, including roughly $2.7 trillion of equities. How regulators respond to AMC's concerns may determine whether issuers gain a say over tokens that use their names and tickers.