Yeah, but we're thinking of systems where nanoseconds matter.
MiFID 2 alone forces sub-μs precision. Million times less than the leap 1 second.
NTP minute away is good for displaying date on the workstation, not for many of the devices that are critical to the modern world.
MiFID 2 does not require nanosecond accuracy. It's something like 100 microseconds in the strictest case.
Some MiFID reports require microsecond or perhaps nanosecond precision, but that's really just a formatting requirement "please write your timestamps with six figures after the decimal point."
I said, quote "MiFID 2 alone forces sub-μs precision", and not that it "requires nanoseconds accuracy". Put the strawman away.
It's not "something like 100μs", it's 100 times less: 1μs.
From a convenient QA:
> Algorithmic and high-frequency trading (HFT) firms must timestamp to 1 microsecond (μs) accuracy, synchronized to UTC. For venues and systematic internalisers executing algorithmic strategies, this microsecond-level precision is non-negotiable. Other investment firms trading on venues must achieve 1 millisecond (ms) accuracy.
No, precision means actually precision, not a length of a number.
dont most systems that rely on sharp timing simply manage it themselves.
Yesno.
Sure they have their own time servers fed from the GPS, but they need to be _accurate_ in relation to the world.
But timestamps used by companies forced to use very accurate timing must be synchronised to UTC.