CEO Vlad Tenev stated that Stock Tokens will offer a one-to-one exchange for real shares and voting rights, while head of the crypto division Johann Kerbra clarified that the exchange is already under development, and voting is planned.
The trigger was a statement by AMC CEO Adam Aron, who demanded an end to the issuance of stock tokens for his company’s shares, as the company had not approved them and token holders were not receiving shareholder rights.
Robinhood says each token is backed by a real share held in custody, but legally, these are synthetic instruments. The tokens are issued outside the U.S. through a subsidiary in Jersey and are structured as debt instruments. Holders receive an economic link to the share price but do not own the actual share itself and have no rights over it. Dividends, meanwhile, are not paid in cash but rather through an increase in the number of tokens.
Coinbase also promises to add voting rights; its one-to-one exchange for real shares and dividend payouts are already operational.
Criticism has not gone away. Securitize CEO Carlos Domingo stated that calling such products “stock tokens” misleads investors. He also doubts whether shareholder rights can be linked at all to tokens that freely circulate between wallets, where the identity and location of the ultimate holder remain unknown.