How do these stock exchanges work?

[prof7bit]

This might be a dumb question but I wonder how does this work:

Say for example there are two different exchanges (for example bitfunder and btct, these two I have found accidentally through some quick google search, lets call them A and B) and a company XYZ has issued a number of nnn shares in total and they are traded on both exchanges.

* how do (some of) these shares initially end up at A or B where the investors can buy them

* If I buy 100*XYZ at A, can I move them to B and sell them at B (or can I completely take them home with me and/or sell them elsewhere/offline or here in the forum (I have seen at least one thread here where they traded ASICMINER shares here in the forum and at the same time I also see ASICMINER shares being traded at aforementioned exchanges A and B)?

* who keeps track of who owns how many shares (globally because there (should) exist only nnn of them), is there some global registry, what if some exchange decides to sell more shares than they have? Is there some established protocol that solves the double-spending problem for these shares that all these exchanges implement? How does this work?

* Is there a list of such exchanges?

[1714935854]

1714935854

[1714935854]

1714935854

[1714935854]

1714935854

[1714935854]

1714935854

[kakobrekla]

Here is a place to start and prolly end.

http://bitcoin-assets.com/

[Deprived]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-listed_company

It is just that they choose to be listed on both exchanges. The company keeps track of the shares.

That's a decent guess but wrong.

All the ones listed on both exchanges are NOT dual listings.  For many the underlying asset is actually not listed on either - and the listings on them are pass-throughs.  So they're actually funds backed by shares of the underlying asset and shares in them are NOT shares in the underlying asset itself (the managers pass-through the benefits from the underlying asset).

There's NO share that's dual listed on both BTC.CO and Bitfunder (there's three that are listed on BTC.CO and have pass-throughs to them on Bitfunder).  There's one I can think of that is dual-listed, but it's on BTC.CO and LTC-Global.  Rest are either listed on MPEx, Listed on BTC.CO (with a pass-though on Bitfunder) or not listed anywhere (ASICMINER).

A pass-through is NOT the same as a dual-listing, as investors in pass-throughs have ZERO rights, entitlements or claims directly on the underlying asset.  So, for example, if the manager of the pass-through vanishes you have zero rights to anything from the underlieing asset.  And you may well have to pay a premium to buy in and only receive part of dividends.

[MPOE-PR]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-listed_company

It is just that they choose to be listed on both exchanges. The company keeps track of the shares.

That's a decent guess but wrong.

All the ones listed on both exchanges are NOT dual listings.  For many the underlying asset is actually not listed on either - and the listings on them are pass-throughs.  So they're actually funds backed by shares of the underlying asset and shares in them are NOT shares in the underlying asset itself (the managers pass-through the benefits from the underlying asset).

There's NO share that's dual listed on both BTC.CO and Bitfunder (there's three that are listed on BTC.CO and have pass-throughs to them on Bitfunder).  There's one I can think of that is dual-listed, but it's on BTC.CO and LTC-Global.  Rest are either listed on MPEx, Listed on BTC.CO (with a pass-though on Bitfunder) or not listed anywhere (ASICMINER).

A pass-through is NOT the same as a dual-listing, as investors in pass-throughs have ZERO rights, entitlements or claims directly on the underlying asset.  So, for example, if the manager of the pass-through vanishes you have zero rights to anything from the underlieing asset.  And you may well have to pay a premium to buy in and only receive part of dividends.

I was going to post but then Deprived happened.

[Peter Lambert]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dual-listed_company

It is just that they choose to be listed on both exchanges. The company keeps track of the shares.

That's a decent guess but wrong.

All the ones listed on both exchanges are NOT dual listings.  For many the underlying asset is actually not listed on either - and the listings on them are pass-throughs.  So they're actually funds backed by shares of the underlying asset and shares in them are NOT shares in the underlying asset itself (the managers pass-through the benefits from the underlying asset).

There's NO share that's dual listed on both BTC.CO and Bitfunder (there's three that are listed on BTC.CO and have pass-throughs to them on Bitfunder).  There's one I can think of that is dual-listed, but it's on BTC.CO and LTC-Global.  Rest are either listed on MPEx, Listed on BTC.CO (with a pass-though on Bitfunder) or not listed anywhere (ASICMINER).

A pass-through is NOT the same as a dual-listing, as investors in pass-throughs have ZERO rights, entitlements or claims directly on the underlying asset.  So, for example, if the manager of the pass-through vanishes you have zero rights to anything from the underlieing asset.  And you may well have to pay a premium to buy in and only receive part of dividends.

ESECURITYSABTC is dual listed on BTCT.co and cryptostocks.com and on ltc-global, but I think they are the only exception. The rest are pass-throughs like you describe.