Reference
Glossary
Every term you will meet on this site and most you will meet elsewhere, defined in one sentence a beginner can read and then explained properly. Where a term is routinely misunderstood, the entry says how.
Consensus & Security 22Cryptography 8Custody & Access 15Data & Measurement 27DeFi 17Foundations 20Institutional Access 13Market Structure 28Regulation & Policy 19Risk & Failure Modes 23Scaling & Infrastructure 18Stablecoins 13Tokens & Supply 37
13 terms shown
| Term | Category | In one sentence |
|---|---|---|
| Algorithmic Stablecoin | Stablecoins | A stablecoin that attempts to keep its value through supply rules and trading incentives rather than by holding reserves. |
| Crypto-Collateralized Stablecoin | Stablecoins | A stablecoin created by locking volatile digital assets in a contract at a value greater than the tokens issued against them. |
| Depeg | Stablecoins | When a stablecoin trades away from the value it is designed to track, such as below one dollar. |
| Fiat-Backed Stablecoin | Stablecoins | A stablecoin whose issuer states that it holds cash and short-term government debt at least equal to the tokens in circulation. |
| Payment Rail | Stablecoins | The underlying network that actually moves value between parties, such as card networks, bank transfer systems, or a blockchain. |
| Real-World Asset | Stablecoins | An off-chain asset such as a government bill, a loan, or property whose ownership or economic exposure is represented by a token. |
| Redemption | Stablecoins | Returning a token to its issuer in exchange for the asset it represents, such as receiving dollars for a stablecoin. |
| Remittance | Stablecoins | A cross-border transfer of money from a person working in one country to a recipient in another, usually family. |
| Reserve Attestation | Stablecoins | A report by an accounting firm confirming what an issuer's reserves held on a specific date, based largely on information the issuer supplied. |
| Reserve Audit | Stablecoins | A full external examination of an issuer's financial statements, broader and more demanding than a point-in-time reserve attestation. |
| Stablecoin | Stablecoins | A digital token designed to keep a steady value, usually one unit per dollar, so it can be used for payments and trading. |
| Tokenization | Stablecoins | Recording ownership of, or a claim on, something as transferable entries on a blockchain. |
| Tokenized Money Market Fund | Stablecoins | Shares in a regulated fund holding short-term government debt, recorded as tokens on a blockchain instead of only in a registrar's ledger. |