Skip to content
Home » Trustpedia

Trustpedia

A

Account:
An arrangement with the Trust that holds securely your money or assets.

AML:
Anti-money Laundering is a set of policies and procedures enforced by European directives and local regulations to prevent the use of financial systems for the purpose of money laundering.

B

Beneficiary:
A beneficiary of trust is the individual or group of individuals for whom an account Trust is created. The trust creator or grantor designates beneficiaries and a trustee, who has a fiduciary duty to manage trust assets in the best interests of beneficiaries as outlined in the trust agreement. 

Bitcoin:
Bitcoin is a digital currency created in January 2009. It follows the ideas set out in a whitepaper by the mysterious and pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto, whose true identity has yet to be verified. Bitcoin offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms.

Blockchain:
Blockchain is the underlying technology that Bitcoin and most other digital assets use to record and validate transactions. It is a linked list of transaction updates to a virtual digital public ledger. A blockchain consists of a group of transactions in blocks. These blocks are cryptographically connected to one another as they are mined, creating a long chain. The nature of the cryptographic tie from one block to previous blocks means that previous blocks cannot be altered by anyone.

BTC:
BTC is the original shorthand for bitcoin. This designation is often used on digital asset exchanges to denominate a bitcoin’s current value. However, there has been an increase in the use of XBT as an alternate designation. The reason for this is that the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which keeps a listing of all currencies, uses X to symbolize a currency that is not attached to a specific country (which is the case for all digital assets, because they are decentralized).

C

Cryptocurrency:
A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double- spend. Many cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on blockchain technology—a distributed ledger enforced by a disparate network of computers. A defining feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are generally not issued by any central authority, rendering them theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation.

Custody:
A custodian is an institution that holds customers’ securities for safekeeping in order to minimize the risk of their theft or loss. A custodian holds securities and other assets in electronic or physical form.

D

Data:
Information, especially facts or numbers, collected to be examined and considered and used to help decision-making, or information in an electronic form that can be stored and used by a computer.

Data protection:
Data protection is the process of protecting data and involves the relationship between the collection and dissemination of data and technology, the public perception and expectation of privacy and the political and legal underpinnings surrounding that data. It aims to strike a balance between individual privacy rights while still allowing data to be used for business purposes. Data protection is also known as data privacy or information privacy.

Deed of Trust:
A deed of trust (also known as a trust deed) is a document sometimes used in financed real estate transactions, generally instead of a mortgage. Deeds of trust transfer the legal title of a property to a third party to hold until the borrower repays their debt to the lender.

Digital Asset:
A digital asset is a digital entity owned by an individual or company. Examples include digital photos, videos, and songs. These assets are not tangible, meaning they have no physical presence. Instead, they are files that reside on storage device, such as a local computer or a cloud-based storage network. On our context digital assets are also classified as as cryptocurrencies, crypto assets, virtual currencies, and crypto tokens.

Digital Signature:
A digital signature is a mathematical technique used to validate the authenticity and integrity of a message, software or digital document. As the digital equivalent of a handwritten signature or stamped seal, a digital signature offers far more inherent security, and it is intended to solve the problem of tampering and impersonation in digital communications.

Due Diligence:
Due diligence is an investigation, audit, or review performed to confirm facts or details of a matter under consideration. For example, due diligence requires an examination of financial records before entering into a proposed transaction with another party.

Discretionary distributions
Your trustee has full discretion over when and what funds are given to beneficiaries.

E

Estate:
The aggregate of all property and interests in property owned by an individual. Comprises all assets an individual owns at time of death, including securities, real estate, interests in business, life insurance, physical possessions, stocks, bonds, cash, etc. A decedent’s estate is equal to the total value of assets as of the date of death.

Ethereum:
Launched in 2015, Ethereum is an open-source, blockchain-based, decentralized software platform used for its own cryptocurrency, Ether. It enables SmartContracts and Distributed Applications (ĐApps) to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control, or interference from a third party

Exchange:
An exchange is a marketplace where securities, commodities, derivatives, digital assets and other financial instruments are traded. The core function of an exchange is to ensure fair and orderly trading and the efficient dissemination of price information for any securities trading on that exchange. Some exchanges facilitate trading bitcoins for fiat currency, while others enable trading among different digital assets.

F

Fiat Money:
Fiat money is government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand and the stability of the issuing government, rather than the worth of a commodity backing it as is the case for commodity money.

Fiduciary:
A trustee, executor, personal representative or administrator, who is legally required to act in good faith and in the best interests and trust of a beneficiary.

Fund:
A fund is a pool of money that is allocated for a specific purpose. A fund can be established for any purpose whatsoever, whether it is a city government setting aside money to build a new civic center, a college setting aside money to award a scholarship, or an insurance company setting aside money to pay its customers’ claims.

G

Grantor:
The person who sets up a trust. Grantor trust rules are the rules that apply to different types of trusts.
Grantor trusts can be either revocable or irrevocable trusts. With intentionally defective grantor trusts, the grantor must pay taxes on any income, but the assets are not part of the owner’s estate.

H

Hash:
A hash is the function of mapping data of variable size to a new set of data at a fixed size in such a way that the reverse computation is effectively impossible. Cryptographic hash functions require specific properties to be considered secure, and different digital assets may use different hash functions. The SHA- 256 hashing algorithm is used in Bitcoin, and SHA-3 with Ethereum, for example.

I

Irrevocable Trust:
The purpose of an irrevocable trust is to move the assets from the grantor’s control and name to that of the beneficiary. This reduces the value of the grantor’s estate in regard to estate taxes and protects the assets from creditors.
Irrevocable trusts cannot be modified, amended, or terminated without the permission of the grantor’s beneficiary or by the order of a court. 

K

KYC Individual:
Know your Customer is a process performed by an issuer to verify the identity of individual person.

N

Non-Fungible Token (NFT):
NFTs are unique cryptographic tokens that exist on a blockchain and cannot be replicated.
NFTs can represent real-world items like artwork and real estate.
“Tokenizing” these real-world tangible assets makes buying, selling, and trading them more efficient while reducing the probability of fraud.
NFTs can also function to represent individuals’ identities, property rights, and more.

P

Politically Exposed Person (PEP):
A politically exposed person (PEP) is a person who has a public status and functions. PEPs are usually subject to stricter measures due to a higher risk of potential involvement in corruption, bribery or money-laundering.

Proof of Sources of Funds (PoSoF) 
Is one or several documents providing information on the origin of such funds, covering  all deposits made via the funding method in question. 

R

Real Estate Investment Trust:
A real estate investment trust (REIT) is a company that owns, operates, or finances income-generating real estate. Modeled after mutual funds, REITs pool the capital of numerous investors. This makes it possible for individual investors to earn dividends from real estate investments—without having to buy, manage, or finance any properties themselves.

Revocable Trust:
A revocable trust is a trust whereby provisions can be altered or canceled depending on the wishes of the grantor or the originator of the trust. During the life of the trust, income earned is distributed to the grantor, and only after death does property transfer to the beneficiaries of the trust.

S

Settlor:
Is who owns the assets, assigns them to the Trust and decides for what purpose they are to be used. If he wishes, he can sign a trust deed in front of his notary, with which to direct how these assets will be administered, how they will go in succession, how the beneficiaries will enjoy them and all the other rules necessary to administer and properly manage assets.

Source of Funds (SoF):
Source of Funds is the origin of an individual’s funds upon the commencement of a business relationship/transaction.

T

Transaction Fee:
A transaction fee is an amount of cryptocurrency that is attached to a transaction and that incentivizes miners to process the user’s transaction. In Bitcoin, a transaction fee is not mandatory, nor is it prescribed by the code. Users can choose how much to pay for their transactions to be processed. That is why during times of network congestion, the average transaction fee goes up, as users are trying to incentivize miners to process their transactions over other users’ transactions. On the other hand, when network traffic slows down, average transaction fees also decline.

Trust:
A trust is a fiduciary relationship in which one party, known as a trustor, gives another party, the trustee, the right to hold title to property or assets for the benefit of a third party, the beneficiary. Trusts are established to provide legal protection for the trustor’s assets, to make sure those assets are distributed according to the wishes of the trustor, and to save time, reduce paperwork and, in some cases, avoid or reduce inheritance or estate taxes.

Trustee:
A trustee is a person or firm that holds and administers property or assets for the benefit of a third party. A trustee may be appointed for various purposes, and to manage assets for someone.
Trustees are required to make decisions in the beneficiary’s best interests and have a fiduciary responsibility to them, meaning they act in the best interests of the beneficiaries to manage their assets.

V

Virtual Currency:
Virtual currency is a type of unregulated digital currency that is only available in electronic form. It is stored and transacted only through designated software, mobile or computer applications, or through dedicated digital wallets, and the transactions occur over the internet through secure, dedicated networks. Virtual currency is considered to be a subset of the digital currency group, which also includes cryptocurrencies, which exist within the blockchain network.

W

Wallet:
A digital asset wallet is a piece of software that maintains keys and manages addresses. A wallet is comprised of a set of addresses. If the wallet has the private keys for these addresses, it is capable of sending transactions. If it does not have the private keys for these addresses, it is called a watch-only wallet, as might be used by an auditor.

Whitepaper:
The Bitcoin whitepaper, Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, was published in 2008 by Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin is revolutionizing the global payments industry and people around the world are rethinking the meaning of their money. Moreover, the underlying technology and network that process Bitcoin transactions, known as blockchain, is transforming industries as varied as banking, farming, logistics, healthcare, elections and manufacturing, to name a few.

Will:
Legal declaration naming one or more persons to manage one’s estate and providing for transfer of one’s property at death, historically, only of one’s real property.

INSIGHT &
PROJECT

Start supporting new projects in line with your values. Come and discover them on the dedicated page.