Crypto Clearing vs. Settlement: What Happens After a Trade?
Not investment advice. Muhabbit scores how much a story may matter, not which way to trade.
Crypto market infrastructure still lacks a clean separation between clearing and settlement, leaving counterparty risk concentrated in the post-trade process. Netting reduces offsetting obligations and collateral backs performance, but neither step completes payment and delivery, so a trade is not truly final until assets actually move. The distinction matters because venues, custodians and stablecoin issuers each handle different parts of the workflow, and failures at any stage can leave traders exposed even after a position appears closed. Watch for growing adoption of onchain settlement rails and tokenized collateral, which could shorten the gap between execution and final transfer.
Muhabbit's AI wrote this summary in its own words from The Defiant's report. It can get details wrong, so check the source.