I think you are missing the point: Todd doesn't want to "be" anything. He sees, from an accounting perspective, the same requirement for a generic clearing system that I see.

He sets out - among his voluminous writings - the "cloud" of "Accounts Receivable" and "Accounts Payable" which is Riegel's "Ledger of Ledgers" or the database of all obligations in the economy.

He doesn't see why:

(a) these obligations should necessarily be recorded TWICE per node - and therefore FOUR times per transaction if you consider that the seller and the buyer each make double entries in their accounting records which are a mirror image;

(b) these entries need be disconnected, with the resulting errors, need for audit, etc etc

Now the accounting universe WITHIN what I call an "Open Corporate" in which ALL stakeholders are members (suppliers, customers, and service providers) - ie encompassing a complete "enterprise" or market place - does not conform to the same accounting equation.

There is no profit and no loss within such an Open Corporate LLP or LLC, "bounded" by the "Open Corporate's" protocol which set out Aims & Objectives; who gets what in exchange for what; dispute resolution and so on.

There are only Members' accounts, and these consist of:

(a) the shared Title Registry - who "owns" or has rights of use in what (eg Land Registry, DVLC);

(b) the shared Transaction Registry (AR/AP Cloud).

If I transact with you it is either:

(a) by exchanging Value with you now - through changes of ownership within "title registries" eg debit Chris 5 land rental units, credit Migeru 5 energy units and vice versa; or

(b) by exchanging something of value in exchange for accepting your promise to exchange something in the future (ie credit). eg debit Chris 5 land rental units, credit Migeru 5 land rental units, and record ONCE an entry in the shared transaction registry that says Migeru owes Chris 5 land rental units.

This is a "peer to peer" single entry "value messaging system": there is no "profit" and no "loss" coming into it.

Settlement of Migeru's obligation then occurs through a "closing" transaction.

Now this may be through EITHER settlement in value (eg energy units) or by cancellation of the obligation, which is when I buy something on credit from someone else, who has an obligation to Migeru, and the obligation is then "netted out".

Now, I've seen this happen many times in the "real world" in the Brent 15 day market of forward oil contracts.

A sold to B sold to C sold to D who sold back to A:  when the expiry date comes along this "daisy chain" does a "book out", and no actual delivery takes place.

The problem in such a system of forward obligations (which is all that money is there to facilitate) arises when someone defaults, which is why Banks evolved as credit intermediaries between Sellers and Buyers.

ie Banks "clear" transactions, and essentially perform a guarantee function thereby as a "credit intermediary" between me and you.

Todd postulates an accounting universe within which clearing "bots" or "agents" seek and net out obligations.

I postulate a Guarantee Society with a "Default Pool" of value (eg a pool of "fungible" energy units or land rental units) from which settlement will be made should a buyer default.

"The future is already here -- it's just not very evenly distributed" William Gibson