ie a time delay between two "legs" of a barter exchange.

1/ I accept your IOU against value now.

That is the first "leg" of a split barter transaction.

2/ I then exchange your IOU for something of value from Migeru.

That is the second leg of the "split barter" transaction.

This all takes place within a "monetary system" which requires a "Value Unit" and a legal framework, and of course also some means of guaranteeing performance in respect of IOU's...

We currently achieve money/split barter by accepting Bank issued IOU's as "Value" (when in fact they are claims over Value or "anti-Value"), and in fact banks' economic function is as "guarantee providers".

These implicit Bank guarantees are not backed 100% by Value = "money's worth" (as yours and mine are - ours are ultimately backed by our earning power, or by something we "own"). They are actually backed by maybe 8% of "Value"= Capital which is an "in-house", or proprietary "default fund", the extent and nature of which is set by banking regulators - the BIS in Basel.

I don't think Banks as credit intermediaries are either necessary (the internet allows us to bypass them) or sustainable (compound interest on money created as debt is mathematically unsustainable).

If we can back a mutual guarantee with a provision into a mutually owned (held by a "custodian") "default fund" the result is Banking without the Bank as credit intermediary.

But that will actually be great for the Bank because, in this model, a bank operates without putting its capital at risk. It is now a pure service provider managing the creation of credit by setting "guarantee limits", rather than "credit limits", and also handling the necessary accounting system and "default fund" held by the Custodian.