Imagine a world where a party could buy or sell currencies at the market rate, and get their hands on the cash in close to real time without having wait for the trade to settle two days later. Settlement and counterparty risk would be close to zero and funding costs would be slashed. Fewer intermediaries would mean simpler – and potentially cheaper – transactions.

This is the golden future envisioned by the proponents of on-chain foreign exchange, where parties would exchange digital currencies