Cromwell Coulson

CEO of OTC Markets Group OTCQX:OTCM/@OTCMarkets I like open networks, solving problems with better data & intermediaries that add value. *Opinions are my own.

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Be a Capitalist!

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Letting the Free Markets Be Free @SECPaulSAtkins & @JamesJMoloney great discussion on the renovation and restomod of @SECGov regulations to modernize the capital formation engines America's public markets https://t.co/l1n1oZPCyt

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Not surprising. Public markets utility today is more about the visibility, trust, currency, and of course,liquidity for existing investors/insiders, than a big capital raise on the day of the IPO. And once a public company establishes a track record, of positive results and management hitting targets, more capital can be raised at better prices using ATMs and secondaries.

[Bill Brewster @BillBrewsterTBB]

The 👑 @BobRobotti

Great stories, and lessons, on this one

https://t.co/t9CKxAUEBA

[Carlos Domingo @carlosdomingo]

Great article from @cromwellc the CEO of @OTCMarkets (largest ATS in the US) breaking down the different paths to tokenization of public equities, from the issuer led model (direct ownership rights that live on the blockchain, what we do), to the tokenized receipts (not holding the actual shares but a receipt) to what he calls the financial engineering approach that some crypto companies do creating SPW wrappers, IOUs and swap derivatives that he rigtly so expresses concerns about it and asks regulators to look at it "With these tokenized financial products, that chain of risk can become long and tangled. Their opacity opens the door to information asymmetries, undisclosed fees, and fraudsters."
https://t.co/Ycq2h68NUK

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Dark trading is a silly diversion. Better to focus on the levers that the UK government controls. First problem that you and your fellow elected officials can solve, UK pensions now have the highest allocation to bonds and lowest allocation to equities of any comparable pension system in the world. Which results in the lowest domestic pension ownership of UK equities for any major economy. Capitalism works best when citizens own shares in their country’s companies. Second problem to fix,the UK's 0.5% Stamp Duty Reserve Tax (SDRT) on stock market trades, where competing countries have none. Capital goes where it is treated best.

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

@gary_weiss @nytimes Not like the days when Floyd Norris shined a thoughtful and well researched light on the stock market fads, phenomenons and fraudsters. (As did you)

[Compounding Quality @QCompounding]

“Sound stocks bought at sound prices are always good investments.” – Benjamin Graham

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

@trengriffin Most of the missing names merged with bigger firms or bought by banks.

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

“There has never been a better time and place to be alive than in the United States today. We will focus on economics below, as that is our expertise,” #happy4th #sharewithyourkids by @CliffordAsness https://t.co/E7daxNIyL7?

[Cato CMFA @CatoCMFA]

Last week, @JenniferJSchulp was joined by @cromwellc, @gerryhays, @KarenKerrigan, Alex Platt, Amy Reischauer, and Joel Trotter.

They discussed the issues businesses face when raising capital and solutions to bring businesses and investors together. https://t.co/pWOV48DvME

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

@TheStalwart If partners at GS saw value in the ipo day pop, you probably should as well

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

@rettwallace For companies that don’t need capital, we need to lower the burdens and expand the advantages of being public. That said, it is about leveling the playing field between being private and public.

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

"Chief candidates for the agency’s attention are 1) designing clear rules of the road for the crypto industry and 2) improving the rules that govern capital formation — smoothing the pathways for small businesses to raise capital and for growing businesses to access the public markets."

[Jennifer J. Schulp @jenniferjschulp]

Paul Atkins was confirmed last night by the Senate as the next Chairman of the SEC. 👏

The SEC’s acting leadership has been off to a good start, but Atkins still will have his work cut out for him in bringing the agency back on mission.
https://t.co/2YpKvBSkUr

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

@rettwallace https://t.co/T56uL8X3oI

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Lots of good reasons to invest in well managed private assets, however this is not one. If marks are not based on firm public prices available to be seen and hit by competition, investing based on the lower volatility makes investors the mark. Madoff knew that marketing slide well.

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Important speech on unleashing opportunity. He may not have the read @mattwridley on how Innovation happen, he clearly gets the key concepts.

[signüll @signulll]

can you imagine tim walz delivering this speech?

america has this uncanny ability to surface & select the inevitable individuals when history demands it.

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

This is an important problem to solve if we want to make public markets more useful for capital raising. A regulatory framework that sends public companies to sell shares at a large discount to public prices is not the answer.
Which is a key problem for smaller public companies that need growth capital (Note: based on reverse split activity, the bulk of toxic financings are taking place on exchanges today).

You cannot grow a more bountiful garden with more weed killer. So rather than find more and more blockers of types of bad deals, our Securities Laws can offer an alternative. Efficient, lower cost, less complex access to capital that is connected to public market prices is the goal.
So thoughtfully expanding the value of at-the-market (ATM) offerings to seasoned, smaller public companies through Reg A+ is important (with tailored limits and governance).
If smaller companies can sell directly into the market, the market prices will be more efficient, and public capital will be cheaper.
Sunlight can help as well. Let's look to create better transparency of discounted private issuance and share provenance, then investors and brokers can make informed decisions.
A health dose of SEC suspensions (not many in the last regime) when promoters or other players are manipulating markets (with a fair and transparent process to become trading again) and appropriate enforcement actions for managements that clearly mislead investors while selling securities. https://t.co/tEcvsR34vi

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Small Company Capital Formation is back on the SEC Agenda!

[Cromwell Coulson @cromwellc]

Capital formation and competitive markets now spoken here.