Doesn’t that just mean the trading is done by a trusted third party? Fine until the third party goes belly up.

This is how most asset trading works, but outside of crypto these third parties are actually trustworthy

Well, one might argue they’re trusted to grift retail. The money firms make doesn’t come out of thin air. SEC is fairly toothless in this area.

> outside of crypto these third parties are actually trustworthy

With multiple layers of mutualised failsafes.

Don't forget meaningful regulations and legal requirements placed upon these parties

Yes, the exchanges are 3rd parties that could lose, and often do lose, the money

I thought the (noncrypto) financial exchanges made a very small amount of money on every trade.