Our non-technical documentation and Polymesh UIs use language that aligns more to terms found in the financial industry than the traditional blockchain space.
As a blockchain for regulated assets, Polymesh’s user base requires highly specific language that is deeply entrenched among financial professionals. As a result, terms typically used in the blockchain’s code and ecosystem can sometimes cause users to become confused.
Many of the terms in Polymesh’s code are inherited from the blockchain ecosystem or directly from Substrate. Below are key terms that appear in our product material and the equivalent terms in code.
Business Term |
Code Equivalent |
Polymesh "Account" or Polymesh "DID" |
Identity |
"Polymesh Key" or "Key" | Account |
"Attestations" | Claims |
A similar confusion arises for terms used within the Polymesh ecosystem that share overlap with common financial terms or other blockchains. The table below offers explanations for the key terms used within the Polymesh ecosystem:
Polymesh Term |
Explanation |
POLYX |
The network protocol token and the fuel of Polymesh. POLYX is used for paying transaction fees, securing the network through staking, and participating in on-chain governance. |
Attestations | Attestations are characteristics that can be attached to a Polymesh account. Issuers and their approved attestation provider(s) can attach attestations to the Polymesh accounts of prospective tokenholders so that they can send and receive a token if they meet the token compliance rules. Attestations can be changed at any time. |
Settlement |
Settlement on Polymesh is the process by which assets are transferred between identities in a regulated and compliant fashion. It also represents the contractual obligation to which the involved parties have agreed. More information can be found at the Polymesh Developer portal. |
Portfolios |
Used for logical separation of assets for risk management and reporting purposes. To allow users to organize their assets underneath their identity, and to flexibly assign key permissions and custody, Polymesh has the concept of portfolios. More info can be found at the Polymesh Developer portal. |
Smart extensions |
Smart extensions are the backbone of security tokens on Polymesh. Each smart extension will give issuers the ability to program specific rules into their security tokens, executing actions in a standardized way to satisfy an issuer’s need for functionality and regulators’ requirements for compliance. |
Nominator | POLYX holders who increase the security of Polymesh by staking their POLYX on their choice of Node Operator. |
Node operator |
Permissioned, regulated entities that process transactions and update Polymesh state. Often called validators on other blockchains. |
There are also quite a few abbreviations used by Polymesh documentation and UIs. The table below explains the abbreviations used in Polymesh ecosystem:
Polymesh Abbreviation |
Explanation |
PUIS (Polymesh Unique Identity System) |
An off-chain service operated by Polymath that is responsible for generations of uID based on PII data presented by KYC providers. More info can be found at the Polymesh Developer portal. Please note that this feature has been removed with Polymesh release v5.3.0. |
PIA (Primary Issuance Agent) |
The user who issues a given token. Can be changed after a token’s creation and effectively is the one controlling that token. |
PIP (Polymesh Improvement Proposal) |
Specifically related to suggesting improvements to the core blockchain. Users can create a proposal to be voted on by other people. To suggest a proposal you have to “bond” or use a certain amount of your POLYX to show that you are serious. More info at this blog post or at the Polymesh Developer portal. |
DID (Distributed Identity) |
A unique identifier of an account on the Polymesh network. When a user creates a new account, that account will be given a new DID. More information can be found at this community article or at the Polymesh website. |
uID (Unique Identifier) |
A unique identifier that represents a user’s off-chain real-world identity. More information can be found at this community article or at the Polymesh website. Please note that this feature has been removed with Polymesh release v5.3.0. |
CDD (Customer Due Diligence) KYC / KYB (Know Your Customer / Know Your Business) |
The process whereby a third-party verifies users or businesses on Polymesh to provide that user with claims about their identity (eg. identity, residence, investor accreditation, jurisdiction, etc.) More information can be found at the Polymesh Developer portal. |
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