Terms used across Crypency

Short definitions for boards and builders. Suggest additions via the for-companies contact forms.

CBDC: Central Bank Digital Currency — digital liability of a central bank (retail or wholesale).
EMT: E-Money Token under EU MiCA — fiat-referenced token treated similarly to e-money.
ART: Asset-Referenced Token under MiCA — references multiple currencies/assets.
CASP: Crypto-Asset Service Provider — MiCA-authorized entity offering crypto services in the EU.
VASP: Virtual Asset Service Provider — FATF term for businesses exchanging or transferring virtual assets.
TVL: Total Value Locked — DeFi metric of assets deposited in protocols (methodology varies).
RWA distributed: Term used by some third-party RWA dashboards for tokenized real-world assets that can move between wallets on public chains. Definitions vary by provider.
RWA represented: Term used by some third-party RWA dashboards for assets recorded on-chain but transferred only through the issuer’s own platform or records. Broader than “distributed”; definitions vary by provider.
RTGS: Real-Time Gross Settlement — central-bank systems like Fedwire or TARGET2.
RTP: Real-Time Payments — e.g. FedNow for U.S. banks; not a CBDC.
DvP: Delivery versus Payment — atomic exchange of asset and cash legs.
Travel Rule: FATF Recommendation 16 — originator/beneficiary info sharing between VASPs.
MPC: Multi-Party Computation — key-sharing technique used in institutional wallets.
L2: Layer 2 — scaling network built atop a Layer 1 (e.g. Ethereum rollups).
GENIUS Act: U.S. federal payment-stablecoin statute enacted 18 Jul 2025.
MiCA: Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (EU) 2023/1114.