Blockchains can play an important role in the disintermediation of financial systems. Most financial systems today include a number of middlemen and organizations that facilitate the smooth working of the entire ecosystem. Obviously, this means placing your trust with these intermediary players, and believing that they will not try to carry out any fraudulent activity, or relay incorrect information to you. This chapter is an example of a system that attempts to reduce the number of middlemen and authorities in the existing model, in order to build a faster and more transparent system. A decentralized trading exchange is one where the orderbook is not controlled by a central authority.
As the name suggests, the entire trading process is decentralized, meaning it is without a central authority or organization to facilitate the trades. Removing a...