Reference
Glossary
Short definitions for language used across the registry and research. This is educational, not legal or investment advice.
- Stablecoin
- A digital asset designed to track a stable reference, often one US dollar, using reserves, algorithms, or both depending on the design.
- USDC
- A widely used dollar-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle under the USDC name. Networks and availability vary by product and region.
- Digital dollar
- Informal term for dollar-denominated stablecoins and related settlement experiences used like digital cash for commerce.
- Settlement
- The point at which a payment is treated as final enough to release goods, services, or internal ledger entries.
- On-chain payment
- A transfer recorded on a public or private blockchain, as opposed to only inside a bank ledger.
- Payment rail
- The infrastructure path a payment follows, such as cards, ACH, wires, or stablecoin networks.
- Merchant acceptance
- A business accepting payment at checkout or invoice, including when stablecoins are offered alongside other methods.
- Stablecoin checkout
- A customer-facing purchase flow where the buyer pays with a stablecoin wallet or hosted checkout.
- Cross-border payment
- A payment between parties in different countries, often sensitive to FX, timing, and compliance rules.
- Contractor payout
- Sending funds to independent workers, sometimes in batches, with records tied to invoices or milestones.
- Verification status
- Unit Bureau label for how much evidence supports a profile: Listed, Reviewed, Verified (primary desk evidence only), or Watchlist when signals conflict.
- Fiat-backed stablecoin
- A stablecoin marketed as backed by bank deposits or short-dated government debt and redeemable references, subject to issuer disclosures.