Key terms
These are working plain-language definitions used across this documentation, not operating terms. Each program's adopted documents and applicable requirements govern its operation. The rules and implementation status explains what is still being finalized.
Community-finance infrastructure. Software, records and checkable rules that help an organization run financing for its own people. An app is one way to use it; access to the infrastructure does not itself authorize lending or fund custody.
Organization (provider). An employer, cooperative, association or organized community that establishes and administers a financing program under its lawful structure.
Pool. The governed capital a program lends from. It is funded by the organization, by eligible members, or by both, depending on the approved structure.
Participant. A person in an eligible relationship with a participating organization. Not every reader of this site is a participant.
Borrower. An eligible participant who uses financing and repays under the applicable terms.
Contributor. An organization or eligible member that supplies capital to a pool where the structure permits it. A person can be both contributor and borrower.
Custody. Who holds funds. Funds are held by the organization or lawful structure that operates the program, under its rules.
Eligibility. The conditions an organization applies to participation. Set by the organization and its rules; provider-specific and not published here.
Protocol. The published rules and mechanics that determine how pools, terms and records behave.
Ledger. The record of events. Records are currently exercised in testing rather than in live operation.
Record. An entry describing something that happened under the rules: a repayment, an allocation, a state change.
Verification. Checking that recorded outcomes match the rules. Verification is currently demonstrated in testing rather than in live operation.
Selective disclosure. Sharing specified information for a particular purpose rather than an entire record. A research direction for Kapitala, not a deployed feature.
Zero-knowledge proof. A cryptographic proof of a defined statement without exposing its underlying private data. It does not by itself establish that a source record is accurate or a lending decision is fair. See Midnight and selective disclosure for sources and examples.
Fourth-generation blockchain. Midnight's description of its privacy-focused direction. This site uses the term with attribution, not as a universal ranking or certification. The relevant question is which capabilities actually help a community.
Tamper evidence. Designing records so that changes are detectable. A technical direction being tested, not a deployed guarantee. See Transparency and privacy.
Reserves. Amounts set aside under the rules before any distributions are calculated.
Loss allocation. How losses are shared under the published rules, including the possibility of losses for contributors.
Selective disclosure. A research direction for proving facts to the people who need them without exposing unnecessary personal data. Not deployed.
Example data. Deliberately fictional figures used for illustration on this site. They are not real balances, terms or offers.