Glossary

Definitions of terms used throughout the documentation.

Atomic settlement

The property that either both sides of a swap complete or neither does. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine achieves this through paired hashed-timelock contracts on Canton and Ethereum, both gated by the same SHA-256 hashlock.

Canton Network

The privacy-preserving blockchain on which one side of every swap settles. Canton uses a stakeholder visibility model — only the parties to a contract (and the participants hosting them) can see it. For swaps on the Cross-Chain Swap Engine, the platform's operational parties are also stakeholders on the swap contracts.

Canton Party

The identity used to sign transactions on Canton Network. Each participant in a swap operates under one or more Canton Parties.

Canton Stakeholder

In the Canton Network, stakeholder is a specific technical term rather than general business jargon: the parties to a contract — its signatories and observers — together with the participants that host them. Under Canton's stakeholder-based (sub-transaction) privacy model, only these parties can see a contract and act on it; no one else on the network can. For a swap, the stakeholders are the two swapping parties and the platform's operational parties. See Canton — stakeholder visibility for the full detail.

Canton Wallet

The off-chain key management used to sign transactions for a Canton Party. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine does not specify a particular wallet vendor. You can connect through wallet connect, Console Wallet, or you can link a wallet from your own Canton validator.

CIP-56

The Canton Improvement Proposal that defines the Canton Network Token Standard — the common APIs (the Holding interface) that let wallets and applications work with tokenized Canton assets uniformly. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine locks and settles real CIP-56 holdings on the Canton side. Full specification: CIP-0056: Canton Network Token Standard.

Claim

The act of redeeming a lock by presenting a valid preimage. Claim is allowed only strictly before the time-lock.

Counterparty

The institutional entity on the opposite side of a swap from the user. A counterparty quotes against an RFQ, accepts the on-chain swap if selected, and locks and claims on its own chain side using its own keys.

Cross-Chain Swap Engine

The settlement protocol described by these docs. Two chains, paired HTLCs, atomic settlement.

DAML

The smart-contract language used on Canton Network. The Canton-side of the Cross-Chain Swap Engine is implemented as a DAML package.

Eligible Counterparty

A counterparty that has met every requirement to participate in swaps. Eligibility is criteria-based: an institutional entity qualifies by satisfying the requirements itself, not by being selected or invited by Interstice. Those requirements are entity onboarding, KYB / KYC, sanctions, and wallet screening, acceptance of the Cross-Chain Swap Engine terms, and being added to the platform's on-chain allowlist. See how a counterparty becomes eligible for the full detail.

ERC-20

The standard interface for tokens on Ethereum. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine supports standard ERC-20 tokens that have been added to its on-chain allowlist. Fee-on-transfer, rebasing, and ERC-777 tokens are not supported.

Ethereum

The public-by-default blockchain on which the other side of every swap settles. All on-chain state on Ethereum is visible to anyone.

Hashlock

The SHA-256 hash of a secret preimage. Both sides of a swap lock against the same hashlock; whoever presents the preimage to either side can claim that side.

HTLC

Hashed-timelock contract. A lock that releases its asset to whoever can present the preimage of a known hash, or returns it to the locker after a time-lock expires.

Hashed-timelock

The two-part mechanism — hashlock plus time-lock — that makes a cross-chain swap atomic without an intermediary custodian.

KYB

Know-your-business. The process of verifying a business entity's identity, ownership, and structure. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine uses Trulioo for KYB.

KYC

Know-your-customer. The process of verifying an individual's identity. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine uses Trulioo for KYC.

Lock

The act of committing an asset to a hashed-timelock contract on its native chain. Locking is the on-chain step that begins a swap's settlement phase.

Onramp

A swap in which the user sends an Ethereum-side asset (ETH or an allowlisted ERC-20) and receives a Canton-side asset.

Offramp

A swap in which the user sends a Canton-side asset and receives an Ethereum-side asset.

Orchestrator

The off-chain service operated by Interstice that routes RFQs, records reported transitions, and exposes swap status. It does not custody assets or generate secrets, and it does not sign the lock, claim, or refund transactions — those are signed by the swap parties themselves. Acting as the platform's coordination party, it does co-sign the swap request and quote receipt when they are created, and it relays the counterparty's lock co-signature between the two parties.

Preimage

The secret value s whose SHA-256 hash equals the hashlock. The party that holds the preimage can claim either side of the swap by presenting it. Once presented on either chain, the preimage becomes publicly readable on that chain.

Quote commitment

A 64-character SHA-256 hash of the canonical terms of a committed quote — amounts, assets, rate, counterparty, fees, and the settlement hashlock. Issued when the user commits the trade, recorded on both sides of the swap, it is the cryptographic binding between the off-chain agreement and the on-chain swap.

Quote tolerance

The maximum deviation the user will accept between a quoted rate and the public reference rate at execution. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine enforces a protocol-level ceiling of 5% (500 basis points); individual counterparty agreements may set tighter bounds, and the user sets their own tolerance per request.

Refund

The act of recovering a lock after its time-lock has expired. Refund is available only to the original locker, and only after the time-lock. Refund returns the full gross amount; no platform fee is charged on a refund.

RFQ

Request for quote. A user's request for counterparties to bid on a particular swap. RFQs are routed by the orchestrator to eligible counterparties.

SHA-256

A cryptographic hash function that maps any input to a fixed 256-bit value, with no feasible way to reverse it or to find two inputs that produce the same output. The Cross-Chain Swap Engine uses SHA-256 for the hashlock: the same preimage hashes to the same value on both chains — Ethereum computes it with the Solidity SHA-256 precompile and Canton with DA.Text.sha256 — so one secret can release both sides.

TRM Labs

The vendor used for on-chain wallet screening. Every Canton Party and Ethereum address an entity uses is screened by TRM Labs.

Trulioo

The vendor used for KYB, KYC, and sanctions screening on entities and their principals.

Time-lock

The absolute deadline after which a lock can be refunded by its locker. The Canton-side time-lock defaults to 6 hours and the Ethereum-side to 2 hours (the on-chain HTLC enforces a 1-hour minimum); the Cross-Chain Swap Engine sets the Canton-side time-lock strictly later than the Ethereum-side time-lock so the second-claiming party has a strictly shorter exposure window.

Verification

The combined process of KYB / KYC, sanctions screening, wallet screening, and terms acceptance that an entity completes before participating in a swap. Operated by Interstice Identity in conjunction with Trulioo and TRM Labs.