Terminology for Crypto Asset
draft-nakajima-crypto-asset-terminology-00

Abstract

This document provides terminology used in crypto asset.

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on January 3, 2019.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2018 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Conventions and Definitions
• 3. Terms and Definitions
• 4. Security Considerations
• 5. IANA Considerations
• 6. References
• 6.1. Normative References
• 6.2. Informative References
• Acknowledgments
• Authors' Addresses

1. Introduction

Our goal with this document is to improve our understanding on a set of terms which frequently used in documents which related to crypto asset. Mutual understanding about terminology may help to reach a consensus on issues we’re trying to solve.

2. Conventions and Definitions

The key words “MUST”, “MUST NOT”, “REQUIRED”, “SHALL”, “SHALL NOT”, “SHOULD”, “SHOULD NOT”, “RECOMMENDED”, “NOT RECOMMENDED”, “MAY”, and “OPTIONAL” in this document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119] [RFC8174] when, and only when, they appear in all capitals, as shown here.

3. Terms and Definitions

address:

An identifier to represent a public key in a blockchain network.

asymmetric cryptography:

Defined in [RFC4949] as “A modern branch of cryptography (popularly known as “public-key cryptography”) in which the algorithms use a pair of keys (a public key and a private key) and use a different component of the pair for each of two counterpart cryptographic operations (e.g., encryption and decryption, or signature creation and signature verification). “

block:

A basic unit of the blockchain. A set of transactions on a blockchain which contains a cryptographic hash value of previous block.

blockchain:

A digital ledger about transactions for crypto assets.

confirmation:

(For transactions,) checking correctness of a transaction in the mainchain.

consensus:

Coincidence the way of thinking.

crypto assets:

Cryptographically guaranteed value.

deterministic wallet:

See: wallet

digital signature:

Defined in [RFC4949] as “A value computed with a cryptographic algorithm and associated with a data object in such a way that any recipient of the data can use the signature to verify the data’s origin and integrity.”

distributed ledger:

A distributed database about crypto assets with agreed processed.

double spending:

Defined in [MasteringBitcoinOnline] as “result of successfully spending some money more than once.”

fiat money:

Currency which has been established by government or other authorities.

fork:

Defined in [MasteringBitcoinOnline] as “Fork, also known as accidental fork, occurs when two or more blocks have the same block height, forking the block chain. Typically occurs when two or more miners find blocks at nearly the same time.”

genesis block:

An initial block on a blockchain. Genesis block may differ to distinguish chains.

hard fork:

See: fork

hash value:

Defined in [RFC4949] as “The output of a hash function.”

hash rate:

Amount of a hash value which node is able to generate per unit of time (generally per second)

hierarchy deterministic wallet:

See: wallet

mining:

A process to append a received transaction to a block by validating a transaction with agreed consensus rules such as proof-of-work and proof-of-stake. Miner is a network node which contributes its resources to mining.

miner:

See: mining

multisignature:

Defined in [MasteringBitcoinOnline] as “requiring more than one key to authorize a bitcoin transaction”. In this scope, transaction is not limited to bitcoin transaction.

node:

A device that connects to blockchain network.

off-chain transaction:

The movement of value outside of the blockchain

on-chain transaction:

The movement of value on the blockchain

orphan block:

Defined in [MasteringBitcoinOnline] as “Blocks whose parent block has not been processed by the local node, so they can’t be fully validated yet.”

permissioned-chain:

A public blockchain that only specified members can join the blockchain network.

permissionless-chain:

See: permissioned-chain

public-chain:

An open blockchain that anyone can retrieve all of blocks and transactions without special privileges.

public key:

Defined in [RFC4949] as “The publicly disclosable component of a pair of cryptographic keys used for asymmetric cryptography.”

private-chain:

In contrast with “public-chain”, A closed blockchain that only permissioned users can access blocks and make transactions.

private key:

Defined in [RFC4949] as “The secret component of a pair of cryptographic keys used for asymmetric cryptography.”

proof-of-stake:

Defined in [MasteringBitcoinOnline] as “method by which a cryptocurrency blockchain network aims to achieve distributed consensus.”

proof-of-work:

Defined in [MasteringBitcoinOnline] as “A piece of data that requires significant computation to find.”

reorganization:

Invalidation process of branched blockchains.

reward:

Value by the blockchain network which assigned to a miner who successfully validates a transaction. Rules may differ among blockchains and consensus rules.

side-chain:

See off-chain

smart contract:

A guaranteed digital procedure that automatically enforced on a blockchain network.

soft fork:

See: fork

token:

An unforgeable data object.

transaction:

Defined in [MasteringBitcoinOnline] as “More precisely, a transaction is a signed data structure expressing a transfer of value.”

validation:

Checking correctness and consistency of given data.

validated:

See: validation

validator:

See: validation

wallet:

A set of key pair composed of public key and private key.

4. Security Considerations

This document defines terminology for crypto asset. Therefore, there is no security considerations.

5. IANA Considerations

None.

6. References

6.1. Normative References

6.2. Informative References

Acknowledgments

Thanks to members of the Virtual Currency Governance Task Force for help and feedback.

Authors' Addresses