Sandy Sandfort says Me>> |>> Oddly enough, an e$ certification scheme reverses that paradigm. The book |>> entries disapear, the certificates proliferate, and the clearinghouse |>> becomes a referee, "blessing" the trade.
I don't think so. The book entries still exist. The book is the only place securities ever really exist. E$ certificates--and even physical certificates--are nothing more than receipts evidencing ownership as defined by the book entry. Remember, securities are "intangible" assets by definition. (Ditto for dollars, yen, pounds and francs, by the way.)
Well, yes. You're right. In a sense. However, in this scenario, it is possible for the clearing house to operate more like a, since "referee" didn't work before, how about "notary", with an official cc: to the security's issuer. The issuer could keep books, if it was important (as Perry said a while back, the Feds would have to have a "confirm", so someone would keep records of the transaction). Of course, the parties to the trade could keep their books, too. On the other hand, if, like those famous asian anonymous equity markets we heard about (from Eric?) there's no recording requirement (assume a frictionless waterbed <g>), very interesting things can happen. All the new owners of the security care about is the ability to sell it later, or collect interest from the payer of any interest, etc. All the sellers want is cash. My contention is that the sellers can get cash in a market by presenting the e$-based certificate. Cashing out interest "coupons" from the issuer happens in the same fashion. Perry had a point a while back. This is cryptography based, but not cryptography, and most c-punks are probably skipping this thread. I'm *really* interested in this stuff, and will talk to all comers about it, off-line. A couple of people have already sent me e-mail to start the ball rolling... Thanks, Bob Hettinga ----------------- Robert Hettinga (rah@shipwright.com) "There is no difference between someone Shipwright Development Corporation who eats too little and sees Heaven and 44 Farquhar Street someone who drinks too much and sees Boston, MA 02331 USA snakes." -- Bertrand Russell (617) 323-7923