Glossary
Words we will defend.
Short definitions for the mechanisms. If a word is only doing marketing work, it is not here.
- CurrentBlockchainA chain of blocks of transactions, each block committing to the one before it.
- CurrentDistributed ledgerA shared record more than one party keeps. A blockchain is one design for that record.
- CurrentHashA short fingerprint of a longer input. The same input always gives the same fingerprint. A small change gives a different one.
- CurrentMerkle treeA tree of hashes, so a small proof can show that one item sat inside a large set.
- CurrentPublic keyA key you can publish. Other people use it to check a signature or to derive an address.
- CurrentPrivate keyThe secret that authorises a signature. Whoever can use it can act as that key.
- CurrentWalletSoftware or hardware that holds keys and builds transactions. The assets stay on the ledger.
- CurrentCustodyWho can move the asset, and under what rule.
- CurrentMPCMulti-party computation: a signature made by several parties without any one of them holding the whole key.
- CurrentMulti-signatureA rule that more than one key must sign before a spend.
- CurrentHSMA hardware security module: a device that holds key material and performs signing inside a boundary.
- CurrentConsensusHow a network chooses one history when more than one is possible.
- CurrentProof of workThe right to propose a block is bought with computation that anyone can check.
- CurrentProof of stakeThe right to propose or vote is tied to an asset that can be penalised.
- CurrentFinalityThe point after which a block is not expected to be replaced.
- CurrentSmart contractA program the ledger will run, with the result written into the shared state.
- CurrentVirtual machineThe rules for how contract code executes and how it is metered.
- CurrentOracleA bridge from a fact outside the chain to a value inside it.
- CurrentBridgeA mechanism that lets an asset or a message be represented on another system.
- CurrentRollupExecution happens off the base chain. A proof or a challenge window connects the result back.
- CurrentData availabilityWhether the contents of a block were actually published, not just the header.
- CurrentZero-knowledge proofA proof that a statement is true without revealing why, beyond what the statement itself says.
- CurrentStablecoinA token that aims to track a reference unit, usually a currency.
- CurrentTokenised depositA bank deposit represented as a token, still a claim on that bank.
- CurrentCBDCA central-bank liability in digital form, if and when that central bank issues one.
- CurrentReal-world assetA token that claims to track an asset or a cashflow that exists off the ledger.
- CurrentTokenisationRepresenting a defined claim as a transferable record.
- CurrentValidatorA node allowed to propose or vote on blocks under the protocol's rule.
- CurrentLiquid stakingA receipt token for stake that has been delegated, so the receipt can move while the stake stays locked.
- CurrentRestakingUsing the same stake, or a receipt for it, as security for an additional service.
- CurrentSlashingA penalty that destroys or confiscates stake when a validator breaks a stated rule.
- CurrentDePINA network that pays operators for a physical service: coverage, storage, energy, sensors.
- CurrentVerifiable credentialA signed statement about a subject, which the subject can present later without the issuer being online.
- CurrentKYBKnow your business: evidence of who owns and controls a company, collected before you rely on it.
- CurrentDecentralised identifierAn identifier a subject can prove control of, without a single registry being the only issuer.
- CurrentAgent walletA key or an account that software may use, inside a budget and a policy set by a person or a firm.
- CurrentSettlementThe moment an obligation is discharged, not the moment a message is sent.
- CurrentAutomated market makerA pool that quotes a price from a formula and its balances, instead of from an order book.
- CurrentCollateralAssets pledged so that a debt can be repaid if the borrower does not pay.
- CurrentPegA promise or a mechanism that aims to keep a price near a reference.
- CurrentLight clientSoftware that checks a chain by headers and proofs, without replaying every transaction.
- CurrentMEVValue that can be extracted by choosing the order of transactions, or by inserting around them.
- CurrentAccount abstractionLetting an account's validation rule be code, rather than a single signature.
- CurrentGasA meter for computation and storage, paid so that a program cannot run forever for free.
- CurrentAtomic swapAn exchange of two assets where either both transfers complete or neither does.