AMC CEO Calls Robinhood Stock Tokens 'Contemptible' and 'Vile'

In brief

• Adam Aron condemned Robinhood on Wednesday over tokens tracking AMC's share price.
• The AMC CEO said that the firm's outside securities counsel would "look into this."
• Robinhood's disclosures say the tokens are debt securities carrying no rights against AMC, and cannot reach U.S. buyers.

AMC Entertainment chief executive Adam Aron has condemned Robinhood for issuing tokens that track his company's share price without AMC's involvement, in a tweet on Wednesday.

Aron called the practice "contemptible, outrageous, disgusting, detestable, inexcusable, vile," said AMC has no connection to it and does not condone it, and asked how it could possibly be legal. He noted the tokens are not registered under U.S. securities laws, and said the company would instructing outside securities counsel to look into it "immediately." Robinhood's program covers more than 190 companies, he said.

Per Robinhood's own documentation, Stock Tokens are tokenized debt securities issued by Robinhood Assets (Jersey) Limited, and give holders economic exposure to a share price without any legal or beneficial rights in the underlying security or against the company that issued it. On that description, an AMC token holder has no claim on AMC at all.