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When we trade, we trust that these central parties will do their job - to provide us liquidity, safeguard our assets, and ensure we can access our money when we need to. If you don't trust the centralized market owners, you don't participate.

In exchange for this service, we traders pay transaction costs in the form of commissions, market data fees, clearing fees, and sometimes wide bid/ask spreads. The central system profits mightily off these fees & controls most of its pricing.

Sometimes centralized market structure breaks down. The DTCC can slow down clearing of GameStop stock. Market makers can blow up when they implement buggy code. Exchanges can raise margin requirements & turn away customers.

When you hear the word "Smart Contract", think souped up crypto code. NFTs exist because of smart contracts - souped up crypto code can link ownership of something to a coin & allows that coin to be traded freely. Like a Michael Jordan GIF or an autographed tweet.

Here's where automated market makers come in. AMMs are smart contracts that allow the formation of liquidity pools (LPs). Anyone can contribute coins to this LP and become their own market maker, and traders can access liquidity the LPs provide in return for a small fee.

AMMs are a radical concept - I think of it as YouTube for liquidity. YouTube democratized video content - ANYONE can upload a video & be seen by the world. AMMs democratize liquidity provision - ANYONE can contribute to an LP and grease the wheels of market structure.