Apr. 20, 2022
Please accept my heartfelt greetings to whomever it may concern. The idea outlined above is terribly short-sighted and will only serve to further alienate a growing number of individual investors from US markets. Whether the large Wall Street firms/other financial intermediaries that fight for rules like this like it or not, there is an increasing number of individual investors becoming more financially savvy both within and outside the US. The truth is that rule proposals like this, which seek to make financial markets less transparent, will no longer be tolerated without a severe loss of faith in market regulators like the SEC. Retail investors like myself make financial decisions based on publicly available data in the hopes of improving our financial situation and attempting to get ahead in life. When the SEC takes such a firm stance, it demonstrates that you are siding with people who already have an insurmountable edge, which is really upsetting to witness. How long before a large percentage of the American/international community withdraws their capital from your markets in search of a more fair and equitable means to build their capital? With the advent of developing technologies, the writing is on the wall, and I believe I can speak for many like-minded people when I say that there are enough of us to succeed, with or without the help of regulating organizations like yours. To that end, I strongly urge the SEC to reject this plan so that it can show its tax-paying citizens and supporting overseas investors like myself that it is on the right side of history. We want more openness, not complicated backdoor solutions that let bad actors avoid their moral, fiduciary, and ethical obligations as market participants. I'm sure most people who work for and represent the SEC hold the same opinion and are as upset by such plainly one-sided recommendations. Please take a step back on this. Yours faithfully, An overseas investor.