Well in the past ownership in shares were linked to pieces of paper. So moving everything around in a 1:1 relation with the real trades is annoying. Much easier

Well in the past ownership in shares were linked to pieces of paper. So moving everything around in a 1:1 relation with the real trades is annoying. Much easier to just move things in bulk at the end of the day. The ownership layer mechanisms are not ways to make more money, but ways to spend less money. It's like how if we're both using the same broker to buy/sell the same stock, the broker could just... Change his records and not actually do any trading. Though now some layers could be simplified, at one point they stop being middlemen and start being offerers of liquidity. Or something. Is your bank a middleman for mixing your dollars with other people's dollars?