Because personal information and transaction records are processed in one place, the central exchange becomes a single point of failure. Maintenance, malpractice, and outside attack cause funds to be locked-up or trading to stop altogether. When it comes to intangible assets—especially cryptoassets—this can mean your investments are lost forever. Why? Because handing over custody of the record means handing over the asset itself. Furthermore, access to exchanges is exclusive and constrained by geography. The result is siloed markets with restricted participation. Finding diverse liquidity requires traders jump from one exchange to another having to deposit, withdraw, and submit personal information over and over. Each time with fees, wait times, risk-of-error, and loss of custody. Until now, this model was the only option.