The Trade in Six Steps
Initiate Payment Intent
Your treasury or payments team submits a payment intent: “Deliver 100,000 USDCx to Receiver Institution via their custodian.”The intent includes your KYC/AML clearance reference, jurisdiction codes (JP/KR), and optionally a maximum source amount the sender will pay (cost guard — your cap on the FX cost).TradFi parallel: Initiating a cross-border wire with your correspondent bank, except you’re specifying the exact terms upfront.
Market Makers Compete
Musubi broadcasts an anonymized Request for Quote (RFQ) to registered market makers. They see only the currency pair, amount, and deadline — not who you are or who you’re paying.Multiple market makers submit competing quotes with their offered FX rate, the USDCx amount they’ll deliver, and how long their quote is valid (typically 30 seconds).TradFi parallel: An electronic RFQ on a multi-dealer platform (like Tradeweb or Bloomberg RFQ), except the dealers never see your identity.
Best Execution Selection
You review the competing quotes and select the best one. Musubi validates that the selected quote meets your cost guard (if set).TradFi parallel: Best execution obligation — you’re selecting from competitive bids, with a documented audit trail of all quotes received.
Custodian Authorization
Your custodian co-signs the trade. This is a dual-authorization gate: you selected the quote, but your custodian must confirm before any assets move. Neither party can act alone.TradFi parallel: Treasury initiates the payment, operations confirms it. Same dual-control principle, enforced cryptographically rather than by procedure.
Atomic Settlement
Musubi executes a Delivery-vs-Payment (DvP) swap in a single transaction:
All four legs succeed atomically, or all four roll back. There is never a state where one side has delivered and the other hasn’t.TradFi parallel: CLS Bank’s Payment-vs-Payment (PvP) mechanism, where both currency legs settle simultaneously. The critical difference: CLS takes hours within its settlement window; this takes ~4 seconds.
| Leg | Movement |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your JPYSC0 moves from your custodian to Musubi |
| 2 | Market maker’s USDCx moves to Musubi |
| 3 | USDCx is delivered to the receiver’s custodian |
| 4 | JPYSC0 is delivered to the market maker |
Confirmation & Reconciliation
All parties receive a settlement confirmation with a single cryptographic transaction hash covering all four legs. This hash is your settlement proof for reconciliation and regulatory reporting.The receiver institution sees the settlement for the first time at this point — no pre-approval was needed, just like receiving a traditional wire.TradFi parallel: SWIFT MT103/MT202 confirmation, except the proof is cryptographic and covers the complete atomic transaction, not just your leg.
Correspondent Banking vs. Musubi
- Today: Correspondent Banking
- Musubi
Time: 1-3 business days | FX: Bank’s internal rate (opaque) | Risk: Herstatt risk | Proof: SWIFT messages at each hop
Timing
| Phase | Duration | What Happens |
|---|---|---|
| Intent to first quote | ~8 seconds | RFQ broadcast, market makers price and respond |
| Quote selection | ~3 seconds | You review, select, custodian authorizes |
| Atomic settlement | ~4 seconds | Four-leg DvP executes |
| Total | ~15 seconds | Order to settlement confirmation |
What Happens on Failure
If any leg of the atomic settlement fails, the entire transaction rolls back. No partial settlement is possible.| Scenario | Result |
|---|---|
| No market maker quotes before expiry | Order expires. No assets move. |
| Quote expires before settlement starts | Order expires. No assets move. |
| DvP transaction reverts during execution | All four legs roll back atomically. No assets move. |
| Market maker lacks sufficient liquidity | Settlement cannot proceed. Order fails. No assets move. |