Glossary
Glossary
Every term, defined plainly
The words the desk uses on every row, then 39 terms on tokenized stocks, NAV, market structure, RWAs, settlement, compliance and SportFi. Each one says what it is and what it is not.
The desk's words
used on every row- WrapperA token issued by a third party that tracks a listed share. You hold the issuer's instrument, not the company's.
- Register tokenThe token is the security, recorded on the issuer's own ledger. Holding it is holding the share.
- Tracker certificateYou are a creditor of the vehicle that holds or references the share. You are not the shareholder of record.
- Linked noteA debt instrument whose payoff follows a share. You are owed money by the issuer, not a slice of the company.
- Custodial entitlementA claim on shares a custodian holds for you. The shares exist; your name is on the custodian's books, not the company's.
- SyntheticA payoff contract that moves with a price. Nothing is held for you.
- Fund share tokenA share in a fund (money-market, T-bill) recorded on a chain. BUIDL and Benji are this.
- Deposit tokenA bank deposit represented on a ledger, used to settle.
- UnclassifiedThe desk has not signed this row's class yet. A ticker suffix is not a class.
- NAVWhat the shares behind one token are worth: the correct cash print times the shares each token represents.
- PremiumHow far the on-chain price sits above (or below) NAV, in basis points. One basis point is 0.01%.
- MarkThe price we would defend to a risk committee: NAV while it is fresh, otherwise the on-chain last, labelled as such.
- StaleThe last official NAV is older than the policy allows, so the mark falls back to the on-chain print and says so.
- ClaimWhat the holder can actually enforce, against whom, in which court.
- RightsVote, dividend path, redemption, and whether the issuer objected. The Innovation Exemption made these a pricing input.
- RedemptionHow and when a token turns back into cash or shares, and during which hours.
- CollateralPosting the token to borrow against it — Aave, a perp venue, off-exchange credit. The use case that is actually shipping.
- DeskA story written by hand at this desk, from a named source.
- WireAn auto-drafted story from a cited feed, labelled so you know.
- Fan tokenA utility token for club votes and perks. It carries no share of the club.
- Club equity tokenAn announced security in a sports club. Until it is offered it has no price and no market cap.
Equities
9 terms- Tokenized EquityA tokenized equity is a blockchain token that represents ownership of, or economic exposure to, a real company share. Backed versions are collateralized 1:1 by the underlying stock held in regulated custody; the token trades 24/7 and its on-chain price is tracked against the share's net asset value (NAV).
- Tokenized Stock Dividends & Corporate ActionsWhether a tokenized stock passes through dividends depends entirely on the issuer. Many backed tokenized stocks reflect a dividend as additional tokens, a separate distribution, or an adjustment to the token's value; others do not pass it through. Splits, mergers, and other corporate actions are mirrored on-chain per the issuer's documented terms.
- Backed vs Synthetic Tokenized AssetsA backed (asset-referenced) tokenized asset is collateralized 1:1 by the real asset held in custody — one token, one share or unit. A synthetic tokenized asset instead tracks the price using collateral and derivatives, with no underlying asset held per token. The two carry different rights and risks.
- Wrapper TokenA wrapper token is the on-chain envelope around an off-chain asset: a token issued by a vehicle — a fund, an SPV, or a regulated issuer — that holds the real share, bond or unit in custody. Your rights come from the wrapper's terms, not from the underlying asset itself, so two tokens tracking the same stock can carry very different claims.
- Synthetic ExposureSynthetic exposure tracks an asset's price without holding it. A synthetic token is collateralised by something else — usually crypto or stablecoins — and mirrors the reference price through a derivative, a peg mechanism, or an oracle-driven contract. No share sits in custody behind each token, so it cannot be redeemed for the underlying.
- Equity TokenAn equity token is a token that is legally a share or an economic interest in a company — a security, issued under securities law, with an identified issuer, disclosure obligations, and usually a transfer agent maintaining the holder register. It is not a utility token, and a fan token is never one.
- Corporate ActionA corporate action is any issuer event that changes a share's economics or identity — dividend, split, reverse split, merger, spin-off, rights issue, ticker change or delisting. For a tokenized equity every one of these must be mirrored on-chain by the issuer under a documented process, or the token stops representing what it claims to.
- Dividend PassthroughDividend passthrough is how — and whether — a cash dividend on the underlying share reaches token holders. Three designs exist: a stablecoin distribution, additional tokens minted to holders, or accumulation inside the token's value so the price rises instead of a payment arriving. Some products pass nothing through at all.
- Stock Split HandlingA stock split changes the share count without changing the value held. For a tokenized equity the issuer mirrors it in one of two ways: minting additional tokens to holders in the split ratio, or adjusting the shares multiplier so each existing token represents proportionally fewer shares. Either way, economic exposure should be unchanged.
Pricing
8 terms- NAV Premium & DiscountNAV premium (or discount) is the gap between a tokenized asset's on-chain market price and its net asset value (NAV) — the value of the underlying share or fund. The formula is premium % = (token price − NAV) ÷ NAV × 100. A token trading above NAV is at a premium; below NAV, a discount.
- De-Peg & Tracking ErrorA de-peg (or tracking error) is when a tokenized asset's price drifts away from the value of the share or fund it represents. Small, temporary gaps are normal NAV premium or discount; a sustained, large divergence is a de-peg and can signal liquidity, oracle, or backing stress.
- Multi-Oracle PricingMulti-oracle pricing values a tokenized asset by comparing several independent price feeds — such as Pyth, Chainlink, the issuer's published NAV, and the on-chain market price — instead of trusting one source. Agreement across oracles signals a reliable price; divergence flags risk or a potential de-peg.
- Mint & RedeemMint and redeem is the primary-market mechanism that keeps a backed tokenized asset aligned with its underlying. Authorized parties mint new tokens when shares are deposited into custody and redeem tokens to release the shares. This arbitrage loop is what pulls a token's price back toward its net asset value (NAV).
- Net Asset Value (NAV)Net asset value (NAV) is the reference value of what a token represents — for a tokenized equity, the underlying share price multiplied by the shares multiplier; for a tokenized fund, assets minus liabilities divided by units outstanding. NAV is the yardstick a token's market price is measured against, not the price most holders can transact at.
- Shares MultiplierThe shares multiplier is how many underlying shares one token represents. Ondo Global Markets publishes it per asset as sharesMultiplier, and NAV per token equals the underlying share price multiplied by it. Where the multiplier is above 1, the token price is a multiple of the share price — so comparing a token quote directly against the stock quote invents a premium that does not exist.
- Oracle DivergenceOracle divergence is how far an individual price feed sits from the consensus of the feeds tracking the same asset, measured per source against the mean of the live feeds. A tight cluster means the print is trustworthy. One feed drifting past the threshold means that source is suspect — not that the asset has moved.
- Redemption GateA redemption gate is any limit on converting a token back into the underlying: a queue, a notice period, a daily cap, a minimum size, an eligibility restriction, or a full suspension. Gates exist to protect a fund from a run, and they are the most common reason a token drifts into a persistent discount.
Market Structure
4 terms- 24/5 vs 24/7 Trading24/5 means trading runs around the clock on weekdays and pauses at the weekend; 24/7 means it never stops. Tokenized equities settle on chains that run 24/7, but their underlying exchanges do not — so a venue can quote a token continuously while the share it references only prices during exchange hours.
- Market-Hours GapThe market-hours gap is the window when a tokenized equity keeps trading but its underlying exchange is closed. During the gap the NAV reference is a frozen last print, so any premium or discount reading measures the market's expectation of the next open rather than a live mispricing. Gaps are widest over weekends, holidays and trading halts.
- Primary vs Secondary MarketThe primary market is where tokens are created and destroyed against the underlying — authorised parties mint on deposit and redeem for delivery, transacting at NAV under the issuer's terms. The secondary market is where everyone else trades existing tokens with each other at the venue's price. The gap between the two is the NAV premium.
- Custody vs Self-CustodyCustody is the question of who holds the asset. A tokenized product has two layers: a regulated custodian holds the underlying share or fund unit off-chain, while the token itself sits either in your own wallet (self-custody) or with a platform holding the keys for you. Self-custodying the token never means self-custodying the underlying.
RWA
3 terms- Real-World Asset (RWA)A real-world asset (RWA) in crypto is an off-chain asset — a Treasury bill, equity, fund, bond, commodity, or property — represented as a blockchain token. Tokenization puts ownership or economic exposure on-chain so the asset can settle, transfer, and be used as collateral 24/7.
- Tokenized TreasuryA tokenized treasury is a money-market or short-term US Treasury fund issued as a blockchain token that pays yield on-chain. Examples include BlackRock's BUIDL, Ondo's OUSG and USDY, and Franklin Templeton's BENJI. Each token is backed by the fund's holdings in regulated custody.
- Deposit TokenA deposit token is a tokenized claim on a commercial-bank deposit — bank money represented on a blockchain and transferable between the bank's verified clients. It is a liability of the issuing bank, sits inside the regulated banking perimeter, and is permissioned by design. JPMorgan's JPMD is the most cited example.
Settlement
3 terms- Atomic SettlementAtomic settlement is all-or-nothing settlement: every leg of a transaction completes together or none do, with no partial or failed state. For tokenized assets it enables instant delivery-versus-payment — the asset and the payment change hands in one indivisible step, removing the risk that one side settles and the other does not.
- AggLayerAggLayer is Polygon's cross-chain settlement layer. Connected chains post proofs of their state to a shared bridge, which aggregates them so assets and messages move between those chains as one unified liquidity set instead of through per-chain wrapped IOUs. Safety at the bridge is enforced by pessimistic proofs.
- Pessimistic ProofA pessimistic proof is a bridge safety check that assumes every connected chain may be broken. Before a withdrawal settles it proves the chain cannot take out more than it has put in: cumulative withdrawals must not exceed deposits net of pending exits. A chain that fails the check can only damage itself, never the shared bridge.
Compliance
7 terms- T-REX (ERC-3643)T-REX (ERC-3643) is an Ethereum token standard for compliant, permissioned security tokens. It enforces on-chain identity and transfer rules so that only verified, eligible wallets can hold or trade a tokenized security — embedding KYC and eligibility checks into the token itself.
- Proof of ReserveProof of reserve (PoR) is an independent, on-chain attestation that a tokenized asset is fully backed by the assets it claims to hold. Chainlink Proof of Reserve is the most widely used: it publishes the verified reserve amount on-chain so anyone can check that a token's backing matches its circulating supply.
- ONCHAINIDONCHAINID is the on-chain identity layer used by permissioned security-token standards such as T-REX (ERC-3643). Each holder has an identity contract storing signed claims — verified identity, jurisdiction, investor status — issued by trusted parties. The token's compliance rules read those claims to decide whether a transfer is allowed.
- Transfer AgentA transfer agent is the regulated record-keeper of who owns a security. It maintains the official holder register, processes issuance, transfers and redemptions, and administers corporate actions. In tokenized markets the transfer agent is what makes an on-chain ledger the legal book of record rather than a mirror of one held elsewhere.
- AttestationAn attestation is a signed statement by a named party that a specific fact was true at a specific time — reserves held, a price observed, an identity verified. It carries the attester's name and a timestamp. It is not an audit: it confirms a point-in-time assertion under agreed procedures, not the completeness of a set of books.
- KYC / AML GateA KYC/AML gate is the check that decides which wallets may hold or receive a regulated token. Know-your-customer verification identifies the holder; anti-money-laundering screening tests them against sanctions and risk lists. In tokenized securities the result is enforced at the token contract, so an unverified address simply cannot receive the asset.
- Eligibility (US vs Non-US)Eligibility is the jurisdictional rule that decides who may hold a tokenized product. Most backed tokenized equities are offered to non-US persons only, or to US investors solely under an exemption. The rule is applied at onboarding and, for permissioned tokens, re-checked at every transfer — so eligibility is a live state, not a one-time form.
SportFi
5 terms- Fan TokenA fan token is a utility token issued by a sports club (via platforms like Socios.com on Chiliz Chain) that grants engagement rights — polls, rewards, experiences — to holders. It is not equity: it carries no ownership, dividends, or claim on club revenue, and its price reflects fan demand, not club financials.
- Socios Equity TokenThe Socios Equity Token is an announced (August 2026) regulated security token, built with Securitize as transfer agent, intended to represent real equity exposure in sports-related assets. As of September 2026 it is announced, not offered — no terms, price, or offering documents have been published. It is not a fan token.
- Chiliz Chain (CC2)Chiliz Chain is an EVM-compatible blockchain (mainnet id 88888) purpose-built for sport and entertainment tokenization, secured by a proof-of-staked-authority validator set and gas-paid in CHZ. Fan tokens live on it as CAP-20 tokens — the chain's ERC-20-equivalent standard.
- OFT (Omnichain Fungible Token)An OFT (Omnichain Fungible Token) is a LayerZero token standard that lets one asset live natively on multiple chains with a unified supply: tokens are burned on the source chain and minted on the destination, so no wrapped copies or bridge pools accumulate. CHZ and several fan tokens use OFT to exist beyond Chiliz Chain.
- CAP-20CAP-20 is Chiliz Chain's fungible-token standard, functionally equivalent to ERC-20 on an EVM chain. Official Socios fan tokens are issued as CAP-20 tokens on Chiliz mainnet (chain id 88888), with CHZ paid as gas. The standard carries no ownership or revenue rights — those depend on the instrument, never on the token format.