That’s What I Call Ponzinomics
nymag.com
nymag.com
As a matter of fact, it sort of is. Look up Cede & Co and the Depository Trust Co.
"While private-company stock is still directly owned by shareholders, nearly all publicly traded equities and a majority of bonds are owned by a little-known partnership, Cede & Co., which is the nominee of the Depository Trust Co., a depository that holds securities for some 600 broker-dealers and banks. For each security, Cede & Co. owns a master certificate known as the "global security," which never leaves its vault. Transactions are recorded as debits and credits to DTC members' securities accounts, but the registered owner of the securities — Cede & Co. — remains the same.
What shareholders have rather than direct ownership, then, "is a [contractual] right against their broker...The broker then has a right against the depository institution where they have membership. Then the depository institution is beholden to the issuer. It's [at least] a three-step process before you get any rights to your stock." -American Banker, July 27, 2016 [0]
Direct ownership of stocks is costly, slow and generally confers zero benefits.
Some random stock cults stumbled on it, and are now using it as a cult affirmation ritual, kind of like baptism. But it doesn't do anything
It's relevant.
"We have all been sold the fiction that when we buy a stock, we have become proud owners of a great American corporation. Our investment is funding that Company and America’s growth. This is not an accurate description. As I will show in this report, we are actually involved in commodity trading of street name securities in which the trading of and record keeping is completely controlled by DTCC and the elite Wall Street firms with no transparency for outsiders. Operating in this black hole of important information they use loopholes in the clearing and settlement system administered by DTCC and loopholes in the ineffective SHO regulations to create counterfeit shares at will. They can and do expand the supply of street name securities through creating counterfeit shares to overwhelm demand and drive down the stock price." [0]
[0] https://smithonstocks.com/part-8-illegal-naked-shorting-seri...
It is unfortunate that you lost money chasing after a short squeeze but no amount of conspiracism is going to bring your money back.
I don't participate in the stock market but this isn't about me anyway. It's about Wall St itself being a massive scam.