June 26, 2023
I cannot believe that the SEC is considering giving derivative holders voting rights in a publicly traded company. I am strongly against this proposal and it should be extremely obvious as to why. Derivative holders are not beneficial owners of a reference equity. Plain and simple, the objectives of a derivative holder can be vastly different than that of a household investor who is investing in US regulated, companies that they support and believe in. Additionally the objectives of a derivative holder can be vastly different than that of a company trying to grow. These votes are incredibly critical to a company's success, and only shareholders of record should be allowed to vote. Those are the individuals that are invested in the equity, not people gambling on how an equity does. Can you imagine the conflict of interest a derivative gambler would have on voting for a company's board of directors? Or for a dividend? Get real here. SEC is supposed to protect household investors, let's see it. Please do not allow anyone except shareholders of record to vote. I personally don't care if its just \"certain\" derivative holders. It should only be shareholders of record. If derivative holders want to vote, they can buy shares and do so. Nothing is stopping that, we don't need to make it easier for gamblers to influence their bets. I am appalled that I have to take the time to comment on these rules when the rule would be so against the individual investors that the SEC is supposed to protect. The SEC should be ashamed to even be presenting or considering this rule.