If you’re used to posting on CEX order books or providing liquidity to AMM pools, the Musubi model is different: you respond to individual quote requests, not a continuous market. Think of it as quoting per-order rather than maintaining a book. The critical difference from anything you’ve done before: every request is fully anonymous.
How RFQs Arrive
When an institution submits a cross-border payment, Musubi broadcasts an anonymized quote request to all registered market makers. You receive:
| Field | Example | Description |
|---|
source_currency | JPYSC0 | What the sender is exchanging |
target_amount | 10,000,000 | How much |
target_currency | USDCx | What they want to receive |
expires_at | 5 minutes from creation | Deadline for quote submission |
Competitive Dynamics
Multiple market makers see the same request simultaneously. Each can submit a quote. The institution (with their custodian) selects the best one.
Selection criteria:
- Best rate — highest target amount for the given source amount
- Slippage guard — the institution may have set a maximum source amount the sender will pay. Quotes below this floor are automatically disqualified.
- Validity — the quote must still be valid (
valid_until not passed) at selection time
If your quote wins, you are notified. If another MM’s quote wins, yours is rejected. You never see the winning quote’s details.
Submitting a Quote
Your quote specifies three fields:
| Field | Description | Example |
|---|
fx_rate | Your offered exchange rate | "112.0" |
target_amount | USDCx you’ll deliver | "11200000" |
valid_until | How long your quote stands | 30 seconds from now |
target_amount should equal fx_rate * target_amount. Musubi validates this.
Validity window: You control how long your quote is valid via valid_until. Shorter windows reduce your risk exposure; longer windows give the institution more time to select. Typical: 30 seconds.
If market conditions change after you’ve submitted, you can withdraw a pending quote before it’s accepted. Once accepted, the quote is committed.
Quote Lifecycle
| Status | What It Means | What Happens Next |
|---|
| PENDING | Your quote is live, awaiting selection | Wait or withdraw |
| ACCEPTED | You won — your quote was selected | Settlement proceeds automatically |
| REJECTED | Another MM offered a better price | Nothing — no assets move |
| EXPIRED | Your valid_until passed without selection | Nothing — no assets move |
What You Never See
Anonymity is maintained throughout the entire lifecycle — before, during, and after settlement:
| Information | Visible to You? |
|---|
| Sender institution identity | Never |
| Receiver institution identity | Never |
| Sender’s custodian identity | Never |
| Receiver’s custodian identity | Never |
| KYC/AML compliance data | Never |
| Jurisdiction codes | Never |
| Other MMs’ quotes | Never |
| Other MMs’ win/loss | Never |
| Number of competing quotes | Never |
This level of anonymity is enforced at the settlement network protocol level, not by field masking. Your node physically does not receive this data — it is not transmitted to you.
Multiple Quotes
You can submit multiple quotes for the same request (e.g., to update your pricing as market conditions change). Each quote has its own quote_id and its own valid_until. All are evaluated independently at selection time. 
