It costs something, yes. I think Vangaurd demonstrates how efficiently the whole system could run. Investors own the infrastructure, co-op style; Executives ru

It costs something, yes. I think Vangaurd demonstrates how efficiently the whole system could run. Investors own the infrastructure, co-op style; Executives running the exchanges could be more like Jack Bogle than Ken Griffin. Both were effectively IT executives doing finance and connecting buyers and sellers. One took a tiny salary, one is worth 9 billion. Of course market making is slightly different but is a middle man just like an exchange. Now that crypto exists, there are many blockchains that are federated and require a fraction of energy as bitcoin and are working very securely. Bitcoin is an exception to energy required and therefor not indicative of the real cost.