"That’s right. You think you own securities in your brokerage account, but you don’t. A company you’ve probably never heard of, called Cede & Co., is the official owner of >99% of the securities outstanding in the U.S. What’s in your brokerage account is probably an I.O.U. See the fine print." https://caitlin-long.com/no-you-dont-really-own-your-securities/
They probably hold the stock certificates. As a kid my family use to hold some of the stock certificates...A total headache!! Holding that piece of paper was a problem; lost, stolen, forged, ect. We ended up turning them into the broker. What they did with them is any guess. The broker charged money (big money) to turn those in too. You can take position of your certificates...But it will cost you money. Big hassle...