Everybody has their terms of art, and these are ours. If you disagree with a definition, or just want to add one let us know at “editors at CeFiWire dot com”.
Atomic Settlement: The immediate settlement of a trade or transaction conducted on blockchain or distributed ledger technology using digital currency, typically a stable coin or CBDC.
Centralized Finance (CeFi): Take decentralized finance tech (DeFi) and add a dash of regulation and strip out the anonymity and you get CeFi. We consider firms that work with regulators (not against them) and used “know your customer” (KYC) and “anti-money laundering” (AML) protocals to be in CeFi and not DeFi.
Digital Transfer Agent: Also known as a Smart Transfer Agent. Uses blockchain technology to maintain shareholder records in a digital and decentralized format. Is also able to use smart contracts to automate and streamline services such as voting, dividend payouts and other corporate actions.
Decentralized Applications (dApps): Web3 applications built on a digital ledger technology — typically the Ethereum blockchain — that use DLT for data storage and a smart contract layer for their app logic. The smart contract lives on chain and is publicly available to be viewed, used, copied or modified.
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT): A cryptographically secured database that records information in a publicly accessible and untransmutable format. Typically mantained across multiple nodes with a consensus mechanism used to record new transactions.
If you would like to add a term to this glossary, contact us at Editors@CeFiWire.com.