Moreover, because market participants commonly have partially or fully offsetting positions with multiple counterparties, a fully bilateral network is inefficient from a risk-management standpoint: Gains in the value of positions with one counterparty cannot be netted against losses in the value of positions with other counterparties.
Gift giving and communal living were central to Māori social structure and long distances meant that trade was often limited to smaller items of value such as pounamu.3 Transactions were typically either on the basis of giving or bartering where goods or services are exchanged for the promise of other or future goods and services.