ABSTRACT
In this chapter we discuss three applications of cryptography to the mechanisms of financial transactions. The first topic is a scheme to communicate risks in an investment portfolio. The second topic is a mechanism for designing a cryptographic securities exchange with a semi-private order book. The final topic is an alternative crossing system with investment banks bidding to clear balance portfolios. The idea of using cryptography to communicate portfolio risks is due to Szydlo in [11] and the notion of a cryptographic exchange is due to Thorpe and Parkes [12]. The alternative trading system of Thorpe and Parkes which reveals risk characteristics of a remainder portfolio is proposed in [13].
