Glossary

Decentralised lending market — the largest by TVL — with stablecoin supply and borrow markets across 12+ chains.

The dominant DEX on Base — fork of Velodrome with [[vote-escrow]] AERO governance.

Issuer of [[ausd]] — partnered with State Street custody and VanEck asset management for institutional positioning.

A stablecoin that maintains its peg through programmatic supply expansions and contractions rather than 1:1 reserves.

A body of law and procedure obliging financial institutions to detect and report suspicious activity.

A smart contract that prices assets via a pricing curve over a pool of reserves rather than an order book.

A simple annualised yield rate that does not account for compounding.

A Move-language L1 forked from the Diem / Libra effort — Aptos Labs operates the network alongside an active foundation.

An annualised yield that accounts for compounding — the standard quote for variable-rate lending.

A trade that exploits a price difference between venues for the same asset, ideally with little to no market risk.

An Ethereum optimistic rollup operated by Offchain Labs — the largest L2 by TVL.

An option whose strike is approximately equal to the current underlying price — pure time value, no intrinsic.

A third-party accountant's signed statement that an issuer's reserve balances match disclosed amounts at a point in time.

A security firm's written review of smart-contract code, classifying findings by severity and tracking issuer responses.

Agora's institutional fiat-backed stablecoin — backed by State Street custody and managed by VanEck.

A Layer-1 chain with sub-second finality and an EVM-compatible C-Chain.

A futures-curve state where forward prices < spot — typical during stress when shorts pay longs to hold positions.

Coordinated mass redemption that exhausts an issuer's liquid reserves before all holders can be paid.

Coinbase's optimistic rollup built on the OP Stack — fastest-growing L2 by stablecoin yield surface.

One-hundredth of a percentage point (0.01%) — the standard unit for quoting yield differences and fees.

Long spot + short perpetual (or futures) to harvest the funding-rate differential, structurally close to delta-neutral.

An EVM-compatible L1 using Proof-of-Liquidity — validators earn rewards by directing emissions to chosen liquidity pools.

A virtual-currency business licence issued by the New York Department of Financial Services since 2015.

The world's largest asset manager — issuer of [[buidl]] and the asset manager of Circle's USDC reserves.

An optimistic L2 that natively yields ETH (via Lido) and stables (via T-bill exposure) to bridge depositors.

EVM-compatible chain operated by Binance — large stablecoin float, smaller protocol-level diversity than Ethereum L2s.

The UK central bank — supervises sterling payment infrastructure and has set out a stablecoin-regulation framework due 2026.

The interest rate paid by borrowers in a [[lending-market]], typically a function of pool [[utilisation]].

Payments to vote-escrowed token holders to direct emissions toward a chosen pool — a structural revenue stream in Curve / Balancer ecosystems.

A protocol that lets assets move between chains, usually by lock-and-mint, burn-and-mint, or liquidity-network designs.

A standing reward programme paying ethical hackers for responsibly disclosed vulnerabilities.

BlackRock's tokenised institutional money-market fund — issued on Ethereum + Solana via Securitize.

An option giving the holder the right to buy the underlying at a fixed strike price by expiry.

An issuer- or chain-operated bridge that produces the version of an asset the issuer treats as its native off-chain representation.

A yield projection that models how the rate degrades as additional capital deploys into the same pool.

A strategy that borrows in a low-yielding currency / asset and lends in a higher-yielding one, capturing the spread.

Circle's burn-and-mint protocol for moving native USDC between supported chains without third-party bridges.

A user-opened debt position backed by crypto collateral — the issuance mechanism for DAI, LUSD, GHO, crvUSD.

Custodial financial services for crypto — exchanges, lenders, brokerages — operated by an identifiable corporate entity.

A mobile-first EVM chain originally targeting emerging-markets payments — now an Ethereum L2 (Celo L2 migration, 2024).

The risk that an issuer or chain operator freezes, blocks, or refuses to settle a holder's tokens.

A real-world-asset (RWA) tokenisation platform best known for its [[maker]]-integrated T-bill and credit pools.

A formal-verification firm that produces machine-checked proofs of smart-contract invariants.

The US derivatives regulator — claims jurisdiction over Bitcoin / Ether as commodities and over crypto-derivatives venues.

The dominant decentralised [[oracle]] network, securing price feeds, randomness, and cross-chain messaging.

The US-headquartered issuer of [[usdc]] and [[eurc]], publicly listed on NYSE since 2025.

The number of tokens that exist on-chain and are not held by the issuer / treasury / unminted.

A US-listed exchange and the operator of [[base]] — co-issuer (with Circle) of cbBTC and a major USDC distribution venue.

Cryptographic key storage with no live network connection — the gold standard for long-term reserve safekeeping.

Collateral value / debt value — the headline solvency metric for CDPs.

Compound governance token — the first major DeFi liquidity-mining distribution (June 2020).

One of the original DeFi lending markets — pioneered the cToken model and on-chain governance.

The yield realised when interest is reinvested at the same rate it's earned, producing exponential growth.

AMM design where LPs allocate liquidity to a chosen price range, increasing capital efficiency vs. constant-product.

The propagation of stress from one entity / asset to another via balance-sheet, lending, or confidence linkages.

A futures-curve state where forward prices > spot — typical for crypto perps when funding is positive.

A liquidity-aggregation protocol layered on Curve that converts CRV emissions into a liquid, boosted yield product.

The risk a transaction counterparty fails to meet its obligation — applies broadly to issuers, custodians, and exchanges.

Activity that spans more than one blockchain — bridge transfers, messaging, multi-chain protocols.

The governance + emissions token of Curve Finance, lockable for [[vote-escrow]] vote-escrowed governance power.

Curve Finance's CDP-issued stablecoin, collateralised by ETH, wstETH, sfrxETH, WBTC, and tBTC, using a soft-liquidation algorithm (LLAMMA).

A stablecoin backed by on-chain crypto collateral, typically over-collateralised, with liquidation rules enforced by the protocol.

A vault or lending-market manager that allocates user deposits across underlying markets — the human / DAO judgement layer above the protocol.

The largest stablecoin-focused AMM, optimised for low-slippage swaps between like-kind assets.

The risk a custodian (bank, exchange, qualified custodian) loses, mismanages, or is denied access to reserves it holds.

The pioneering decentralised stablecoin, issued by MakerDAO via [[cdp]] vaults backed by ETH, RWA, and other collateral.

A blockchain-based collective that holds a treasury and makes decisions via tokenholder voting.

The dominant DeFi data aggregator — TVL, yields, stablecoin supply, and protocol metadata.

A position where price-sensitivity to the underlying asset nets to zero — long spot offset by short derivative.

A stablecoin trading materially away from its target price ($1 for USD-pegged stables) on a primary venue.

Inverse Finance's CDP-issued stablecoin — debt-backed, with Fed Chairs (lending policy) and Fed Banks (deployment) as the architecture.

Peak-to-trough loss over a window — the headline measure of strategy-level downside risk.

The largest perp DEX on Solana — offers cross-margined perpetuals, spot, and stablecoin lending via Insurance Fund + JIT auctions.

Maker / Sky's protocol-set rate paid to DAI / USDS depositors — historically a benchmark for stablecoin yields.

A measure of price sensitivity to interest-rate changes, expressed in years.

A regulated category of monetary value held electronically and redeemable at par — the EU MiCA EMT regime piggy-backs on the existing e-money directive.

The Eurozone central bank — sets monetary policy and oversees euro-denominated payment systems including the in-development digital euro.

A restaking protocol that lets ETH stakers extend their validator set's economic security to other systems (AVSs).

Newly-minted protocol tokens distributed as rewards — most often to LPs and borrowers as a form of customer acquisition.

The issuer of [[usde]] (Synthetic Dollar) and [[susde]] (staked USDe) — a delta-neutral stablecoin built on perp funding.

The dominant smart-contract Layer-1 — host to the largest stablecoin float and the deepest DeFi yield surface.

Circle's EUR-pegged stablecoin, issued under MiCA-aligned EMT framework.

Resolv's delta-neutral synthetic dollar — long ETH/BTC + short perps, with USR / RLP layered tranching.

The runtime that executes Ethereum smart-contract bytecode — replicated across all EVM-compatible chains.

How much capital can leave a position at a defined slippage tolerance over a defined window.

A security failure that lets an attacker drain protocol funds — historically the dominant loss vector in DeFi.

The intergovernmental body that sets global AML / CFT standards — its recommendations are adopted into national law.

A USD stablecoin issued by First Digital Trust (Hong Kong), distributed primarily on Binance.

Token price × max supply — the valuation if every token ever to be minted were already in circulation.

A stablecoin backed by off-chain fiat reserves (cash + equivalents) held by a regulated custodian.

A bureau of the US Treasury enforcing AML / BSA obligations on financial institutions including most stablecoin issuers.

A yield rate locked in at deposit time — typically via a tokenised principal claim with a maturity date.

An uncollateralised loan that must be borrowed and repaid in the same transaction — atomic, or it reverts.

Franklin Templeton's on-chain government money-market fund — the first US-registered tokenised MMF.

Mathematical proof that a smart contract satisfies stated invariants under all reachable program states.

A stablecoin partially backed by collateral and partially by an algorithmic / market-driven mechanism.

A stablecoin issued by Frax Finance — historically fractional, now fully-collateralised in v3.

Frax Finance's OP Stack L2 — purpose-built to host the Frax stablecoin ecosystem (FRAX, sFRAX, frxETH).

A periodic payment between long and short perp holders that anchors perpetual price to spot.

Frax Share — the governance + value-accrual token of the Frax Finance ecosystem.

A Curve mechanism that directs CRV emissions to a chosen pool, with weights set by veCRV votes.

A US federal payment-stablecoin framework establishing reserve, disclosure, and supervision rules at the issuer level.

Aave's native CDP-issued stablecoin, minted against assets supplied as collateral on Aave v3.

A protocol for unsecured stablecoin loans to vetted borrowers — focused on emerging-market credit.

An exploit that uses voting power (acquired or borrowed) to pass a proposal that drains a protocol.

A token whose holders can vote on protocol parameters, treasury allocation, and code upgrades.

A Cumberland-affiliated tokenised-MMF issuer — USYC is the on-chain ticker, holding short-duration government securities.

An Aave/Spark-style metric: collateral × liquidation-threshold / debt — liquidation triggers when it drops below 1.

A position taken to offset risk in another position — most often via a derivative.

An online, network-connected wallet — used for liquid operations but with elevated theft risk vs. cold storage.

The 1946 SCOTUS framework determining whether an arrangement is an investment contract (and therefore a security under US law).

A high-throughput L1 purpose-built for perpetual futures trading — the largest decentralised perp venue by 2026 volume.

The opportunity cost an LP incurs when pool composition rebalances toward the underperforming asset.

The volatility input that, fed into a pricing model, reproduces the option's market price — a forward-looking volatility expectation.

Yield paid in tokens emitted by a protocol or partner, on top of the underlying native rate.

Property-based testing where a fuzzer hammers contract entry points and asserts user-defined invariants hold throughout.

The DAO behind [[dola]] and the FiRM lending market — known for radical isolation-mode collateral architecture.

An international standard for information security management systems (ISMS) — adopted by mature stablecoin issuers and infrastructure vendors.

A lending-market design where each collateral asset has its own market and cannot endanger others.

An option that has positive intrinsic value — call strike below spot, or put strike above spot.

A Solana lending market and yield-vault aggregator — the largest stablecoin-yield protocol on Solana by TVL.

The unauthorised exposure of a private key or signing material — the upstream cause of many high-profile crypto theft events.

The customer-identification programme regulated financial institutions run before opening accounts or processing transactions.

A base-layer blockchain that settles its own state and provides its own security — Ethereum, Solana, BNB Chain.

A scaling network that inherits security from an L1 by posting state roots back — rollups, validiums, plasma.

A pool-based protocol where suppliers earn interest from borrowers, with rates set algorithmically by utilisation.

Borrowing against a position to multiply exposure — and amplify both gains and losses.

The largest liquid-staking protocol, issuer of [[steth]] / [[wsteth]] — the dominant ETH-staking yield vehicle.

A ConsenSys-built zkEVM L2 — heavily integrated with MetaMask wallet flow.

Forced sale of collateral when a borrower's health factor falls below the protocol's threshold.

A pool of token reserves that a smart contract uses to facilitate swaps, lending, or other on-chain activity.

The risk you cannot exit a position at a fair price within a desired timeframe.

A bridge design where pre-funded LPs fulfil cross-chain transfers — fast, but with LP-side imbalance risk.

The protocol behind [[lusd]] — minimal-governance, ETH-collateralised CDP issuance with a stability-pool liquidation model.

A receipt token representing a share of an AMM liquidity pool — claims a pro-rata fraction of pool reserves.

A receipt token wrapping an LST that has been restaked via EigenLayer to secure additional services.

A receipt token representing a staked PoS asset — accrues staking rewards while remaining transferable.

Liquity's minimally-governed CDP stablecoin, ETH-collateralised, with a 110% min ratio and a stability-pool liquidation mechanism.

M^0's dollar issuance protocol — minters post collateral to mint $M, with cash equivalents as the canonical reserve.

QiDAO's CDP-issued stablecoin, originally on Polygon — multi-chain across 20+ networks.

The DAO that issues [[dai]] and (since the Endgame rebrand) [[usds]] — the longest-running decentralised stablecoin operator.

A modular L2 with a privacy-focused L1 (Atlantic) and an EVM-compatible L2 (Pacific) — both leveraging Polygon CDK.

A modular L2 backed by the BitDAO/Mantle treasury, secured by Ethereum with EigenDA for data availability.

An institutional credit protocol — pool managers underwrite under-collateralised loans to KYC'd borrowers.

A Solana lending market — pioneered the LST-leverage strategy archetype on the chain.

For stablecoins, equivalent to circulating supply × $1 — ie. the amount of issuer liability outstanding.

The published, versioned framework StableLens uses to compute risk grades, peg-stability scores, and risk-adjusted APY.

Value an entity ordering transactions in a block can extract from rearranging, inserting, or censoring them.

The EU's comprehensive crypto-asset framework, fully effective Dec 2024 — establishes EMT and ART regimes for stablecoins.

Issuance of new stablecoin units against deposited reserves or collateral — the inverse of [[redemption]].

An OP Stack L2 focused on AI-x-DeFi infrastructure — sequencer-fee-sharing aligned with builders.

A US-state-level licence required for businesses moving customer funds — most stablecoin issuers and exchanges hold MTLs in 40+ states.

A regulated mutual fund holding short-duration government / corporate paper, structured to maintain stable NAV.

A modular lending primitive — Morpho Blue isolates each market, with curators (e.g. MetaMorpho) building risk-managed vaults atop.

The Bermuda-licensed issuer of [[usdm]] — a yield-bearing dollar paying T-bill yield to non-US holders.

A cryptographic scheme letting multiple parties compute a signature without any one of them holding the full private key.

A US FinCEN registration category required for stablecoin issuers, exchanges, and remittance operators.

A wallet requiring m-of-n signers to authorise a transaction — the dominant operational-control pattern in DeFi.

Yield that comes from underlying protocol revenue (interest, fees) rather than token emissions.

A sharded, account-abstraction-native L1 — distinct from EVM ecosystem but with an Aurora EVM compatibility layer.

New York State's financial regulator — the most active US state authority over crypto issuers since 2015.

The US Treasury bureau that administers economic sanctions — its lists bind US-touching stablecoin issuers.

An RWA tokenisation platform best known for [[usdy]] and OUSG — tokenised access to US Treasury yield.

The modular L2 framework maintained by OP Labs — underlies Optimism, Base, Mode, Worldchain, Mantle Sepolia, and 30+ others.

A leading smart-contract security firm and the maintainer of OpenZeppelin Contracts — the most-used Solidity library.

An Ethereum optimistic rollup operated by OP Labs — stewards of the OP Stack underlying Base, Mode, and many other L2s.

An L2 that posts state roots to L1 and assumes them valid unless a fraud proof is submitted within a challenge window.

A derivative giving the holder the right (not obligation) to buy ([[call-option]]) or sell ([[put-option]]) at a fixed price by expiry.

A service that brings off-chain data on-chain — most commonly asset prices used for liquidations and CDP minting.

An exploit class where an attacker moves the price an oracle reports, then triggers favourable liquidations / mints.

A list of resting buy + sell orders at successive price levels — the dominant pricing mechanism on centralised exchanges and emerging on-chain venues.

An option with no intrinsic value — call strike above spot, or put strike below spot.

Ondo's tokenised short-duration US Treasury fund — institutional-only, BlackRock-backed via [[buidl]].

Backing debt with collateral worth more than the debt itself — the standard for permissionless CDP stablecoins.

A NYDFS Trust-chartered issuer of [[usdp]], [[pyusd]] (with PayPal), and tokenised-asset infrastructure.

A regulatory category (notably under [[genius-act]] and MiCA EMT) for fiat-backed stablecoins used as payment instruments.

A stablecoin's design target price — usually $1 USD, though EURC, agEUR, and XSGD are pegged to other currencies.

The StableLens compliance dimension that scores how reliably a stablecoin tracks its peg under normal and stress conditions.

A yield-tokenisation protocol that splits yield-bearing tokens into Principal (PT) and Yield (YT) tokens with a fixed maturity.

A futures contract with no expiry, kept anchored to spot via the [[funding-rate]].

Polygon's original PoS sidechain — EVM-compatible, lower fees than mainnet, validator-set distinct from Ethereum.

Polygon's bytecode-level zkEVM (separate from Polygon PoS) — uses validity proofs to settle to Ethereum.

An oracle-published time-series of an asset price, queried on-chain by protocols to value collateral or compute liquidations.

A cryptographic or attestation-based demonstration that an issuer's reserves match outstanding liabilities.

A Maker module allowing 1:1 swaps between DAI and other stables (USDC, USDP, GUSD), keeping DAI tightly pegged.

Pendle's tokenised principal claim — purchased at a discount, redeemable 1:1 for the underlying at maturity.

An option giving the holder the right to sell the underlying at a fixed strike price by expiry.

A pull-based oracle network sourced from first-party publishers (exchanges, market makers) — the dominant oracle on Solana.

PayPal's USD stablecoin issued by Paxos under NYDFS oversight, live since 2023 on Ethereum and Solana.

A US securities-law category — institutional investors (typically managing $100M+) eligible to participate in restricted Rule 144A offerings.

Yield denominated in a major asset (USD, ETH, BTC) sourced from protocol fees rather than token inflation.

The actual volatility experienced over a backward window — the empirical counterpart to implied volatility.

A stablecoin whose balance changes algorithmically in each holder's wallet to maintain a target price or yield.

Borrowing against deposited collateral, redepositing the proceeds, and looping to amplify exposure.

Exchanging a stablecoin back to its underlying claim (USD, ETH collateral, USDC at a PSM).

A vulnerability where an external call lets the caller re-enter the original function before state updates settle.

An SEC exemption letting issuers sell securities without full registration — used by tokenised RWA products targeting US accredited investors.

An SEC safe harbour for offerings made entirely outside the United States — common for non-US-targeted yield-bearing stablecoins.

The assets backing a stablecoin's outstanding liabilities — for fiat-backed stables, predominantly cash + Treasuries.

A vulnerability-reporting protocol where researcher and protocol coordinate a fix before public announcement.

Reusing already-staked PoS collateral (e.g., ETH staked via Lido) to secure additional networks or services.

Rocket Pool's non-rebasing liquid-staking token — share-price grows with ETH staking yield.

A letter grade (AAA → D) summarising overall stablecoin or yield-pool risk under the StableLens v0.1 model.

Headline APY discounted by the StableLens risk model — comparable across protocols, chains, and structures.

A decentralised ETH staking protocol — issuer of [[reth]], with a permissionless node-operator set.

An L2 architecture that batches transactions off-chain and posts compressed state + proofs back to L1 for settlement.

A scam in which protocol operators withdraw user funds and abandon the project — distinct from a smart-contract exploit.

Tokenised off-chain assets — Treasuries, money-market funds, credit pools, real estate — used as on-chain collateral or yield products.

Government-imposed restrictions on financial transactions with specified persons, entities, or jurisdictions.

A two-leg MEV exploit — front-run a victim's swap with a buy, let it execute at worse price, back-run with a sell.

A bytecode-level zkEVM L2 — the closest mainline to running Ethereum Solidity unchanged with ZK validity proofs.

MakerDAO's interest-bearing wrapper of DAI, paying the [[dsr]] (DAI Savings Rate).

The US federal agency regulating securities markets — its enforcement decisions shape token-classification and stablecoin-as-security questions.

A SEC-registered transfer agent and broker-dealer — the on-chain issuance partner for BUIDL, several Hamilton Lane funds, and Apollo-affiliated tokens.

Reserves held in a way that legally insulates them from issuer-corporate creditors in bankruptcy.

A Cosmos-SDK L1 optimised for orderbook-style trading, with an EVM-compatible parallel execution layer (Sei v2).

The entity that orders transactions on a rollup — typically centralised today, with decentralisation roadmaps in progress.

The transfer of value finalising a trade or transfer — distinct from the trade or instruction that preceded it.

Frax's yield-bearing wrapper of FRAX — share-price grows with FRAX protocol revenue, primarily T-bill yield in v3.

Excess-return-over-cash divided by return volatility — the canonical risk-adjusted-return metric.

Yield that doesn't reinvest interest — equivalent to [[apr]] without compounding.

The post-Endgame rebrand of MakerDAO — issuer of [[usds]] alongside continued [[dai]] support.

Difference between expected and realised execution price — caused by pool depth + competing fills.

A trust-services audit examining controls over security, availability, processing integrity, confidentiality, and privacy.

A high-throughput Layer-1 with sub-second finality — large stablecoin float, distinct ecosystem from EVM chains.

The 2024 Fantom rebrand — EVM-compatible L1 with sub-second finality and an aggressive incentive programme to seed DeFi liquidity.

A Maker / Sky-affiliated lending market focused on DAI / USDS markets and high-quality yield-bearing collateral.

A small, dense in-line chart showing recent history of a metric — used throughout StableLens for at-a-glance trends.

The difference between two related prices or rates — bid-ask spread, supply-borrow spread, swap-Treasury spread.

A wrapped stablecoin whose share price rises as the underlying earns yield — non-rebasing, easier to integrate.

A Cairo-language ZK rollup operated by StarkWare — distinct from EVM-compatible rollups in language and runtime.

Lido's rebasing liquid-staking token — accrues ETH staking yield via daily balance rebases.

AAVE staked in the Aave Safety Module — provides backstop capital in case of protocol shortfall, earning emissions in return.

The price at which an option holder can exercise the right to buy (call) or sell (put) the underlying.

A Move-language L1 sister to Aptos, optimised for high-throughput object-centric programming — backed by Mysten Labs.

The interest rate suppliers earn in a pool-based lending market — derived from borrow rate × utilisation.

Ethena's yield-bearing wrapper of [[usde]] — share price grows with funding-rate + LST yield, net of fees.

Sky's yield-bearing wrapper of [[usds]] — share-price grows with the Sky Savings Rate (SSR).

A short-duration (≤ 1 year) US government debt instrument — the primary reserve asset for major fiat-backed stables.

The risk of rare, large-loss events sitting in the far end of the return distribution — typically underestimated by short-window historical models.

The issuer of [[usdt]] — the largest stablecoin by market cap, and the most controversial by regulatory standing.

A delay between when a governance action is queued and when it executes, giving the community time to react or exit.

A leading security firm that audits high-value smart contracts — best known for their depth on cryptographic primitives.

A FATF rule requiring VASPs to share originator + beneficiary information for transfers over a threshold (~$1,000).

A high-throughput L1 with the largest [[usdt]] float by issued supply, used heavily for retail remittance flows.

A NYDFS authorisation under NY Banking Law allowing the holder to act as a trust company for crypto assets.

The total dollar value of assets deposited in a protocol — the headline scale metric in DeFi.

A price metric averaged over a time window — used by oracles to resist short-burst manipulation.

Usual's permissionless RWA-backed stablecoin, redeemable 1:1 from a portfolio of tokenised T-bills and overnight repo.

The locked, yield-bearing version of [[usd0]] — receives RWA yield in exchange for a 4-year lock.

Blast's native auto-yielding stable — bridged DAI under the hood, paying T-bill yield via the chain's default-yield model.

A USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle — the largest fully-regulated, monthly-attested fiat-backed stable.

Ethena's synthetic dollar — collateralised by LSTs / LRTs hedged with short ETH perps.

Mountain Protocol's yield-bearing dollar — a regulated rebasing stablecoin paying daily T-bill yield to non-US holders.

Paxos's NY Trust-chartered USD stablecoin — strongest US regulatory wrapper of any major stablecoin.

Sky's post-Endgame stablecoin, 1:1 swappable with [[dai]], with sUSDS as the yield-bearing wrapper.

Tether's USD stablecoin — by far the largest by market cap and global trading-pair volume.

Ethena Labs' fiat-backed stablecoin — distinct from synthetic [[usde]], used for risk-off allocation by Ethena treasury.

Ondo's tokenised, yield-bearing dollar — backed by short-term US Treasuries and bank deposits, available to non-US investors.

Borrowed assets / supplied assets in a lending market — drives the supply / borrow rate via a kinked curve.

A smart contract that automates a yield strategy — users deposit, the contract executes.

The dominant DEX on Optimism — Solidly-style ve(3,3) tokenomics that inspired Aerodrome on Base.

A money market on BNB Chain — the largest stablecoin lending market on BSC by TVL.

A 3D plot of implied vol across strike + expiry — the canonical view of how the market prices forward risk.

A token-locking model where governance power and emissions weight scale with lock duration.

Worldcoin's OP Stack L2, designed to put proof-of-personhood at the chain level for sybil-resistant apps.

A token that represents another asset on a different chain or in a different standard, redeemable 1:1.

A non-rebasing wrapper of Lido stETH — share-price grows with staking yield.

The original DeFi yield aggregator — yVaults route deposits into the highest-risk-adjusted-yield strategies.

A protocol that pools deposits and routes them across underlying yield sources to maximise risk-adjusted return.

Pendle's tokenised pure yield claim — represents the right to all yield accrued by the underlying until maturity.

An L2 that posts validity proofs to L1, enabling near-instant withdrawals and stronger trust assumptions than optimistic rollups.

Matter Labs' Type 4 zkEVM — compiles Solidity to a custom VM rather than emulating the EVM directly.