Key Takeaways:
- Historical Parallel: Dream Exchange draws a parallel between historical information delays and the modern structural gap in capital access for diverse and small businesses.
- Market Structure Contraction: Since 1996, the total number of publicly listed U.S. equities has contracted by approximately 50%, increasingly shifting early-stage capital formation into private markets and restricting opportunities for broader middle-class market participation.
- The Solution: Dream Exchange supports the passage of the proposed Main Street Growth Act to authorize venture exchanges, which are intended to provide a regulated capital formation environment and secondary market liquidity for emerging companies driving the AI revolution.
CHICAGO, June 19, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — As the nation prepares to observe Juneteenth, Dream Exchange reflects on the profound distance our society has come since the end of the Civil War. Historically, communicating a milestone as momentous as the Emancipation Proclamation to the nation took months. This delay was caused by the limited state of long-distance information transmission at the time.
We have come a long way in both regards, but a modern parallel remains. We are still plagued by structural barriers to critical resources. Today, vast swaths of our community—particularly minority-owned businesses—lack the access to capital that is required to fully participate in the current digital revolution driven by artificial intelligence (AI) and supercomputing. The urgency of this issue is underscored by market structure data: since 1996, the number of publicly-traded companies in the United States has declined by nearly 50%. This trend has effectively shifted much of early-stage corporate growth into private markets, structurally limiting everyday investors’ ability to participate.
These technological advances are fundamentally changing the workplace and the broader macroeconomic landscape. Small businesses now possess the ability to accomplish significantly more with fewer employees. Furthermore, the ability to invest in the early-stage companies leading this technological charge is a critical component of ensuring that the public capital markets is available to all, where future generations of investors may seek opportunities to participate in value creation.
To address these market structure disparities, Dream Exchange is championing the creation of venture exchanges through the enactment of legislation similar to the previously proposed Main Street Growth Act. If enacted, this regulated marketplace model is designed to improve capital allocation and address the access issue by:
- Expanding Market Participation: Seeking to provide a regulated, transparent environment where every day retail investors can evaluate and potentially participate in the growth of early-stage, emerging companies.
- Supporting Innovation and Capital Formation: Facilitating secondary market liquidity and the flow of vital capital to the small and mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are leading the AI and tech revolution.
- Fostering Financial Inclusion: Aiming to cultivate a public marketplace that is accessible to minority-owned and veteran-owned businesses that have historically faced structural barriers within traditional venture capital networks.
“Our mission is to cultivate a marketplace where accomplishments determine success, and every person has the chance to advance our shared prosperity,” said Dwain Kyles, Managing Member of DX Capital Partners, LLC.
It is for these reasons that the Dream Exchange and its idea of a venture exchange ecosystem remain steadfastly committed to working alongside partners to educate and support our youth and our entrepreneurs. Understanding financial literacy—and the mechanisms of capital allocation to advance personal and business goals—is paramount. Creating sustainable, regulated pathways to the resources that make these advances possible is critical to our shared economic success.
About Dream Exchange
Dream Exchange will be re-filing its Form 1 application with the Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking registration as a national securities exchange and authority to be a marketplace that facilitates the trading of securities in the national market system. While it builds its registered stock exchange and develops the necessary infrastructure, it will also focus on providing an “on-ramp” for small to mid-sized companies (where minority entrepreneurs heavily populate the small business sector in the US) to access the public markets once legislation like the Main Street Growth Act is enacted into law and venture exchanges are created. Learn more at www.dreamex.com.
Media Contact
Robert Todd, PR Manager, Dream Exchange
773-914-1182
