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> This is why not only does your broker not hold your stocks for you, they also tell the holding company who owns them.

Are you sure about that?

I believe modern common practice in the US and many other countries is for the stock to be held by the depository in the brokerage name (which is referred to as "street name" ownership), and only the brokerage to have customer-level records.

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lesuorac 13 hours ago | parent [-]

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/185.asp

> That doesn't mean the investor doesn't own the securities it bought. It's just a formality. As part of the process, the broker will assign all ownership rights to the investor by registering the client as the beneficial owner.

There was a quip about this in one of the moneystuff or bitsaboutmoney but not too sure which one.

	▲	lxgr 11 hours ago \| parent [-]
		You definitely do own them in a legal sense, but in a bookkeeping sense, there is a very real difference between the depository and your broker maintaining ownership records. Legal ownership is what makes your claims worth anything in a court of law, and protects them against those of other creditors, but without proper bookkeeping, you have no evidence a court could even consider.