A host doesn't have to provide all functions for an exchange when other companies can provide community support, payment services or the like. Despite the potential efficiency gains, public exchanges face several significant hurdles to adoption, according to Nittler. One critical issue for an exchange is standards. To enable a variety of businesses to come together and participate in an exchange, the underlying standards need to be comprehensive and provide strong interoperability. Then there's security.
Potential participants worry about their competitive positions in the marketplace.
For companies to participate in public exchanges, they need rock-solid assurances that their intellectual property will be protected. Creating an exchange with a security system that protects a company's anonymity, while validating transaction participants, is difficult but possible. In addition, governance issues and unique process requirements for specific niche industries might slow down the adoption of large, public exchanges. Governments have concerns as well about collusion and price fixing. For example, Covisint had to go through a lengthy government-approval process in both the United States and Germany.