Tokenized Stocks Debate Escalates into Industry Argument

The debate over tokenized stocks has escalated into a broader argument about which model should become the standard, with several companies weighing in on the issue.

At the center of the dispute are three competing models: Robinhood's stock tokens, Ondo's custodial tokens, and Securitize's issuer-sponsored tokens. According to Uniswap founder Hayden Adams, these instruments are 'pretty similar' to early stablecoins, but with programmability and other benefits.

Hayden Adams compared the tokenized stocks to early stablecoins on Friday, hours after Dinari co-founder Gabriel Otte called them 'indisputably worse for the end investor than even common stocks.'

The debate has been sparked by a dispute between AMC Entertainment Chief Executive Adam Aron and Robinhood over tokenized AMC shares. The SEC's Division of Corporation Finance mapped the three categories in a statement on January 28, and the model determines which securities laws apply and what a holder can claim in bankruptcy.

The models differ in what the holder actually owns. Robinhood's stock tokens are debt securities issued by an unregulated Jersey entity that pay economic exposure and confer no claim on the referenced company. Ondo holds the underlying shares through regulated intermediaries and passes the economics through, while Securitize puts a company's own registered shares onchain.

The SEC has already sorted them into separate legal boxes, with tokenized stocks holding $2.91 billion, up 14.4% in 30 days across 2.67 million holders.