Mar. 15, 2023
I do not support the risk-mitigating hedging activities, bona fide market making & certain liquidity commitments outlined in File No. S7-01-23. The proposed rule exempts non-reporting companies from registering certain securities offerings under the Securities Act, if they are exclusively sold to accredited investors. However, this exemption has significant flaws. The proposed rule inadequately protects household investors by reducing the information available to them. This lack of transparency makes it harder for them to make informed investment decisions, potentially leading to losses. The proposed rule could be exploited by manipulative hedge funds. These funds have a history of manipulative behavior in the securities market, and the exemption would offer them a new opportunity to engage in such practices. By limiting the exemption to accredited investors, hedge funds could create fake accredited investor accounts to conduct manipulative behavior outside of regulatory oversight. New rules should be proposed instead to increase the amount of transparency within the stock market to allow investors to make their own educated decisions. Because of the unreliability of market data, household investors are at a significant disadvantage to institutional investors because the data provided to household investors is unreliable and different at every source. The SEC should create rules and enforce rules that increase the amount of transparency in the market. Best, Eric Olsen Engineer