So why not just buy the shares? The only possible reason to sell them is to allow yourself to print shares you don’t own and scam people.

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jbm 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Not a crypto person, but is it a situation where one may have crypto and wants to invest it without converting it to USD/CAD/JPY/etc.. and paying taxes on it?

	▲	IanCal 2 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		Certainly in the UK, but probably in many places, conversion of any kind triggers capital gains tax.
	▲	nostrademons 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		You still have to pay capital gains taxes on direct crypto->crypto transactions.

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onefiftymike 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I'm assuming that, like most crypto, the benefits are for the exchange. They don't have to purchase any Microsoft stock. They can just sell virtual stock, invest the crypto in whatever they want, and only have to pay back when people actually want to sell it. And like the fractional reserve system, they hope that only a small fraction want out at any given time.

Microsoft loses because all of that investment activity does nothing to help their valuation, but the middlemen in the crypto market take their share on each transaction.

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littlecranky67 an hour ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Shares should simply just be tokens. Why do we have that complex systems where shares can only be traded by regulated entities (brokers) and only be traded during certain times? If a share is a token, the holder of the token will be entitled to the same rights such as dividends collection and voting in the shareholder meeting. No need for brokerage accounts, I can trade my shares 24/7 and transfer it to whomever I want. Paying 2-5$ fees on trades seem backwards this day and age.

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orthogonal_cube an hour ago | parent [-]

> Why do we have that complex systems where shares can only be traded by regulated entities (brokers)

Because it safeguards against fraud and tax evasion.

> Paying 2-5$ fees on trades seem backwards this day and age.

Many brokerages don’t charge for buying or selling stock. They make their money elsewhere, likely with contracts on calls/puts. But to your point, having to pay a variable rate fee for moving my Ethereum from one wallet I own to another wallet I own also seems silly. I’m certain though that in both cases the charges cover the maintenance costs to keep the platform going. Everything comes at a cost.

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littlecranky67 32 minutes ago | parent [-]

I didn't say anything about decentralized blockchain or anonymous tokens. We could have a kyc process and a single centralized blockchain run by the stock exchange, which only settles transactions to kyc customers - fraud prevention and tax evasion applies.

The real-time trading independent of brokerages, the free information flow of trading volume/direction etc. all benefits and a true, real free market. Right now we have mountain of unneeded intermediaries, that sit and cash in on the data and access.

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RandomLensman 19 minutes ago | parent [-]

Would you expect exchanges to permit everyone to trade directly? How would you police the consequences of, for example, no entry policing? How would you want to police requirements if everyone is on the exchange or some venue (e.g., around algorithms)?

But complexities of any new system aside, what is an example of a cashing in of an unneeded example in terms of an activity?

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littlecranky67 10 minutes ago | parent [-]

You public key is registered with a kyc progress. Transactions (transfer of shares) is only settled when all parties have a kyc-verified key. Again, centralized chain (proof of authority). Any and all transactions can be reversed and changed by the regulator if needed. The main difference over today is, you have a open, access-to-all (after kyc) and no intermediaries.

Examples for cashing in: payment for order flow (was recently banned in the EU). They litterally sold their trading data of retail clients for money.

Not sure how you think brokers make money, but they get kickbacks from market makers and fund providers, or simply higher spreads. No one works for free.

	▲	RandomLensman 2 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		You want transactions to be easily reversible? Payment for order: what data was sold (or do you mean the orders as data)? You mean broker as in a pure broker, not broker-dealer? What about policing algorithms, for example? Who'd do that and how? Who provides liquidity? Just natural supply and demand?

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cgio 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Minor benefits around clearing and settlement, but these allow for 24/7 even if the clearing house is not so. On the other hand, I don’t see how they should be able to block it. It is a derivative product, can MSFT block e.g. puts on its stock? Stock ownership gives rights, not obligations.

	▲	IanCal 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The other thing would be using it in any other automated whatever that accepts tokens with the same interface. Loans, escrow, trades, whatever it is that someone has built. There's a lot of technical and other issues with blockchains, but framed as "a single shared database that allows stored procedures and shared data types, with no central owner" I'd hope devs here could see something interesting to mess about with there. If it wasn't for the fact that "a currency" is absurdly easy to make and then there was a lot of quick money to be made or lost, I think it'd be liked more as an odd shared network. If nothing else, there's some interesting programming challenges involved given the compute limits.

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jgilias 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

There’s many countries around the globe where buying US shares is either impossible or prohibitively expensive. Also composability in DeFi protocols.

For the issuer, same playbook on how stables issuers print money - you get cash that you can put into treasuries to earn “free” yield on. Works as long as rates aren’t zero.

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spwa4 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Because you're under sanctions? Because you're really investing drug money? Because ...

I say that so definitive because there is no reason at all to do this other than avoiding the existing banking system.

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DANmode 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Why are paper certificates for shares no longer used?