Glossary

Plain-English definitions of the terms used throughout this documentation.

Plain-English definitions of the terms used throughout this documentation. No prior knowledge of Bitcoin or blockchain technology is assumed.

Address Book. A workspace-level list of saved addresses. You save an address once and reuse it when whitelisting it for a token or selecting it as a transfer destination. Saving an address does not approve it for any token on its own.

Audit log. A comprehensive record of significant actions in a workspace, accessed from the Reports page. It captures authentication, governance, policy, workflow, signing, Bitcoin network, SCL, tenant, system, and audit events, and can be exported as CSV.

Bitcoin. A global, decentralised network that records transactions on a shared public ledger. No single organisation controls it. SQRL uses Bitcoin as its settlement layer: every token deployment and value-moving operation is written to the Bitcoin network as a transaction. Once a transaction is recorded, it cannot be altered or reversed by anyone, including Orobit.

Burn / Redeem. The act of permanently destroying tokens and removing them from circulation. Burning is the reverse of minting and is typically used to redeem underlying collateral or retire tokens at end of life. Only the vault that owns the token contract can initiate a burn.

Cycle period. The interval, weekly or monthly, after which a vault's usage counters reset. Used with transaction limits to cap how much can move within each period.

Hardware wallet. A dedicated physical device, such as a Trezor, that stores your private key in isolated hardware. Signing happens on the device itself without exposing the key to your computer. SQRL can register the public key from a hardware wallet and verify signatures produced by it. The private key never leaves the device.

Key. A public key identifier registered with SQRL. You provide your public key only. SQRL never receives, stores, or has access to your private key. Your public key is like an address that identifies you as an authorised signer. Your private key is the secret counterpart, held in your own wallet, that proves you authorised a transaction.

Mint / Issue. The act of creating new tokens and adding them to circulation, up to the maximum supply set at deployment. Only the vault that owns the token contract can initiate a mint.

Movement. Any value-moving operation in SQRL: Mint / Issue, Burn / Redeem, or Transfer. Every movement follows the same four-step creation wizard and the same signing workflow.

Non-custodial. A design principle: SQRL never holds, accesses, or controls your private keys or funds. Unlike a bank or exchange, SQRL cannot move assets on your behalf. Every value-moving operation requires cryptographic signatures from authorised users. SQRL stores only public keys. If you lose access to your private key, neither Orobit nor SQRL can recover it.

Organisation. The top-level entity in SQRL. It contains all your workspaces, users, and resources. An organisation is created when your institution first registers.

Owner. The role created automatically when an organisation is set up. It has unrestricted access and bypasses all permission checks. There is one Owner per organisation, and it cannot be created, modified, or assigned manually.

Policy. A set of rules that govern which movements a vault or role can perform. Policies include amount limits and cycle-based reset periods. A movement that exceeds a policy limit is blocked before it reaches the signing stage.

SCL (Simple Contract Language). Orobit's contract language for tokens on Bitcoin. SCL is intentionally constrained: it describes only operations that Bitcoin can verify, which keeps contracts predictable, fast, and inexpensive to run. When you deploy a token, SQRL compiles your parameters into an SCL contract and anchors it to Bitcoin. You do not need to write or read SCL to use SQRL. For protocol-level detail, see docs.orobit.ai ↗.

Signing. Using your private key, in your own wallet software or hardware device, to approve a movement. Signing happens outside SQRL. You submit the signed result, and SQRL verifies it against your registered public key. When enough signers have signed to meet the vault's threshold, the finalised transaction is broadcast to Bitcoin. A movement is not broadcast until all required signatures are in place.

Signing Profile. Your personal interface for managing the public keys you sign with. It holds your registered keys and your profile address and identifies you as an authorised signer. It is separate from any vault, and you never need to hold funds in it.

Software wallet. An application on your computer or phone that manages your private key in software. SQRL can register the public key derived from a software wallet. As with a hardware wallet, signing happens outside SQRL.

Threshold (M-of-N). The minimum number of signers required to authorise a movement. A vault configured as 2-of-3 has three registered signers, but only two are needed before an operation goes through. M is the required number; N is the total number of registered signers. The threshold is enforced cryptographically, not just by policy, so no single person can move assets alone.

Token. A digital asset created and managed on Bitcoin using SCL. A token has a name, a symbol (like a stock ticker), a defined supply, and rules governing how it can be issued and redeemed. Tokens are owned by vaults and can be minted, burned, and transferred.

Transfer. A movement that sends assets between vaults or to a whitelisted external address.

Vault. An organisational asset container that enforces multi-party signing. A vault is configured with a threshold, holds assets, and belongs to a workspace. Vaults are not personal wallets.

Whitelist. A set of approved addresses attached to a token contract. Only whitelisted addresses can hold or receive the token, and only whitelisted vaults can participate in its operations.

Workspace. An isolated operating environment within an organisation, with its own users, roles, vaults, policies, and audit history. A user's permissions in one workspace do not carry over to another. Each workspace is set to a single Bitcoin network.