Blockchain Glossary

An attack where one entity or coalition controls enough consensus power to reorganize blocks, censor transactions, or attempt double spending.

An Application Binary Interface defines how external software encodes calls to and decodes results from a smart contract.

A widely used symmetric-key encryption algorithm for protecting data confidentiality.

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric-key block cipher algorithm established by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in 2001. It operates on fixed-size blocks of data, typically 128 bits, using key lengths of 128, 192, or 256 bits. AES utilizes a substitution-permutation network design, performing multiple rounds of transformation to convert plaintext into ciphertext, making it highly resilient against cryptanalysis. It is the global standard for securing sensitive data in transit and at rest.

Cryptography

Software that uses artificial intelligence to perceive information, make decisions, and perform actions toward defined objectives.

Methods for recording and verifying the origin, history, authorship, training context, or transformations of AI models and outputs.

An Automated Market Maker (AMM) is a type of decentralized exchange protocol that relies on a mathematical formula to price assets instead of using a traditional order book. In an AMM, assets are pooled into smart contracts, known as liquidity pools, where traders interact with the pool rather than a counterparty. This infrastructure enables continuous liquidity and automated trade execution, removing the need for intermediaries such as market makers or centralized exchanges in the pricing and settlement process.

DeFi

A defined set of methods and data formats that software uses to communicate with another application or service.

Rules determining which accounts or roles are authorized to call sensitive smart-contract functions.

In the context of blockchain architecture, an account is a persistent entity that holds a balance of native tokens, stores state data, and possesses an associated address derived from a public key. Unlike the UTXO model used by Bitcoin, account-based models—most notably used by Ethereum—track the current state of every participant, allowing for complex smart contract interactions. Accounts serve as the fundamental primitive for identity and value representation, enabling protocols to manage user assets and execution environments securely within the ledger.

Blockchain Fundamentals

A blockchain account design that uses programmable logic for authentication, recovery, fee payment, and transaction execution.

In blockchain, an address is a unique identifier derived from a public cryptographic key, acting as the destination for transactions. Similar to an IBAN in traditional banking, it allows users to receive digital assets. An address is typically a shortened hexadecimal string, generated by applying a hashing function to a public key. It functions as the public-facing identity of an account, ensuring that funds sent to it are only accessible to the entity possessing the corresponding private key.

Blockchain Fundamentals