Digital Asset Glossary

The Taurus digital asset glossary defines the terms banks and regulated financial institutions use when evaluating digital asset custody, tokenization, trading, and settlement: from hardware security modules and air-gapped cold storage to tokenized deposits and post-quantum cryptography. Each entry opens with a plain-language definition, then explains why the concept matters in a banking-grade deployment.

Custody and key management

Custody technology provider A custody technology provider supplies the software and hardware stack…
Digital asset custody Digital asset custody is the safekeeping of the private keys…
Hardware security module (HSM) A hardware security module (HSM) is a tamper-resistant physical device…
Key backup and recovery Key backup and recovery is the controlled duplication of private…
Key ceremony A key ceremony is the formal, witnessed, and documented procedure…
Multi-party computation (MPC) Multi-party computation (MPC) is a cryptographic technique that splits a…
Multisignature (multisig) Multisignature (multisig) is an on-chain mechanism requiring several distinct private…
Private key A private key is the cryptographic secret that authorizes transactions…
Private key sovereignty Private key sovereignty means a bank keeps exclusive, provable control…
Quorum approval Quorum approval requires a defined minimum number of authorized approvers…
Segregated and omnibus wallets A segregated wallet holds one client's assets under a dedicated…
Wallet-as-a-service (WaaS) Wallet-as-a-service (WaaS) provides wallet creation, key management, and transaction capabilities…

Cold storage and air gap

Air gap An air gap is the isolation of a system from…
Cold storage Cold storage is a custody configuration that precludes automated, programmatic…
Data diode A data diode is a hardware device that physically permits…
Hot wallet A hot wallet is a wallet whose signing keys are…
Physical air gap A physical air gap means the signing environment has zero…
Technical air gap A technical air gap isolates the signing environment behind a…
Warm wallet A warm wallet sits between hot and cold: keys are…

Tokenization

Central bank digital currency (CBDC) A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is digital money issued…
CMTAT CMTAT, the Capital Markets and Technology Association Token, is an…
ERC-1400 ERC-1400 is a family of Ethereum standards for security tokens…
ERC-3643 ERC-3643 is an Ethereum token standard for permissioned tokens: every…
Permissioned blockchain A permissioned blockchain restricts who may operate nodes, validate transactions…
Smart contract A smart contract is code deployed on a blockchain that…
Stablecoin A stablecoin is a blockchain token designed to hold a…
Token standard A token standard is a published smart contract interface that…
Tokenization Tokenization is the issuance of a blockchain token that represents…
Tokenized deposit A tokenized deposit is a commercial bank deposit represented as…
Tokenized securities Tokenized securities are regulated financial instruments, equity, debt, structured products…

Trading and settlement

Collateral management (digital assets) Digital asset collateral management is the pledging of digital assets…
Counterparty risk (digital assets) Counterparty risk is the exposure that the other side of…
Institutional staking Institutional staking is the participation in proof-of-stake network validation using…
Off-exchange settlement Off-exchange settlement lets institutions trade on venues without pre-funding them…
Settlement finality Settlement finality is the point at which a transfer becomes…

Post-quantum security

Cryptographic agility Cryptographic agility is the ability to replace cryptographic algorithms in…
Harvest now, decrypt later Harvest now, decrypt later is an attack in which adversaries…
Hash-based signatures Hash-based signatures, including SLH-DSA (FIPS 205), LMS, and HSS, derive…
ML-DSA ML-DSA, standardized as FIPS 204, is the primary NIST post-quantum…
ML-KEM ML-KEM, standardized as FIPS 203, is the NIST post-quantum key…
Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) Post-quantum cryptography (PQC) is the family of cryptographic algorithms designed…

Compliance and deployment

CMTA DACS The CMTA Digital Assets Custody Standard (DACS) is the Capital…
DORA DORA, the EU Digital Operational Resilience Act, applies since January…
FIPS 140 FIPS 140 is the US government standard for validating cryptographic…
ISAE 3402 ISAE 3402 is the international assurance standard under which an…
Know your transaction (KYT) Know your transaction (KYT) is the continuous screening of blockchain…
MiCA MiCA, the EU Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, creates a unified…
Multi-cloud deployment Multi-cloud deployment runs a platform across several cloud providers at…
On-premises custody On-premises custody runs the custody platform inside the bank's own…
Sovereign deployment Sovereign deployment runs the entire custody stack, policy engine, transaction…
Swift ledger Swift ledger is a blockchain-based shared ledger announced at Sibos…
Travel Rule The Travel Rule, from FATF Recommendation 16, requires financial institutions…

Talk to our experts →