STA appreciates the Committee’s actions of holding three public virtual hearings on the market events in late January 2021 involving GameStop and other meme stocks. Public hearings serve an invaluable function by providing information useful in public policy decision making. STA believes that when new technologies disrupt current practices and investor behaviors, it is prudent and necessary for regulators and legislators to review the regulatory reporting regime to ensure that the SEC is achieving its core public policy goals of protecting investors, maintaining fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitating capital formation. STA agrees with Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gensler’s remarks that the policy issues raised by the market events in late January are bigger than those companies acutely involved. Like Chairman Gensler, we believe that the events were about the intersection of finance and technology.

Read the full letter here.