Cards and payments infrastructure

Claim

Formal request for payment under insurance policy.

Golden Parachute

Large payment to executive if dismissed.

Universal Basic Income

Periodic cash payment to all citizens.

Direct Debit

Automatic payment from bank account.

Merchant

Business that sells goods/services.

Acquirer

Bank processing payments for merchant.

Issuer

Bank that issues the credit card.

Chargeback

Reversal of a card payment.

Fee

Payment for service.

Coupon

Interest payment on a bond.

Tax Evasion

Illegal non-payment of taxes.

Callable Bond

Bond issuer can redeem early.

Letter of Credit

Bank guarantee for payment.

Helicopter Money

Direct payments to citizens.

Wallet (Digital)

Software or device to store crypto keys.

DeFi

Decentralized Finance; financial services without intermediaries.

P2P Lending

Lending money to individuals without financial institutions.

Robo-advisor

Digital platforms providing automated financial advice.

Fintech

Financial Technology; innovation in financial services.

Insurtech

Technology innovations in the insurance industry.

Mining

Process of validating transactions and creating new coins.

QR Code Payment

Payment method using scannable QR codes.

Contactless Payment

Payment without physical contact using NFC technology.

Digital Banking

Banking services delivered digitally without physical branches.

Peer-to-Peer Lending

Direct lending between individuals without banks.

Embedded Finance

Integration of financial services into non-financial platforms.

Buy Now Pay Later

Payment option allowing purchases with deferred payments.

Digital Wallet

Electronic device or app storing payment information.

Payment Gateway

Service processing credit card transactions.

Merchant Account

Bank account allowing businesses to accept card payments.

PCI DSS

Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard.

ACH

Automated Clearing House - US electronic payment network.

Cross-border Payment

Payment sent from one country to another.

Super App

App offering multiple services in one platform.

Instant Payment

Real-time payment processed within seconds.

Virtual Card

Digital-only payment card for online transactions.

Recurring Payment

Automatic payment at regular intervals.

DAO

Organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program.

Seed Phrase

List of words to recover a crypto wallet.

Proof of Work (PoW)

Consensus requiring computational effort.

Halving

Event reducing mining rewards by half.

FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out.

DEX

Decentralized Exchange.

CEX

Centralized Exchange.

Overcollateralization

Providing more collateral than loan value.

ZK-Proof

Zero-Knowledge Proof.

51% Attack

Attack where entity controls majority of hash rate.

Reentrancy

Vulnerability in smart contracts.

Rug Pull

Developers abandoning a project and taking funds.

Mempool

Holding area for unconfirmed transactions.

Nonce

Number used once in mining.

Soft Fork

Backwards compatible update.

White Hat

Ethical hacker.

Black Hat

Malicious hacker.

Transaction ID (TXID)

Unique string identifying a transaction.

Suptech

Supervisory technology for authorities.

Wealthtech

Tech for wealth management.

Proptech

Technology in real estate.

Paytech

Technology for payments.

Wei

Smallest unit of Ether.

Gwei

Billion wei; used for gas prices.

Peer-to-Peer

Decentralized interactions.

Decentralization

Transfer of authority from central entity.

Immutable

Impossible to change over time.

TVL

Total Value Locked in a protocol.

Gas Limit

Max gas user is willing to pay.

Gas Price

Cost per unit of gas.

Encryption

Encoding information.

Decryption

Decoding information.

Hashing

Converting input into fixed size string.

Digital Signature

Mathematical scheme for verifying authenticity.

P2P Network

Network of peers sharing resources.

Mining Pool

Group of miners working together.

Hash Rate

Measuring power of the network.

Difficulty

How hard it is to mine a block.

Block Reward

Coins awarded to miner.

IDO

Initial DEX Offering.

IEO

Initial Exchange Offering.

Bagholder

Person holding worthless assets.

Rekt

Wrecked; losing lots of money.

To the Moon

Price rising extremely high.

ATH

All Time High.

ATL

All Time Low.

DYOR

Do Your Own Research.

WAGMI

We're All Gonna Make It.

NGMI

Not Gonna Make It.

Gas War

Users bidding high gas fees to verify ASAP.

MiFID II

EU regulation for investment services.

Basel III

Global banking regulatory framework.

BaaS

Banking as a Service.

BNPL

Buy Now, Pay Later.

Honeypot

Trap for hackers or investors.

Decacorn

Startup valued over $10 billion.

Runway

Time until cash runs out.

Pivot

Change in business strategy.

White Label

Product rebranded by another company.

SDK

Software Development Kit.

Uptime

Time system is operational.

SLA

Service Level Agreement.

RTGS

Real-Time Gross Settlement.

CHIPS

Clearing House Interbank Payments System.

Hash

Output of a hash function.

Masternode

Server validating transactions.

Lightning Network

Layer 2 payment protocol.

DEX Aggregator

Service finding best swap rates.

Dodd-Frank

US financial reform act.

NFC

Near Field Communication.

Remittance corridor

Flow of funds between two countries.

Interchange Fee

Fee paid between banks.

3D Secure

Security protocol for online cards.

Voice Banking

Banking via voice commands.

Multisig

Wallet requiring multiple keys.

HD Wallet

Hierarchical Deterministic wallet.

ICO

Initial Coin Offering.

Interoperability

Ability of systems to work together.

PoA

Proof of Authority.

DPoS

Delegated Proof of Stake.

Node

Computer in a network.

Miner

One who validates blocks.

Confirmation

Block added after transaction.

Centralization

Concentration of power.

Digital Asset

Intangible asset in digital form.

ECN

Electronic Communication Network.

SAR

Suspicious Activity Report.

EDD

Enhanced Due Diligence.

PEP

Politically Exposed Person.

Sanctions Screening

Checking lists for banned entities.

Mooning

Price going up extremely high.

YTD

Year To Date.

MoM

Month over Month growth.

YoY

Year over Year growth.

Whale Alert

Tracker for large transactions.

Decentralized Identity

Identity owned by user.

Cliff

Period before vesting starts.

DePin

Decentralized Physical Infra.

GameFi

Gaming plus Finance.

SocialFi

Social media plus Finance.

RegFi

Regulated DeFi.

Monero (XMR)

Private, secure, and untraceable currency.

Zcash

Privacy coin using zk-SNARKs.

Cardano

Proof-of-Stake blockchain platform.

Avalanche

Smart contracts platform with fast finality.

IPFS

InterPlanetary File System; decentralized storage.

Filecoin

Decentralized storage network.

Block Time

Time taken to generate a new block.

Metaverse Finance

Financial activities within virtual worlds.

Bag Holder

Investor holding assets that lost value.

Yield Aggregator

Protocol automating yield farming strategies.

Insurance Protocol

DeFi protocol offering insurance coverage.

Soft Cap

Minimum money needed for project success.

FDV

Fully Diluted Valuation.

Dip

Temporary drop in price.

Longing

Betting on an asset rising.

DAO Proposal

Suggestion submitted to a DAO for voting.

Quorum

Minimum votes needed for a proposal to pass.

Treasury

Funds held by a DAO or project.

Collateral Factor

Percentage of collateral value that can be borrowed.

Liquidation Threshold

Point at which collateral is sold to cover debt.

Over-collateralization

Providing more collateral than loan value.

Dust Attack

Sending tiny amounts of crypto to track wallets.

Sharpe Ratio

Risk-adjusted return.

Decentralized Exchange (DEX)

Exchange operating without a central authority.

Weak Hands

Investors who panic sell.

Diamond Hands

Investors who hold despite volatility.

Symmetric Encryption

Encryption using the same key for locking and unlocking.

Micro-investing

Investing very small amounts of money.

Fractional Shares

Owning a part of a whole share.

Trade Finance

Financial instruments for international trade.

Merchant Banking

Banking for large corporations.

SEC

US Securities and Exchange Commission.

Spot ETF

ETF holding the actual asset.

Futures ETF

ETF investing in futures contracts.

Web3

Decentralized version of the internet.

Max Supply

Maximum limit of coins that will ever exist.

Light Client

Wallet downloading only block headers.

Difficulty Adjustment

Changing mining difficulty to keep block time constant.

Gossip Protocol

Network protocol for peer communication.

Eclipse Attack

Isolating a node from the network.

Exit Scam

Project shutting down and stealing funds.

Ransomware

Malware that encrypts data and demands payment.

Subscription

Recurring payment for access.

Contactless

Payment without inserting card.

Merchant of Record

The legal entity that sells to the customer and assumes payment, tax, and compliance responsibility.

Payment Facilitator

A provider that enables sub-merchants to accept card payments under a master merchant account.

Network Token

A payment credential token issued by a card network to replace the original card number in transactions.

Account Updater

A service that refreshes expired or reissued card details for recurring billing merchants.

Payment Orchestration

The coordination layer that routes, retries, and optimizes transactions across multiple payment providers.