Of course you're right. I was well aware at the time of posting this that they weren't certifying ownership of actual shares in these companies. It was a combination of laziness and realizing that anyone requiring such a detailed explanation was really not qualified for the discussion.

That aside, I'm with you. I think it's ridiculous how much control the various regulating bodies have over what trades/ services/ etc are allowed between two or more agreeing parties. I can see some pros to enforcing such stringent laws (most of them having to do with protecting the ridiculously stupid from suffering the full breadth of their own ignorance), but I believe that they're FAR outweighed by the cons, and what happened with 1Broker is just another example (of many millions) of the latter.