SWAP, AND WHY
IT IS HARD TO RECORD.

Being built

A swap moves goods between owners without cash. It is the oldest form of commerce and the hardest to record fairly, because there is no price to point at — which is exactly why the record matters more here than anywhere else.

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What to know

No price, still a transaction

Both parties receive value and both may have tax and accounting consequences. A barter that leaves no record is a transaction nobody can account for, which is a problem for the participants rather than for GRAJ.

Valuation has to be agreed

Somebody has to say what each side was worth, and the moment to do that is before the exchange rather than after. Recording an agreed value is what makes the swap assessable at all.

It matters most where cash is scarce

Swap is not a novelty in markets with limited liquidity or currency controls — it is how a great deal of real trade happens. Excluding it from the record excludes those participants from having one.

Status

Designed, not built. Recorded here as intent, with the valuation problem stated rather than glossed, because it is the part that has to be right.

Where to go next

WHAT HAPPENS AFTER IT SELLS.

A sale is normally where the record ends.

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HOW VALUE MOVES WITHOUT BANKS.

Hawala is a settlement system older than banking that moves value between countries without moving money.

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TRADE-IN.

A trade-in is two transactions pretending to be one: acquiring a used item at a price and selling a new one at another.

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