Merchant of record: why an iPhone subscription earns AAPL

Here is a question that comes up early: "I subscribe to a streaming app through my iPhone. Why does that receipt earn Apple and not the streaming company?" The short answer: Apple is the one that charged you, and Apple is the one that signed the receipt.

What merchant of record means

The merchant of record is the company that legally sells to you and takes your payment. On the App Store that company is Apple, even when the app belongs to someone else. Apple collects the money, handles refunds and sends the receipt. Google plays the same role for purchases made through Google Play.

You can see it in your inbox: subscriptions bought inside an iPhone app arrive as receipts from Apple, not from the app's developer.

Why RECEIPT follows the signature

RECEIPT verifies each receipt with its DKIM signature, which is tied to the domain that sent it. That domain tells us, with cryptographic certainty, who billed you. Our brand registry maps each signing domain to a company and to its Stock Token. So the rule in version one is simple:

The company that signs your receipt is the company you collect.

The rule has two advantages. It is verifiable, because it rests on the signature rather than on our reading of product names. And it is predictable: you can tell in advance what a receipt will earn by looking at who sent it.

A few examples

• A subscription bought inside an iPhone app and billed by the App Store: AAPL.
• iCloud+, Apple Music or an Apple Store order: AAPL.
• A purchase through Google Play, or YouTube Premium: GOOGL.
• An Amazon order: AMZN.
• Xbox Game Pass or Microsoft 365: MSFT.
• A Starlink bill: SPCX.

The same product can land on different tickers depending on where you paid for it. A subscription paid on the web directly to its maker follows that maker, if the maker is in the registry. The same subscription paid through the App Store follows Apple.

What if a brand isn't in the registry?

The registry only lists companies whose Stock Tokens Robinhood issues, and only once they pass our checks on price and liquidity. Several well-known brands have no Stock Token on Robinhood Chain today, so their own receipts can't earn their stock. When Robinhood adds new tickers to its asset registry, the matching brands can be added without changing the product.

Whether other verified receipts should earn a smaller reward in an index Stock Token is still an open decision. We will say so clearly once it is made.

Where this could go next

Merchant of record is the rule for version one because it is the one we can prove. Later, once receipt parsing is reliable enough, we may add product rules on top, for example a bonus for a specific game on any store during its launch event. Those rules would add to the base reward, never replace the signature check.

The collecting angle

Because each receipt maps to a company, your receipts slowly build a collection. Everyday Apple and Amazon receipts come often; a Starlink bill is rarer. Sets such as Big Tech reward you for covering several companies. The merchant-of-record rule keeps that collection honest: every card in it comes from a receipt that a real company signed.