AMC Entertainment CEO calls Robinhood’s tokenized shares ‘contemptible’

AMC Entertainment CEO Adam Aron did not mince words. He called Robinhood’s decision to tokenize AMC shares “contemptible,” insisting the company had zero involvement in creating the product and never gave consent for it. The public broadside, delivered on September 3, 2026, sent AMC shares surging as much as 21% in premarket trading. Robinhood’s stock, meanwhile, drifted lower. What Aron is actually upset about Aron’s core complaint is straightforward: Robinhood’s tokenized AMC shares are not real AMC shares. They are structured as tokenized debt securities. That means buyers get price exposure to AMC’s stock movement, but they do not get voting rights, dividend entitlements, or any form of legal ownership in the company. Aron characterized the arrangement as creating a “quasi-fake market” where trading activity happens in a parallel universe, completely disconnected from AMC’s actual capital structure. He also raised the point that these tokens are not registered under US securities laws, a detail that could attract regulatory attention depending on how the SEC chooses to interpret the products. Robinhood’s expanding on-chain ambitions Robinhood launched its own blockchain, Robinh...