Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev argued that publicly listed companies cannot control every financial product created by third parties with reference to their shares, and that Robinhood’s stock tokens should not automatically require the issuing company’s consent.
In a 9th interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box, Tenev said that once a company goes public, its shareholders hold shares as transferable property, and other financial institutions should be able to create financial products referencing those shares without the issuer’s permission.
He explained that while a stock issuer has the authority to determine the rights and obligations attached to the shares it issues, it cannot control whether another company issues a separate security referencing those shares.
Tenev said Robinhood’s stock tokens are tokenized securities issued by a separate legal entity and backed by the underlying shares, so the issuing company’s consent cannot automatically be considered necessary. He acknowledged, however, that stock-token holders do not directly have voting rights in the underlying company.