Transferwise (http://transferwise.com) is sort of based on this - it matches up parties to massively reduce the cost of transferring money. I've used it a couple of times, and it worked very well, and saved me a significant amount of money.
It's how it worked in the 16th century when the Italian merchants began issuing Bills of Exchange which meant you no longer had to transport large chests of coins across dangerous territory. The Dutch later picked up on the idea and ran with it.
Honor can function both in a group of honest citizens and in a group of obdurate criminals. It's a game-theoretic trick raised to the level of virtue and it's independent of group morality.
Thanks for saying that. I guess I should have explained further.
Hawala is originally from middle-east and has distinct Islamic flavor to it. So I can understand why someone can find my comment offensive.
Hawala has a history of being used in nefarious activities in India so I know better. Black-marketing gold, traceless transfer of money for terrorist activities etc. Gangs have spawned over it and gangs have survived over it. Since it is also used for sending remittance from Saudi to South-Asia by labor/slaves who have their password taken away from them, it is still tolerated socially though not legally.
