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General Terms

Address Poisoning: A scam technique where attackers send small amounts of tokens from addresses similar to a user’s legitimate contacts, hoping the user will accidentally copy the malicious address. AMM (Automated Market Maker): A type of decentralized exchange protocol that uses mathematical formulas to price assets, enabling permissionless trading without order books. API Key: A unique identifier used to authenticate requests to the Range API. Keep this confidential and never expose it in client-side code. Blockchain: A distributed ledger technology that records transactions across multiple computers in a way that ensures security, transparency, and immutability. Bridge: A protocol that enables the transfer of assets or data between different blockchain networks. CEX (Centralized Exchange): A cryptocurrency exchange operated by a centralized entity, such as Binance or Coinbase. Cross-Chain: Refers to operations, transactions, or protocols that work across multiple blockchain networks. DEX (Decentralized Exchange): A peer-to-peer marketplace for trading cryptocurrencies without intermediaries or central authority. DeFi (Decentralized Finance): Financial services built on blockchain technology, removing intermediaries and enabling open, permissionless access to financial products.

Compliance & Risk

AML (Anti-Money Laundering): Regulations and procedures designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income. Blacklist: A list of addresses or entities that are blocked from transacting due to suspected malicious activity or regulatory restrictions. KYC (Know Your Customer): The process of verifying the identity of users to prevent fraud, money laundering, and terrorist financing. KYT (Know Your Transaction): Real-time monitoring and analysis of blockchain transactions to detect suspicious activity and ensure compliance. OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control): A U.S. Treasury department that enforces economic and trade sanctions. Many blockchain addresses are sanctioned by OFAC. Risk Score: A numerical value assigned to an address or transaction indicating the level of risk based on various factors like sanctions, prior illicit activity, and behavioral patterns. Sanctions List: A list of addresses or entities restricted from transacting due to regulatory or legal reasons (e.g., OFAC, EU, UK, UN sanctions). Travel Rule: A regulatory requirement (FATF Recommendation 16) that mandates Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to share customer information for transactions above certain thresholds.

Stablecoin & Payments

Aggregator: A service that sources liquidity from multiple DEXs or exchanges to provide users with the best possible price for trades. Faraday: Range’s API for executing compliant cross-chain stablecoin transfers with integrated risk screening, best-price routing, and Travel Rule compliance. Fiat On/Off-Ramp: Services that allow users to convert between fiat currency (e.g., USD, EUR) and cryptocurrencies. Liquidity: The ease with which an asset can be bought or sold without significantly affecting its price. Liquidity Pool: A collection of funds locked in a smart contract, used to facilitate trading on DEXs and AMMs. Slippage: The difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual execution price, typically caused by market volatility or low liquidity. Stablecoin: A cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged to a fiat currency like USD (e.g., USDC, USDT, DAI). Swap: The exchange of one cryptocurrency for another, typically executed on a DEX or through an aggregator.

DeFi Metrics

APY (Annual Percentage Yield): The annualized rate of return on an investment, accounting for compound interest. Borrowing Rate: The interest rate paid by users who borrow assets from a lending protocol. Lending Rate: The interest rate earned by users who supply assets to a lending protocol. TVL (Total Value Locked): The total value of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol or smart contract, used as a measure of protocol adoption and size. Utilization Rate: The ratio of borrowed assets to total supplied assets in a lending protocol, indicating how efficiently capital is being used. Yield Farming: The practice of staking or lending crypto assets to generate high returns, often by providing liquidity to DeFi protocols.

Blockchain Concepts

Block Explorer: A web interface that allows users to view transactions, addresses, and other on-chain data for a specific blockchain. Gas Fee: The cost required to execute a transaction or smart contract operation on a blockchain network like Ethereum. Mempool: The waiting area for unconfirmed transactions before they are included in a block by miners or validators. Non-Custodial: A system where users maintain complete control of their private keys and assets without relying on a third-party custodian. Oracle: A service that provides external, real-world data to smart contracts on the blockchain. Smart Contract: Self-executing code deployed on a blockchain that automatically enforces the terms of an agreement when predefined conditions are met. Transaction Hash (TxHash): A unique identifier for a blockchain transaction, used to track and verify its status. Validator: A network participant responsible for verifying transactions and maintaining the integrity of a proof-of-stake blockchain. Wallet: A software application or hardware device that stores private keys and allows users to interact with blockchain networks.

Range-Specific Terms

Entity Labeling: The process of identifying and tagging blockchain addresses with known entities (e.g., exchanges, protocols, institutions). Malicious Address: A wallet address flagged for involvement in scams, hacks, phishing, or other illicit activities. Network Tag: A label identifying which blockchain network an address belongs to (e.g., Ethereum, Solana, Polygon). Wallet Cohorting: Grouping wallets by type or behavior (e.g., retail, institutional, exchange, smart contract, validator). Whale: A wallet or entity holding a large amount of a particular cryptocurrency, capable of significantly influencing market prices.

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