A model in a loop with tools: it proposes actions, a host carries them out and feeds back results, and the loop repeats until the model stops. Its reach is set by what is enabled, not by the model.
Glossary
Glossary
147 terms used across CryptoDecentral notes, each defined in plain English in 40 words or fewer, with links to the notes or pages that explain it and to the primary sources it was checked against.
Educational only. Not financial advice. Not an FSP/CASP. DYOR.
Corrections: info@cryptodecentral.co.za · JSON
147 terms
A
Signing on a device that never connects to a network, carrying unsigned and signed PSBTs across by QR code or memory card. It keeps keys off the online machine but cannot stop you approving a bad destination.
A smart contract that holds reserves of two assets and quotes swaps from a fixed formula over them, such as the constant product, instead of matching orders. Its quote is a reserve ratio, not anyone's decision.
The group of candidates an observer cannot tell apart for a given action. It can be smaller than the number named: statistically distinguishable ring members, a young pool, fees or timing all shrink it.
Signed evidence about what software is running on a device, such as a TEE, which a verifier appraises. A fresh nonce stops replay; a server saying verified is not proof until the evidence is checked against the hardware maker's keys.
A decentralised storage network where clients self-encrypt data into chunks and nodes store and replicate them by content address. Stored data is immutable and paid for once when written; reading needs no payment.
- Read: Post-Quantum Is a Layer, Not a Blanket: What Autonomi's PQC Actually Covers
- Read: Autonomi Without the Data Map Is Just Scattered Ciphertext
- Read: Autonomi Stores Immutable Chunks — Public Address vs Private DataMap
- See also: Self-encryption, Chunk (Autonomi), Pay-once storage
- Source: docs.autonomi.com, docs.autonomi.com
The token Autonomi's documentation names for paying storage writes, settled on an EVM network with network gas paid separately. Reading needs no token or wallet, and the paying wallet key cannot decrypt anything.
B
The network address a server listens on. Loopback, 127.0.0.1, accepts connections only from the same machine; 0.0.0.0 listens on every interface, so without authentication anyone who can reach the port can use the server.
- Read: Local Is Not Private: Who Else Can Reach Your Model Server
- See also: Ollama, llama.cpp, Trust boundary
- Source: github.com, github.com, docs.docker.com
An older Bitcoin message-signing format: a 65-byte signature whose header byte says which single-key address type signed. It cannot cover multisig, other scripts or Taproot, and BIP 322 now limits its legacy format to P2PKH.
The standard for hierarchical deterministic (HD) wallets: one seed becomes a tree of keys, each child derived from its parent key, a chain code and an index. That is why one backup can recreate every key in the tree.
DNS Payment Instructions: a bitcoin: payment URI, often holding a BOLT 12 offer, stored in a DNSSEC-signed TXT record for a name like user@domain. Wallets must check the signatures up to the DNS root themselves.
A standard that encodes 128 to 256 bits of entropy plus a checksum as 12 to 24 words from a 2,048-word list. PBKDF2 turns the words and optional passphrase into a binary seed. The checksum misses some errors, corrects none.
Optional text mixed in when BIP 39 words become a seed; it is not part of the written words. Each passphrase gives a different valid wallet, so a typo shows an empty wallet, not an error. Back it up separately.
Open-source software that connects to the Bitcoin peer-to-peer network to download and fully validate blocks and transactions, with an optional wallet. Its releases ship with signed checksums, and it can connect over Tor or I2P.
A route chosen by the recipient where the payer sees the real identity of only the first node, the introduction point, and blinded identifiers after it. BOLT 12 uses blinded paths so the receiving node can stay hidden.
- Read: A BOLT-12 Offer Is Not a Reusable Invoice
- See also: BOLT 12 offer, Onion message
- Source: github.com, github.com, github.com
A reusable Lightning payment code (starting lno) that is not itself an invoice. A payer uses it to request a fresh BOLT 12 invoice over onion messages, and blinded paths can hide the receiving node.
- Read: A BOLT-12 Offer Is Not a Reusable Invoice
- See also: Onion message, Blinded path, Invoice (BOLT 11)
- Source: github.com
C
An addressing protocol designed for the proposed FCMP++ upgrade, defining how wallets build and recognise outputs while existing addresses keep working. It lets a recipient recognise Janus attack outputs.
A business that holds customers' assets in wallets it controls and records each customer's share in its own ledger. A balance is a claim on the operator, not coins under the customer's keys, and withdrawals depend on the operator.
The format that turns a conversation's messages into the exact token text a model was trained to expect. It ships with the model or runner, and changing it can change behaviour, such as whether reasoning text replaces the answer.
Autonomi's storage primitive: an immutable piece of content, normally produced by self-encryption, stored at an address derived from its own bytes. Changing the bytes changes the address, so an update is a new upload.
A wallet where a service holds the keys and shows a balance from its ledger: an IOU, not coins you control. The operator can freeze access or fail, and a Lightning payment to it proves only its node was paid.
D
In Autonomi, the record self-encryption produces: each encrypted chunk's address plus what is needed to decrypt it. Without it the network holds only ciphertext. Where it is stored decides public or private.
An older output from the chain that a Monero wallet adds to a ring so the real spend hides among them. Decoys help only if they look like real spends; their age selection is the main known weakness.
The steps from a seed to one key, written like m/44'/0'/0'/0/5. BIP 44-style paths separate purpose, coin, account, receive or change, and index. The seed itself does not record which path a wallet used.
- Read: An xpub Is Not a Public Key: What Sharing an Extended Public Key Actually Exposes
- Read: A Backup Is Not a Recovery: Seed Phrases, Passphrases, and the Restore You Haven't Tested
- Read: A Seed Phrase Is Not a Wallet Definition: BIP 380 Output Descriptors
- See also: BIP 32, Hardened derivation, Output descriptor
- Source: github.com, github.com
A set of smart contracts that settles swaps on a blockchain: the user's own wallet signs each transaction and the contract moves the assets by its code, so no operator takes custody. Bugs, token approvals and irreversibility remain.
Bitcoin's automatic retarget every 2,016 blocks: if those blocks came faster or slower than two weeks, the target changes so blocks average about ten minutes apart. The metrics page shows mempool.space's figure, not its own calculation.
- Page: How the network figures are made
- See also: Hashrate, Full node
- Source: developer.bitcoin.org
Signatures on DNS records that let a resolver check an answer against a chain of keys up to the DNS root. A redirect then needs a checkable signature, but holders of domain or parent-zone keys remain authorities.
E
A fixed-length list of numbers an embedding model produces for a piece of text, placing related text close together. Indexing and querying need the same model; embeddings of sensitive text are a lossy but recoverable shadow of it.
Encryption so only a conversation's participants can read its content, not the servers carrying it. It does not hide metadata, and public channels or broadcasts are not private even inside an app that encrypts chats.
Software that matches two people directly and locks the coins being exchanged, plus both sides' security deposits, in a multisig escrow, so neither can take them alone. A defined dispute process decides the payout if they disagree.
The only object type in Nostr: a JSON record with id, pubkey, creation time, kind, tags, content and signature. The id is a hash of the serialised event and the signature covers it, so anyone can verify who signed.
A public key plus a chain code (BIP 32). Shared, it reveals every past and future address in its subtree; with one leaked non-hardened child private key, it gives up the parent private key.
F
A proposed Monero upgrade that would replace rings with full-chain membership proofs, plus separate spend authorisation and linkability so double spends stay impossible. It aims to widen sender ambiguity from 16 candidates to the whole chain.
What a transaction pays per unit of size, in satoshis per virtual byte (sat/vB), where witness data counts at a quarter weight. Fee levels on the metrics page are mempool.space's estimates, not a promise of confirmation time.
- Page: How the network figures are made
- See also: Mempool, UTXO
- Source: github.com, developer.bitcoin.org
The website or app that reads on-chain data and builds transactions for a wallet to sign. The protocol is the deployed contracts that enforce the rules; whoever controls the frontend's code, hosting or domain can change what it prepares.
A zero-knowledge proof that a spent output is one of all the outputs on the ledger, rather than one of a short named ring. It aims to make sender ambiguity ledger-wide.
- Read: From Rings of 16 to the Whole Chain: What FCMP++ Changes
- Read: An Anonymity Set Is Not a Ring Size
- See also: FCMP++, Ring size, Anonymity set
- Source: getmonero.org
Software that downloads every block and transaction and checks them against Bitcoin's rules itself. A wallet querying your own node tells nobody outside which addresses are yours, but that alone does not hide your IP when broadcasting.
G
A binary file format for storing models for inference with GGML-based runtimes such as llama.cpp. It packs tensors with metadata such as licence and base model, which are labels set by the packager, not proof of terms or correctness.
The outer Nostr event (kind 1059) in NIP-17 private messages, signed by a random one-time key. It hides the sender, real timestamp and message type, but its p tag still names the recipient.
H
BIP 32 child keys at index 2^31 or above, written 0' or 0h. Deriving them needs the parent private key, so an xpub cannot. Hardened account levels keep a leaked account key from exposing the master or other accounts.
A dedicated device that holds private keys and signs transactions, showing destination and amount on its own screen, which the host computer cannot rewrite. It cannot stop you approving a wrong address you pasted.
- Read: PSBT and Air-Gapped Signing: Keep Keys Offline While the Network Watches
- Read: Self-Custody Without Verify-Before-Trust Is a Slogan
- Read: A Signature Is Not Proof of Funds: What BIP 322 Message Signing Can and Cannot Show
- See also: Air-gapped signing, PSBT, Self-custody
- Source: developer.bitcoin.org, github.com
An estimate of the total hashing work miners do per second to find valid blocks. Nobody measures it directly: it is worked out from difficulty and block times, so short-term figures are noisy and differ between sources.
- Page: How the network figures are made
- See also: Difficulty adjustment, Mempool
- Source: developer.bitcoin.org
Hashed time-locked contract: a conditional Lightning payment the recipient claims by revealing the preimage, or the payer reclaims after a timeout. Every hop holds one locked to the same hash, so settling passes the preimage back through each.
I
A separate anonymous overlay network built around services hosted inside it. Unlike Tor, the receiver of an inbound I2P connection sees the initiator's I2P address, so some software uses fresh temporary addresses for outbound connections.
- Read: On-Chain Privacy Is Not Network Privacy: Node Choice, Tor, and I2P
- See also: Tor, Unlinkability
- Source: i2p.net, github.com
Data that cannot be changed or deleted once stored. On Autonomi all stored content is permanent by design, which is what lets storage be paid for once; a new version is a new upload at new addresses.
How much a Lightning channel can still accept from the network. A channel you open and fund starts with all its capacity on your side, so you can send but cannot receive until balance moves toward your peer.
Keeping a model's prompts and outputs on hardware you control. It is not action residency: once tools, web search or MCP servers are connected, what the model does can reach beyond that machine.
A signed, time-limited Lightning payment request, starting lnbc on mainnet, carrying a payment hash, payment secret, optional amount and expiry. It is meant to be paid once, not reused like an address.
- Read: Receive-Only Lightning Is Not a Merchant Stack
- Read: A BOLT-12 Offer Is Not a Reusable Invoice
- See also: Payment hash, LNURL-pay, BOLT 12 offer
- Source: github.com
A website published as content-addressed files on IPFS and fetched by a CID derived from a hash of its content. Anyone can check the files are unchanged, not that the code is honest; gateways and DNSLink bring trust back in.
J
An active probe on Monero subaddresses: a sender crafts an output mixing keys from two subaddresses and, if the recipient confirms receipt, learns both belong to one wallet. It cannot steal funds; Carrot lets recipients recognise such outputs.
K
A value from a Monero output's one-time private key, published when it is spent so the network can reject double-spends without learning which output it was. A view-only wallet needs them imported to show a correct balance.
- Read: A View Key Is Not a Transparent Chain
- See also: View-only wallet, Ring signature, Nullifier
- Source: docs.getmonero.org, docs.getmonero.org
The everyday name for customer due diligence: identity checks a regulated financial business runs on customers before and during a relationship, under national law built on the FATF standards, plus records it keeps after the relationship ends.
L
A user@domain name for receiving Lightning payments (LUD-16). For every payment the wallet asks that domain's web server for a fresh invoice, so the server operator chooses which node is paid and learns about each lookup.
A network of payment channels that moves bitcoin off-chain by cooperation between peers, with the Bitcoin blockchain enforcing outcomes when they disagree. It offers fast conditional payments with proof-of-payment preimages, not privacy by default.
- Read: Receive-Only Lightning Is Not a Merchant Stack
- See also: Payment channel, HTLC, Preimage
- Source: github.com
An open-source C/C++ project for running language models locally on CPUs and GPUs with minimal setup. It loads GGUF files and includes a local HTTP server, llama-server, that binds to loopback by default.
A protocol (LUD-06) where a static link or QR code points to a web service that mints a fresh BOLT 11 invoice for each payment. That HTTPS or Onion host joins the trust path and can refuse or go dark.
Running a model on hardware you control, with its weights loaded into a runtime on that machine or network, so prompts need not leave it. It removes provider exposure, not device risk: malware, disk access and tools still apply.
M
An open protocol connecting AI hosts to servers that expose tools, resources and prompts. Clients trust the servers they connect to: a local MCP server runs with the client's privileges, so adding one is like installing software.
The pool of valid, unconfirmed transactions each node keeps in memory until they are mined or dropped. There is no single shared mempool; the metrics page shows mempool.space's view of upcoming blocks, not every node's.
- Page: How the network figures are made
- See also: Fee rate (sat/vB), Full node, UTXO
- Source: developer.bitcoin.org
Signing text for a Bitcoin address; BIP 322 extends it to multisig, Taproot and other scripts. A valid signature shows someone could satisfy that address's script for that text, then. It proves no identity, current control, holdings or past payment.
Information around a message or payment rather than its content: who connected, from which IP address, when, how much and how often. Encryption usually protects content, while metadata can still link activity.
The value whoever orders a block's transactions can capture by including, excluding or reordering them, for example by placing transactions around a visible pending swap. Private submission routes move this trust rather than remove it.
- Read: An AMM Pool Is a Formula, Not a Market Maker
- See also: Mempool, Slippage, AMM (automated market maker)
- Source: ethereum.org, docs.flashbots.net
The document published with a model, usually its repository README, describing intended use, training data, evaluation and known limits. It is the publisher's structured claim, useful for checking a file against, not proof that a file is safe.
The learned parameters of a trained model, stored as files a runtime loads to generate output. A hash shows exactly which file you run, but not what the model was trained on or whether it behaves as described.
A cryptocurrency whose ledger hides recipients and amounts by default and gives senders probabilistic cover, using stealth addresses, RingCT and ring signatures. Holders can disclose chosen details with view keys or payment proofs; network privacy is separate.
A script needing signatures from a set number of keys in a group, such as 2 of 3. It removes the single-key point of failure but adds coordination; restoring it needs the descriptor with every cosigner's key, not one seed.
- Read: A Seed Phrase Is Not a Wallet Definition: BIP 380 Output Descriptors
- Read: A Backup Is Not a Recovery: Seed Phrases, Passphrases, and the Restore You Haven't Tested
- Read: A Signature Is Not Proof of Funds: What BIP 322 Message Signing Can and Cannot Show
- See also: Output descriptor, SLIP-39, Self-custody
- Source: github.com, github.com
N
The base Nostr specification: the event format, how ids and Schnorr signatures are computed, how clients and relays exchange messages over WebSocket, and the kind ranges (regular, replaceable, ephemeral, addressable) that decide what relays keep.
The original Nostr direct-message scheme (kind 4), now unrecommended and deprecated in favour of NIP-17. Only the content is encrypted; sender, recipient and real send time stay public, so anyone can map who talks to whom.
A kind 5 event asking relays and clients to delete or hide events the same author signed earlier. Relays may comply or ignore it, copies elsewhere remain, it cannot be undone, and the original signature still verifies.
Optional JSON a relay serves from its own URL when asked with Accept: application/nostr+json, listing supported NIPs, limits, contacts and access requirements. It is self-reported: a hint to check against how the relay actually behaves.
Nostr private messages in three layers: an unsigned message (rumor), a seal signed by the sender, and a gift wrap from a one-time key. It hides the sender, real time and message type; the recipient tag stays visible.
The NIP defining human-readable bech32 strings for Nostr keys and ids: npub, nsec and note, plus nprofile, nevent and naddr, which can carry relay hints. Distinct prefixes stop keys and ids being mixed up.
An expiration tag giving a time after which relays and clients treat an event as expired. Relays may keep it indefinitely and anyone may already hold a copy, so it is a hint, not a security feature.
A relay challenge a client answers by signing an ephemeral kind 22242 event naming that relay and challenge. It proves the connection holds a key, not legal identity, payment or endorsement, and lasts only for that connection.
Nostr's versioned encrypted-payload format, used under NIP-17 private messages. Its padding blurs message length without hiding it, and it offers no forward secrecy, no post-compromise security, no post-quantum security and no IP protection.
A password-encrypted form of a Nostr private key (NIP-49), stretched with scrypt and encrypted with XChaCha20-Poly1305. It is only as strong as its password, a forgotten password loses the key, and NIP-49 warns against publishing it.
- Read: Your nsec Is Not a Password: Nostr Key Handling and Signers
- See also: nsec, Remote signer (NIP-46 bunker)
- Source: github.com
A kind 62 event asking named relays, or all relays, to delete everything from a pubkey up to that moment. It binds only relays that support NIP-62, cannot be reversed and gives no lever over relays that do not.
A client routing rule built on relay lists (NIP-65): read a user's posts from the relays they write to, and deliver posts that mention them to the relays they read. It aids discovery but fails quietly when lists go stale.
A property of a wallet, app or protocol: its operator never holds users' keys, so it cannot move or freeze their funds. It describes the software, not the user's setup, and a non-custodial extension can still be a phishing target.
An open protocol where each user is a keypair and every post, profile or list is an event signed by that key. Relays store and forward events; no server holds the account or can reset a key.
The bech32 text form of a Nostr public key, starting npub (NIP-19). It is safe to share and is meant for display and input only; inside events and filters, keys stay in hex.
The bech32 text form of a Nostr private key (NIP-19). It is the account itself, not a password: there is no reset or recovery, and anyone who copies it can sign as you indefinitely.
In Zcash shielded pools, a tag published when a note is spent, derived from the note and its owner's key. It stops the same note being spent twice, while outsiders cannot link the nullifier to the note.
- Read: An Anonymity Set Is Not a Ring Size
- See also: Key image, Anonymity set
- Source: zips.z.cash
O
A tool for downloading and running models locally behind an HTTP API, which by default listens on 127.0.0.1 port 11434 without authentication. Prompts can still leave the machine if web search, cloud models or tools are enabled.
A Lightning message sent in onion-encrypted form over existing peer connections, tied to no channel or payment, and dropped silently if lost. BOLT 12 uses it to request a fresh invoice, so the recipient must be online.
- Read: A BOLT-12 Offer Is Not a Reusable Invoice
- See also: BOLT 12 offer, Blinded path
- Source: github.com, github.com
Under the Open Source Initiative's Open Source AI Definition, an AI system offered with freedoms to use, study, modify and share it, plus the preferred form to modify it: data information, complete code and the parameters.
A release whose trained parameters can be downloaded and run. On its own it says nothing about licence freedoms or training data; many open-weight licences restrict use, so open weights is not the same as open source.
A Monero research project that estimates how old real spends tend to be from on-chain ring data, to test how well decoy selection hides them. Its preliminary, not yet peer-reviewed results suggest age still helps an observer guess.
- Read: An Anonymity Set Is Not a Ring Size
- See also: Decoy, Ring size, Anonymity set
- Source: getmonero.org, github.com
A text string (BIP 380) naming a wallet's script type, keys or xpubs, derivation steps and optionally a checksum, so different software derives the same addresses. It backs up the wallet definition a seed phrase leaves out.
P
Autonomi's payment model: one payment when content is written, with no recurring storage charge and no fee to read. Each new version is a new payment. Paying never grants access; private content still needs its Data Map.
A BOLT 12 proof, starting lnp, that pairs a paid invoice's preimage with a signature from the temporary payer key used to request it. It shows whoever holds that key requested and paid, not who they are; support varies.
Bitcoin locked between two Lightning peers so both signatures are needed to spend it. They update balances off-chain by exchanging new commitment transactions, and the channel's capacity splits into what each side can still send.
- Read: Receive-Only Lightning Is Not a Merchant Stack
- See also: Inbound liquidity, Lightning Network, HTLC
- Source: github.com
The SHA-256 hash of a Lightning payment's secret preimage, set in the invoice and locking every HTLC on the route. Each payment needs a fresh one, because nodes that saw the preimage could settle a reused hash.
A Monero receipt showing that one transaction sent an amount to one address, checked with the transaction key or a signed InProof or OutProof. It opens nothing else and does not prove the funds are still spendable.
Public-key algorithms designed to resist attack by large quantum computers, such as ML-KEM (FIPS 203) for key encapsulation and ML-DSA (FIPS 204) for signatures. It protects the layers that use it, not a whole system.
The secret whose hash is a Lightning payment hash. Releasing it settles the HTLC, so holding it shows that payment settled. It does not show who paid, and it stops being secret once released.
The Monero key that authorises spending; in the official wallet it is another form of the 25-word seed. Whoever holds it controls the funds, unlike the private view key, which only recognises incoming payments.
A Monero key that lets its holder recognise incoming outputs to an account. It grants no spend authority, and alone cannot reliably show outgoing spends, so a view-key balance needs imported key images before you trust it.
- Read: A View Key Is Not a Transparent Chain
- See also: Private spend key, View-only wallet, Key image, Selective disclosure
- Source: getmonero.org
Input that changes a model's behaviour in ways its operator did not intend. It often arrives indirectly, through a web page, document, tool result or message the model reads, and running the model locally does not make it immune.
- Read: Inference Residency Is Not Action Residency: Tools, MCP, and Local LLMs
- Read: Local Chat Is Not Data Residency: RAG, Embeddings, and Vector Stores
- Read: A Docs MCP Can Read the Whole Protocol. The Line to Watch Is Signing
- See also: Tool calling, RAG (retrieval-augmented generation), Agent
- Source: genai.owasp.org, modelcontextprotocol.io
BIP 322's pof variant: a message signature that also signs for UTXOs the signer picks. A plain signature proves no holdings. Pof shows funds only once a verifier checks those UTXOs are unspent, and never shows there are no others.
Partially Signed Bitcoin Transaction (BIP 174): a format carrying what a signer needs, so an online watch-only wallet builds the transaction and an offline device signs it without its keys touching the network.
Two ways to make Autonomi chunks retrievable. A public upload stores the Data Map on the network, so anyone with its address can rebuild the content; a private upload leaves it with the uploader, and losing it loses access.
- Read: Post-Quantum Is a Layer, Not a Blanket: What Autonomi's PQC Actually Covers
- Read: Autonomi Stores Immutable Chunks — Public Address vs Private DataMap
- Read: Autonomi Without the Data Map Is Just Scattered Ciphertext
- See also: Data Map, Chunk (Autonomi), Immutable data
- Source: docs.autonomi.com, docs.autonomi.com
Q
Storing a model's weights at lower numeric precision so it needs less memory and can run faster on modest hardware. It can cost some accuracy, and a quantised file is a different artefact, with its own hash.
R
A setup where a model answers using document chunks fetched from an index: text is split, embedded and stored, then retrieved for each query and placed in the prompt. Residency holds only if every step stays local.
Using Lightning only to accept payments such as tips, without a merchant setup. It still needs a payable invoice, enough inbound liquidity and often a static entry point such as LNURL-pay or a BOLT 12 offer.
CryptoDecentral's term for a restore drill: rebuild the wallet on a clean device from its words, any passphrase and its script type or descriptor, then check the first receive address matches. A backup never restored is a hypothesis.
A replaceable Nostr event, kind 10002, whose r tags name the relays a user generally writes to and reads mentions from. Only the latest version counts; it states preferences and does not prove those relays still work.
A server that accepts, stores and serves Nostr events over a WebSocket. Each relay sets its own policy on what it keeps or refuses; it is a source, not an authority, and sees what clients ask for.
- Read: NIP-65: Relay Lists, Outbox, and Inbox — Routing Beyond One Home Relay
- Read: A Docs MCP Can Read the Whole Protocol. The Line to Watch Is Signing
- Read: NIP-11: How Nostr Relays Advertise What They Can Do
- See also: Event (Nostr), NIP-11 relay information document, Relay list (kind 10002)
- Source: github.com
A cryptographic signature over a release file or its published checksum list, used to confirm a download is what its builders released. It helps only if the signing key is authentic; a bare checksum fails if an attacker swaps both.
- Read: Self-Custody Without Verify-Before-Trust Is a Slogan
- Page: Verifying frontends
- See also: Reproducible build, Verify before trust
- Source: bitcoincore.org
A node on another machine that your wallet queries instead of your own. An open remote node's operator can link your queries and transactions to your IP address; a remote node you run yourself narrows who sees them.
A separate daemon or device that holds a Nostr key and answers signing requests from clients over relays (NIP-46), so apps never hold the key. Permissions can be scoped by kind; client-supplied names prove nothing.
Software built so anyone using the same source code, environment and instructions gets bit-for-bit identical files, letting independent rebuilds corroborate what distributors ship. It makes trust inspectable; it does not remove it.
A signature that any member of a group could have made. Each Monero spend is signed with a ring of its real output plus decoys, so observers cannot tell which was spent; the assurance is probabilistic, not certain.
The number of outputs in a Monero ring, fixed at 16 (the real output plus 15 decoys) since the August 2022 upgrade. It counts names on the list, not how many candidates an observer truly cannot tell apart.
Ring Confidential Transactions: Monero's way of hiding amounts while every node can still check that inputs and outputs balance and no coins were created. It has been mandatory for all Monero transactions since September 2017.
- Read: What Transparent Ledgers Leak — and Why On-Chain Privacy Matters
- See also: Ring signature, Monero
- Source: getmonero.org
The node address a wallet or website queries over JSON-RPC to read balances and contract state and to broadcast signed transactions. Whoever runs it sees those requests and can refuse them or give wrong answers.
S
The middle layer of a NIP-17 message: the unsigned message, NIP-44 encrypted to the recipient, inside an event signed by the sender's real key with empty tags. Once unwrapped, it shows who signed, not who it is for.
A list of words, usually 12 to 24 (25 or 16 in Monero wallets), that encodes the secret a wallet's keys come from. It does not record a passphrase, script types, derivation paths, multisig setup or labels.
Revealing specific Monero activity to a chosen party while the ledger stays opaque to everyone else: a view key for ongoing incoming payments, or a payment proof for one transaction. It does not make the chain transparent.
In CryptoDecentral's usage: you, or a multisig policy you set up, control the private keys that can move the funds, so nobody else can move them alone. An exchange balance is an IOU. Keys are necessary, not sufficient.
Autonomi's client-side step that splits content into chunks, compresses and encrypts each with a key from its own hash and the two previous chunks' hashes, and addresses it by the ciphertext's hash. It stores nothing itself.
The 64-byte signature on every Nostr event: a Schnorr signature on the secp256k1 curve (BIP 340) over the event id. It shows which key committed to the content; it does not expire and cannot be withdrawn.
A Bitcoin scheme (BIP 352): a receiver publishes one static address, and each sender derives a fresh output that outside observers cannot link to it. Receivers must scan the chain, which is still hard for light clients.
A standard that splits a wallet's master secret into word shares using Shamir's secret sharing. A set number of shares rebuilds it; fewer reveal nothing about it. It is mostly not compatible with BIP 39.
The gap between the rate a swap was quoted and the rate it gets, caused by its own size against the pool's reserves and by transactions included before it. A signed tolerance sets the worst outcome accepted.
Splitting a recording by voice and labelling the parts speaker 0, speaker 1 and so on. Labels group similar-sounding audio within one file only; they are not names and do not establish anyone's real-world identity.
Turning recorded speech into text with a model. Run locally, the recording can stay on the machine, but the transcript can still be wrong, especially in less well-supported languages: it is the model's reading of the audio, not a record.
A signed Monero attestation that the prover authorised a given transaction, without naming the destination address. Like other payment proofs, it covers one transaction, not the wallet.
Monero's one-time destinations: for every payment the sender derives a fresh on-chain address for the recipient, so a published address never appears on the ledger and incoming payments cannot easily be grouped.
An extra Monero receive address derived from the wallet's private view key, so each payer or purpose can get its own. Observers cannot link them, but one view key covers them all and they are not separate identities.
T
A Bitcoin output type (P2TR, BIP 341) spent either with one Schnorr signature (BIP 340) for its key, or by revealing one script from a committed tree (BIP 342). Descriptors write it tr(KEY); BIP 137 signing cannot cover it.
Hardware isolation that keeps a running workload, such as a model and its data, separated from the host system. It does not by itself encrypt the prompt on the way in, and its claims rest on attestation.
A short written record of what you are protecting, from whom, how bad and how likely failure is, and which costs you accept. It is not a list of fears; it shows what you can safely ignore.
- Read: A Threat Model Is Not a Fear List: Writing Yours on One Page
- See also: Metadata, Remote node
- Source: ssd.eff.org
An on-chain permission, called an allowance, letting another address or contract spend a wallet's tokens up to a set amount. Software can grant a large or unlimited allowance automatically, which extends trust to that contract.
A model replying with a structured request to run a named function instead of plain text. The host program runs it and feeds the result back, so side effects happen outside the model and tool output becomes untrusted input.
An overlay network that sends traffic encrypted in layers through several relays, so your internet provider sees only that you use Tor and servers see only Tor relays. It hides your IP address, not what your queries reveal.
- Read: On-Chain Privacy Is Not Network Privacy: Node Choice, Tor, and I2P
- See also: I2P, Remote node, Metadata
- Source: support.torproject.org, github.com
A one-time secret key created for each Monero transaction. Shared with the transaction ID and an address, it lets a verifier see how much that transaction sent there; anyone holding it can also test other addresses.
A dry run of a transaction against the chain's current state showing its likely result before signing. A preview, not a promise: state can change before inclusion, and it is only as honest as the node running it.
The line between what you control and what you must trust others to handle. For local AI it is the sum of what the setup can reach (model endpoints, tools, files, browsers, plugins), not where the weights sit.
The market value of assets deposited in a protocol's contracts at a given moment. It measures deposits, not safety; it moves with market rates even when nobody deposits, and counting rules differ between data aggregators.
A misspelt or near-identical web address made to pass as a real site, app store or installer so a visitor enters a seed or signs something. How a page looks proves nothing about who runs it.
U
The property that an observer cannot tell whether two actions, addresses or payments belong to the same person. Stealth addresses and subaddresses give recipients this against outsiders, but shared keys, consolidation or reused habits can break it.
Unspent transaction output: an amount of bitcoin locked to the conditions in its script until spent. A wallet balance is really a set of UTXOs, and PSBTs carry UTXO data so an offline signer can check amounts.
V
A database that keeps embeddings, usually with their source text, and finds those nearest a query. It can be a file on your own disk or a hosted service; that choice decides whether a document index leaves your control.
CryptoDecentral's term for checking software, addresses and assumptions before relying on them: verifying downloads, comparing every character of a destination on a trusted screen, and testing recovery. Without it, self-custody is a slogan.
A Monero wallet built from an address plus its private view key. It sees incoming payments but cannot spend, and after any spends its balance is wrong until key images from the full wallet are imported.
- Read: A View Key Is Not a Transparent Chain
- See also: Private view key, Key image, Watch-only wallet
- Source: getmonero.org, docs.getmonero.org
W
A Bitcoin wallet holding only public material, such as an xpub or public descriptor, so it can track payments and build unsigned transactions but cannot spend. Whoever holds that material can see every address it covers.
- Read: A Seed Phrase Is Not a Wallet Definition: BIP 380 Output Descriptors
- Read: PSBT and Air-Gapped Signing: Keep Keys Offline While the Network Watches
- Read: An xpub Is Not a Public Key: What Sharing an Extended Public Key Actually Exposes
- See also: Extended public key (xpub), PSBT, Air-gapped signing, Output descriptor
- Source: github.com, developer.bitcoin.org