{"dataset":"glossary","api_version":"v1","schema_version":"1.1.0","schema_url":"https://blockchains.github.io/blockchainlab-api/v1/schemas/glossary.schema.json","description":"Plain-language blockchain glossary from blockchainlab.com (concepts, protocol profiles, failure classes, stack layers).","generated_at":"2026-10-05T10:30:39.023Z","source":"blockchainlab.com/learn/glossary","source_url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/glossary","built_by":"Blockchain Lab — https://blockchainlab.com","licence_note":"Data belongs to the named source; check its terms before reuse. Attribute the source and Blockchain Lab.","count":80,"data":[{"kind":"concept","slug":"blockchain","term":"Blockchain","definition":"A chain of blocks of transactions, each block committing to the one before it.","detail":"A blockchain is a replicated log. Changing an old entry means rebuilding every later commitment, in public, against everyone else who has the log. It does not, by itself, create legal title, identify a person, or make a price.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/blockchain?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"distributed-ledger","term":"Distributed ledger","definition":"A shared record more than one party keeps. A blockchain is one design for that record.","detail":"Not every shared database is a blockchain. The useful question is who is allowed to write, and what happens when two honest copies disagree.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/distributed-ledger?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"hash","term":"Hash","definition":"A short fingerprint of a longer input. The same input always gives the same fingerprint. A small change gives a different one.","detail":"Hashes chain blocks together and commit to a set of transactions. They do not hide the input if the input is short or guessable.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/hash?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"merkle-tree","term":"Merkle tree","definition":"A tree of hashes, so a small proof can show that one item sat inside a large set.","detail":"Light clients use this to check inclusion without storing every transaction. The proof says the item was committed. It does not say the item was true in the world.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/merkle-tree?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"public-key","term":"Public key","definition":"A key you can publish. Other people use it to check a signature or to derive an address.","detail":"Publishing it does not let them spend. Losing the matching private key usually means losing the ability to authorise.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/public-key?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"private-key","term":"Private key","definition":"The secret that authorises a signature. Whoever can use it can act as that key.","detail":"Custody is the question of who can use this secret, under what policy, and what happens when a person or a device is gone.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/private-key?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"wallet","term":"Wallet","definition":"Software or hardware that holds keys and builds transactions. The assets stay on the ledger.","detail":"A wallet is not an account at a bank unless a custodian sits behind it. A watch-only wallet holds no key and cannot spend.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/wallet?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"custody","term":"Custody","definition":"Who can move the asset, and under what rule.","detail":"Self-custody means the holder controls the keys. Third-party custody means someone else can move them, usually under a contract and a policy. Blockchain Lab does not hold customer assets.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/custody?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"mpc","term":"MPC","definition":"Multi-party computation: a signature made by several parties without any one of them holding the whole key.","detail":"It changes the failure mode from one stolen file to a threshold of parties. It does not remove the need for a policy, a recovery path, or a vendor you can sue.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/mpc?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"multisig","term":"Multi-signature","definition":"A rule that more than one key must sign before a spend.","detail":"The rule is visible on some chains and hidden inside a contract or a vendor on others. Read where the rule actually lives.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/multisig?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"hsm","term":"HSM","definition":"A hardware security module: a device that holds key material and performs signing inside a boundary.","detail":"An HSM is a control, not a strategy. You still need who may ask it to sign, and what happens if the device or the operator fails.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/hsm?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"consensus","term":"Consensus","definition":"How a network chooses one history when more than one is possible.","detail":"Different papers answer different questions: open membership, a known validator set, or random sampling. The paper and the live network can diverge.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/consensus?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"proof-of-work","term":"Proof of work","definition":"The right to propose a block is bought with computation that anyone can check.","detail":"The cost is energy and hardware. The security claim is that rewriting history costs more than it pays, not that rewriting is impossible.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/proof-of-work?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"proof-of-stake","term":"Proof of stake","definition":"The right to propose or vote is tied to an asset that can be penalised.","detail":"Stake can be concentrated, delegated, or locked. A yield figure is not the security argument.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/proof-of-stake?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"finality","term":"Finality","definition":"The point after which a block is not expected to be replaced.","detail":"Probabilistic finality means the chance falls over time. Deterministic finality means a quorum has voted. A product should say which one it means.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/finality?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"smart-contract","term":"Smart contract","definition":"A program the ledger will run, with the result written into the shared state.","detail":"It is not a contract a court has read. If the code and the legal agreement disagree, you have two systems, not one.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/smart-contract?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"virtual-machine","term":"Virtual machine","definition":"The rules for how contract code executes and how it is metered.","detail":"Two chains can both say smart contract and still be unable to run each other's code.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/virtual-machine?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"oracle","term":"Oracle","definition":"A bridge from a fact outside the chain to a value inside it.","detail":"The chain can check the signature. It cannot check the world. The committee, the sensor, or the exchange that signed is the trust assumption.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/oracle?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"bridge","term":"Bridge","definition":"A mechanism that lets an asset or a message be represented on another system.","detail":"Many bridges are a set of keys that lock value on one side and issue a claim on the other. The risk is those keys, the code, and the time between the two.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/bridge?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"rollup","term":"Rollup","definition":"Execution happens off the base chain. A proof or a challenge window connects the result back.","detail":"Ask whether the transaction data is published, who can force an exit, and how long a challenge takes.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/rollup?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"data-availability","term":"Data availability","definition":"Whether the contents of a block were actually published, not just the header.","detail":"If the data was withheld, users may be unable to check the state or exit. Scaling designs split on this point.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/data-availability?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"zero-knowledge","term":"Zero-knowledge proof","definition":"A proof that a statement is true without revealing why, beyond what the statement itself says.","detail":"The proof can hide an amount or a path. It does not hide the fact that a proof was posted, and it does not make a false statement true.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/zero-knowledge?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"stablecoin","term":"Stablecoin","definition":"A token that aims to track a reference unit, usually a currency.","detail":"The mechanism matters: reserves held by an issuer, collateral in a vault, or a design that depends on another token of the same system. Those are not the same risk.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/stablecoin?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"tokenised-deposit","term":"Tokenised deposit","definition":"A bank deposit represented as a token, still a claim on that bank.","detail":"It is not a stablecoin and not a CBDC. The holder has the bank's credit risk, plus whatever the token system adds or removes.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/tokenised-deposit?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"cbdc","term":"CBDC","definition":"A central-bank liability in digital form, if and when that central bank issues one.","detail":"A white paper or a pilot is not an issuance. Retail and wholesale designs serve different users.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/cbdc?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"rwa","term":"Real-world asset","definition":"A token that claims to track an asset or a cashflow that exists off the ledger.","detail":"The token does not create the asset. Title, custody of the asset, and who gets paid when it defaults live in law and in operations.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/rwa?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"tokenisation","term":"Tokenisation","definition":"Representing a defined claim as a transferable record.","detail":"It does not create liquidity, title, or a market. Those are separate work.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/tokenisation?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"validator","term":"Validator","definition":"A node allowed to propose or vote on blocks under the protocol's rule.","detail":"Running one is an operations problem: keys, uptime, clients, jurisdiction, and what the protocol does if you are offline or dishonest.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/validator?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"liquid-staking","term":"Liquid staking","definition":"A receipt token for stake that has been delegated, so the receipt can move while the stake stays locked.","detail":"You now have the protocol's risk and the receipt issuer's risk. The receipt can trade away from the stake it claims.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/liquid-staking?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"restaking","term":"Restaking","definition":"Using the same stake, or a receipt for it, as security for an additional service.","detail":"The extra yield is payment for extra conditions under which the stake can be penalised. Read those conditions.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/restaking?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"slashing","term":"Slashing","definition":"A penalty that destroys or confiscates stake when a validator breaks a stated rule.","detail":"Honest downtime and provable double-signing are different faults. A product should say which one it is pricing.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/slashing?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"depin","term":"DePIN","definition":"A network that pays operators for a physical service: coverage, storage, energy, sensors.","detail":"A proof that a device did something is not a proof that a customer needed it. Demand is a separate fact from the reward function.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/depin?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"verifiable-credential","term":"Verifiable credential","definition":"A signed statement about a subject, which the subject can present later without the issuer being online.","detail":"It is not a passport scan on a public chain. The useful design keeps the evidence off the public log.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/verifiable-credential?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"kyb","term":"KYB","definition":"Know your business: evidence of who owns and controls a company, collected before you rely on it.","detail":"Putting that file on a public chain is usually the wrong design. The record can commit to a check without publishing the documents.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/kyb?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"did","term":"Decentralised identifier","definition":"An identifier a subject can prove control of, without a single registry being the only issuer.","detail":"The method matters. A DID that only works if one vendor's server is up is a brand, not a property.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/did?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"agent-wallet","term":"Agent wallet","definition":"A key or an account that software may use, inside a budget and a policy set by a person or a firm.","detail":"An agent without a limit, a log, and a way to stop it is not a product. It is an open tap.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/agent-wallet?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"settlement","term":"Settlement","definition":"The moment an obligation is discharged, not the moment a message is sent.","detail":"A chain confirmation and legal settlement can be different times. Say which one the product means.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/settlement?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"amm","term":"Automated market maker","definition":"A pool that quotes a price from a formula and its balances, instead of from an order book.","detail":"The formula is the mechanism. It is not a view about the future price, and liquidity providers can lose to that formula.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/amm?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"collateral","term":"Collateral","definition":"Assets pledged so that a debt can be repaid if the borrower does not pay.","detail":"The useful questions are the haircut, who can seize, how fast, and what the asset is worth when everyone wants out.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/collateral?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"peg","term":"Peg","definition":"A promise or a mechanism that aims to keep a price near a reference.","detail":"A peg held by redeemable reserves is a different object from a peg held by arbitrage against the system's own token.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/peg?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"light-client","term":"Light client","definition":"Software that checks a chain by headers and proofs, without replaying every transaction.","detail":"Its security is the honesty of the header chain and the completeness of the proof. It is not a full node.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/light-client?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"mev","term":"MEV","definition":"Value that can be extracted by choosing the order of transactions, or by inserting around them.","detail":"It is a property of a public mempool and a leader who orders the block. It is not a strategy this site recommends.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/mev?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"account-abstraction","term":"Account abstraction","definition":"Letting an account's validation rule be code, rather than a single signature.","detail":"It can add recovery and spending limits. It can also add a dependency on a contract that can be upgraded.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/account-abstraction?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"gas","term":"Gas","definition":"A meter for computation and storage, paid so that a program cannot run forever for free.","detail":"A fee market is not a business model. It is how the network rations a shared machine.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/gas?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"concept","slug":"atomic-swap","term":"Atomic swap","definition":"An exchange of two assets where either both transfers complete or neither does.","detail":"The atomicity is a property of the protocol, usually a hash lock and a timeout. It is not a promise about the price.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/concepts/atomic-swap?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"bitcoin","term":"Bitcoin","definition":"A payment ledger without a bank, ordered by proof of work.","detail":"The 2008 paper is a timestamp server for cash. The live network is larger than the paper and is not this page. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/bitcoin?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"ethereum","term":"Ethereum","definition":"A shared machine for programs, not only for payments.","detail":"The paper proposes a general computer. What that computer is allowed to do today is a later system. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/ethereum?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"ouroboros","term":"Ouroboros","definition":"Proof of stake divided into slots, with a snapshot of stake.","detail":"The paper is the stake and slot design. Cardano is a later network. Do not treat them as one object. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/ouroboros?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"tendermint","term":"Tendermint","definition":"A known validator set and a two-thirds quorum.","detail":"Finality here is a vote, not a fading probability. The set of voters is the security assumption. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/tendermint?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"avalanche","term":"Avalanche","definition":"Repeated random sampling instead of a full quorum on every round.","detail":"The paper's claim is about samples. A live deployment still has parameters, clients, and operators. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/avalanche?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"algorand","term":"Algorand","definition":"A sampled committee, chosen so the members do not know in time to be bribed.","detail":"The cryptographic sortition is the idea. The network's later governance is a separate fact. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/algorand?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"solana","term":"Solana","definition":"A clock, a leader schedule, and a pipeline for transactions.","detail":"The paper is about throughput under that clock. Outages and client bugs are operating facts, not in the proof. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/solana?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"polkadot","term":"Polkadot","definition":"A relay that checks many chains, rather than one chain that does every job.","detail":"Shared security is the offer. The cost is the relay's own assumptions and capacity. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/polkadot?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"cosmos","term":"Cosmos","definition":"Sovereign chains that pass messages, each with its own validator set.","detail":"Interoperability here does not mean one set of validators for everyone. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/cosmos?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"lightning","term":"Lightning","definition":"Payment channels. The base chain is the court, not the till.","detail":"Most transfers are meant to stay off-chain. The chain matters when a party cheats or leaves. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/lightning?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"arbitrum","term":"Arbitrum","definition":"Execution asserted off-chain, with a window in which a fraud proof can challenge it.","detail":"The design is an assertion and a challenge. Data publication and who may challenge are the questions to keep. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/arbitrum?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"uniswap","term":"Uniswap","definition":"A constant-product pool as a market maker.","detail":"The curve is a formula. Using it, or providing liquidity to it, is not a recommendation from this page. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/uniswap?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"maker","term":"Maker","definition":"Collateral, a stability fee, an auction, and a shutdown.","detail":"This is a vault design. It is not a promise that the peg holds. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/maker?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"chainlink","term":"Chainlink","definition":"A named committee that signs a value from off-chain.","detail":"The chain checks the signatures. The committee is still the oracle. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/chainlink?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"protocol","slug":"filecoin","term":"Filecoin","definition":"A market that pays storage providers who can prove they still hold the bytes.","detail":"A proof of storage is not a proof that a user can fetch a useful file on time. Compare it on the same questions as the others: who may produce a block, when it is final, what is published, and the smallest coalition that can break the claim.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/protocols/filecoin?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"terra-ust","term":"Terra and the UST peg","definition":"A peg that depended on arbitrage against the system's own token.","detail":"UST was designed to hold a dollar peg by expanding and contracting LUNA. In May 2022 the peg broke and the mechanism that was supposed to restore it increased the supply of the token it leaned on. This page is a design lesson. It is not a full legal or market reconstruction, and it is not a trading history.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/terra-ust?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"diem","term":"Diem","definition":"A proposed currency and wallet system that did not launch as designed.","detail":"Diem, earlier called Libra, was a permissioned design with a reserve and a known set of members. It faced regulatory opposition and did not become a public payments network. The association later wound the project down. A careful design and a licence are different facts. This page records the second.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/diem?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"bridges","term":"Bridge and key failures","definition":"When the thing that fails is the set of keys between two chains.","detail":"A common bridge locks an asset on one chain and issues a representation on another. The signers of that lock are the custodian. Public post-mortems of bridge losses, including Ronin and Wormhole in 2022, turn on keys, signing thresholds, or verification code. The amounts and the blame belong to those primary write-ups, which this page does not replace. A diagram of interoperability is not a control.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/bridges?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"oracles","term":"Oracle failures","definition":"A correct contract on a false price is a false result.","detail":"Lending and stablecoin systems often ask an oracle whether collateral is sufficient. If the price is stale, thin, or pushed, the health check follows the price. The fix is not a slogan about decentralisation. It is the source, the quorum, the delay, and what the system does when the oracle stops.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/oracles?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"governance","term":"Governance capture","definition":"A vote is a mechanism. It is not a guarantee of a good decision.","detail":"Token voting concentrates with the tokens. Delegation concentrates with whoever people delegate to. A treasury, a parameter, or an upgrade key that a small set can move is a governance surface, whether or not the word DAO is used. This page does not pick a scandal. It names the shape of the failure.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/governance?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"incentives","term":"Incentive designs that pay for a proxy","definition":"A reward for a measurable stand-in, not for the service a customer wanted.","detail":"Helium's coverage proof can be satisfied by radios that hear each other. Hearing is not the same as useful paid traffic. Any DePIN or mining design that pays for a proxy will be farmed at the proxy. Read the reward function before you read the map of devices.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/incentives?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"undercollateralisation","term":"Under-collateralised designs","definition":"A liability that is larger than the assets that can actually be sold.","detail":"If redemptions depend on selling the system's own token into a falling market, the defence and the crash are the same trade. Collateral that is correlated with the debt is weaker collateral, whatever the dashboard says on a quiet day.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/undercollateralisation?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"smart-contract-exploits","term":"Smart-contract failures","definition":"The code did what it was written to do, including the bug.","detail":"Common classes: re-entrancy, broken access control, oracle assumptions, upgrade keys, and integer or accounting errors. An audit is a review, not a certificate. This site does not certify implementations.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/smart-contract-exploits?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"privacy-limits","term":"Privacy tools that did not hide what users thought","definition":"Hiding one field and leaking another.","detail":"Some designs hide amounts and leave the graph. Some hide the graph and leave the fact of a transaction. Some depend on a trusted setup or on users who reuse behaviour. A privacy paper should be read for the exact property it claims, then checked against how people actually used it.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/privacy-limits?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"failure","slug":"abandoned-pilots","term":"Abandoned enterprise pilots","definition":"A pilot that proved a demo and not an operating system.","detail":"Many enterprise ledger pilots stopped because the database, the legal agreement, or the existing network was enough. Stopping is a result. A historic page on this site that described the pilot is history, not a current offer.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/learn/failures/abandoned-pilots?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"issuance","term":"Issuance and tokenisation","definition":"Who is allowed to create the record, and what claim it is allowed to represent.","detail":"Name the asset, the issuer, and the legal document. A token without those is a technical object, not a product.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/issuance?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"registry","term":"Registry and ownership","definition":"The list of who holds the claim, and who is allowed to change the list.","detail":"On-chain balances are one registry. A transfer agent or a company register may be the one the law recognises. Say which one wins.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/registry?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"wallet-custody","term":"Wallet and custody","definition":"Where the keys live, and the policy that lets them sign.","detail":"Self-custody, MPC, multisig, HSM, and a qualified custodian are different operating models. This layer does not hold assets for the reader.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/wallet-custody?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"identity","term":"Identity, KYC and KYB","definition":"Evidence that a person or a business is who the policy requires, kept where it can be challenged and deleted.","detail":"Do not put passport scans or ownership charts on a public chain. Commit to a check. Store the file somewhere else.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/identity?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"settlement","term":"Payment and settlement","definition":"How an obligation is actually discharged.","detail":"A message, a confirmation, and legal finality can be three times. Stablecoins, deposits, and ordinary rails are options, not a ladder of virtue.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/settlement?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"oracles","term":"Data and oracles","definition":"How an off-chain fact enters the system, and what happens when it is wrong or late.","detail":"Name the source, the signers, the heartbeat, and the fallback. A missing fallback is a design, not an oversight to discover in production.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/oracles?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"security","term":"Security and monitoring","definition":"Who watches the keys, the code, the admin role, and the money leaving.","detail":"Monitoring is an operating function. An audit PDF is not a monitor.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/security?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"compliance","term":"Compliance and policy","definition":"The rules the system will refuse to break, written so an operator can follow them.","detail":"This page is not legal advice and not a statement that any product is licensed.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/compliance?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"reporting","term":"Reporting and accounting","definition":"How positions, fees, and events become books and records.","detail":"If the ledger and the general ledger disagree, the finance team does not have a system yet.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/reporting?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"},{"kind":"layer","slug":"operations","term":"Operations and governance","definition":"Who can pause, upgrade, reverse, or shut the system down, and how that person is replaced.","detail":"A system with no operator is often a system whose operator is hidden.","url":"https://blockchainlab.com/intelligence/stack/operations?utm_source=github&utm_medium=open-data-api&utm_campaign=blockchainlab-api"}]}