So, with electronic trading, there is no logical need for agents or brokers. If I have shares of Apple, and my brother-in-law wants some, a simple transaction at Apple itself could accomplish that. Nobody but Apple needs to know anything about it.

Or, actually, they don’t need to know either. If their shares were a blockchain, my brother-in-law and I could transact our business in entire secrecy if we wanted too.

But we can’t have that, because insider trading would be hidden.

So what would ensure fairness? Is it even possible or will it always be rigged somewhere?