Digital Assets Glossary & World Atlas
Plain-language definitions for the records, rights, data, custody, settlement, tokenization, RWA, and news concepts used across DigitalAssetsWorld.com.
A–Z reference
Terms should lead to better questions
Definitions describe the concept without assuming that every product using the term has the same rights, controls, or risk.
- Address
- A network-specific identifier used to receive assets or interact with a contract. An address does not by itself prove a real-world identity.
- Allowlist
- A controlled list of approved wallets, users, counterparties, or assets permitted to perform a defined action.
- Asset tokenization
- The representation of value, rights, or ownership information on a programmable digital ledger.
- Atomic settlement
- A design in which linked transaction legs complete together or do not complete, reducing the risk that one side settles alone.
- Block
- A network data structure containing transactions or state updates accepted under the chain's consensus rules.
- Bridge
- Infrastructure that communicates or moves representations of value between networks, often adding smart-contract, validator, custody, or messaging risk.
- Canonical identifier
- A stable internal key used to distinguish an asset, network, contract, market, or entity independently of display names and ticker symbols.
- Cold storage
- A custody arrangement that keeps signing capability offline or highly isolated; the label does not replace a review of the actual controls.
- Confirmation
- Evidence that a transaction has been included and followed by additional chain progress; the relationship to finality depends on the network.
- Custody
- The technology, legal arrangement, and operations used to control assets, authorize transfers, maintain records, and recover from failure.
- Delivery versus payment
- A settlement approach that coordinates delivery of an asset with the corresponding payment.
- Digital asset
- A digitally recorded item of value, rights, access, identity, or ownership that can be controlled, transferred, or verified through software.
- Finality
- The point or condition at which a transaction is treated as irreversible under a network or settlement system's rules.
- Fungible token
- A token designed so units are interchangeable under the product's rules, though different contracts or networks may still represent different claims.
- Gas or network fee
- The amount paid to process a transaction or computation on a network, usually denominated in the network's fee asset.
- Governance token
- A token used to propose, vote on, or signal changes; practical control depends on voting rules, concentration, delegation, and administrative powers.
- Indexer
- Software that reads ledger data, decodes events, derives application state, and stores it in a queryable form.
- Mint
- The controlled creation or issuance of new token units according to a smart contract or ledger's rules.
- Multisignature
- A control requiring multiple authorized signatures under a defined threshold before an action can execute.
- Net asset value
- A calculated value of assets minus liabilities for a fund or vehicle, normally determined under stated valuation rules and at stated times.
- Non-fungible token
- A uniquely identified token whose units are not intended to be interchangeable; associated media or rights may live outside the token.
- Onchain
- Processed or recorded directly on a blockchain or similar distributed ledger.
- Oracle
- A mechanism or service that supplies a smart contract or ledger system with data originating outside its native state.
- Private key
- Secret cryptographic material used to authorize signatures. Legal ownership and key control may be held by different parties.
- Proof of reserves
- Evidence intended to show assets supporting liabilities or customer balances; scope, timing, liabilities, custody, and assurance method determine usefulness.
- Real-world asset (RWA)
- A token or digital record connected to an offchain asset, cash flow, legal right, institution, registry, borrower, custodian, or servicer.
- Reconciliation
- The process of comparing records, balances, transactions, and supporting evidence to identify and resolve differences.
- Redemption
- The process by which a holder exchanges a token or unit for cash, another asset, delivery, or cancellation under defined terms.
- Smart contract
- Program code deployed to a ledger that executes defined state changes when its conditions and permissions are met.
- Stablecoin
- A digital asset designed to maintain a reference value through reserves, collateral, redemption, incentives, or another stabilization mechanism.
- Tokenized deposit
- A digital representation or transfer mechanism for a deposit liability of a bank, subject to the structure and rules of the issuing institution.
- Tokenized fund
- A fund interest represented or distributed through a token or programmable ledger while retaining the fund's underlying legal and operational structure.
- Transaction hash
- A network-specific identifier for a submitted transaction; status and finality must be checked separately.
- Transfer restriction
- A rule limiting who may transfer or receive an asset, when, where, or under which eligibility conditions.
- Wallet
- Software, hardware, or a service that manages addresses, signing credentials, transaction construction, and interaction with networks.
- WebSocket
- A persistent bidirectional communications protocol commonly used to stream real-time data between a server and client.
- Wrapped token
- A tokenized representation of another asset, often created to make that asset usable in a different contract system or network.
Turn the glossary into a diligence map.
Use the Digital Assets, Tokenization, RWA, and API portals to connect each term to an operating lifecycle and a set of testable questions.