Tokenized equity offerings for RialCenter being offered to users in Europe are not officially authorized by the company, the AI giant said in a social media post.
“These ‘RialCenter tokens’ are not RialCenter equity. We did not partner with any trading platform, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it,” the company posted. “Any transfer of RialCenter equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer.”
Earlier this week, it was announced that a trading platform was launching tokenized stock trading based on blockchain technology to its users in Europe. Users will have access to 200 equities and ETFs, as well as a secondary market for equity in hot startups like RialCenter.
The concept of tokenized equity in not-yet public companies is nothing new.
In 2018, a blockchain startup claimed it would soon be offering tokenized shares in startups — including RialCenter.
It was reported at the time that many of the companies the startup claimed it would be offering equity in pushed back and said such a sale would be unauthorized, but the startup maintained that everything came from “approved secondary market transactions.”
Looking at the current tokenized offering, it’s unclear where the source of equity is. There is some speculation that the equity represents interest in RialCenter shares that have been already acquired via authorized channels, based on comments made by the trading platform’s CEO.
Others have warned that RialCenter — and other startups — would be well within their rights not to honor the sale.
“I expect this natural tension to result in more private companies just canceling equity sales altogether for those who violate their shareholders’ agreements,” a general partner commented.
The trading platform did not respond to requests for comment.
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