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Satoshi Gazette
Definitions

Glossary

The terms the Gazette uses, each defined in one sentence and then explained, with how it is measured, the primary record it comes from and the piece it was first used in.

Terms on file

47

Last updated ·

Protocol and network8

  1. End-of-life releasealso EOL release · unmaintained releaseA Bitcoin Core major version outside the project's maintenance window, which covers the latest three; it no longer generally receives fixes, security fixes included.
  2. Fee ratealso feerate · sat/vB · sats per vbyteWhat a transaction pays per unit of block space: its fee in satoshis divided by its virtual size, written sat/vB. Miners fill blocks by it, not by the fee alone.
  3. Issued supply at a blockalso scheduled issuance · issued supplyAll the bitcoin the subsidy schedule has allowed from the genesis block through a given height, computed from the height alone. 21 million is the limit it approaches, not a current figure.
  4. Mempoolalso memory poolA node's own pool of valid transactions not yet confirmed in a block. Every node keeps its own, under its own policy and size limit, so there is no single mempool.
  5. Minimum relay feeratealso minrelaytxfee · min relay fee · mempool minimum feeThe lowest fee rate a node will accept into its mempool and pass on: a policy setting, not a consensus rule, which a node raises by itself when its mempool fills.
  6. Reachable nodealso listening nodeA Bitcoin node that accepts incoming connections at an address a crawler can reach. Published node counts are counts of these; nodes that only connect outward go unseen.
  7. User agentalso UA string · subverThe software name and version a node announces to its peers in its handshake, such as /Satoshi:30.0.0/. It is self-reported: what a node says it runs, not proof of what it runs.
  8. Virtual byte and weight unitalso vbyte · vB · weight unit · WU · virtual size · vsizeThe units block space is metered in since SegWit: weight counts each non-witness byte as 4 units and each witness byte as 1, and virtual size is weight ÷ 4.

Mining10

  1. Block subsidyalso subsidy · new-coin subsidyThe new bitcoin a block may create for its miner, set by height alone: 50 BTC at first, halving every 210,000 blocks; 3.125 BTC for blocks 840,000 to 1,049,999.
  2. Coinbase transactionalso generation transactionThe first transaction in every block, with no real input, through which the miner claims the subsidy and the block's fees. The exchange called Coinbase took its name from it.
  3. Difficulty periodalso difficulty epoch · epoch · retarget periodA run of 2,016 blocks sharing one difficulty, from a height divisible by 2,016 to the block before the next; at its end the difficulty is retargeted from how long it took.
  4. Empty blockalso coinbase-only blockA valid block holding no transaction but its own coinbase: it pays its miner the subsidy and no fees, and confirms nothing for anyone else.
  5. Fee share of rewardalso fee shareThe part of miners' reward that came from transaction fees rather than new coins, over a stated window of blocks: fees ÷ (subsidy + fees). It counts fees paid on chain only.
  6. Halvingalso halvening · subsidy halvingThe block, every 210,000, at which the block subsidy is cut in half: heights 210,000, 420,000, 630,000 and 840,000 so far, the next at 1,050,000. Fees are not halved.
  7. Hashpricealso hashprice at difficulty · sats/TH/s/dayExpected miner revenue per unit of hashing, in sats per TH/s per day at the current difficulty; a model, not a payout.
  8. Hashratealso network hashrate · EH/sAn estimate of the total computing work the Bitcoin network is doing, inferred from how fast blocks arrive against the current difficulty.
  9. Pool labelalso mining pool attribution · coinbase tagThe name attributed to a block from the coinbase transaction's tag or payout address; a label of who assembled the block, not proof of who owns the hashrate.
  10. Retargetalso difficulty adjustment · difficulty retargetBitcoin's automatic recalibration, every 2,016 blocks, of how hard a block is to find, so blocks keep arriving about every ten minutes whatever the hashrate does.

Custody and holdings8

  1. Claims flooralso bitcoin held through disclosed claimsThe Gazette's sum of bitcoin held through disclosed claims on a company, fund or state that holds the keys, each holder at its latest disclosure, against issued supply at one block.
  2. Control boundaryThe line between what a holder's own keys control and what a company, federation or bank controls; the first thing to draw before judging any custody arrangement.
  3. Custodianalso custodial · custodyA company that holds the private keys to bitcoin on someone else's behalf and owes them a balance, under whatever terms and supervision apply to it.
  4. Federationalso Liquid federation · functionaries · multisig federationA fixed group of parties who jointly sign transactions for a sidechain or custody scheme; the holders' exit depends on their cooperation.
  5. Lower boundalso floor figureA figure the evidence guarantees the truth is not below: the Gazette prints it cut, never rounded up, and labels it a floor. The real value may be well above it.
  6. Peg-outalso peg out · redemptionRedeeming a sidechain or wrapped bitcoin, such as Liquid's L-BTC, for bitcoin on the main chain; the moment a holder finds out who controls the exit.
  7. Private keyalso signing key · seed phraseThe secret number that authorises spending from a bitcoin address; whoever holds it controls the coins, whatever any account statement says.
  8. Self-custodyalso self-custodial · non-custodialHolding bitcoin under keys that only you control, so no company, bank or exchange can move, freeze or lend it.

Policy and money21

  1. Citizen voting-age populationalso CVAP · adult citizensThe Census Bureau's count of U.S. citizens aged 18 and over, 245,275,126 in the 2024 American Community Survey.
  2. Claim statusalso verdict · claim verdictThe verdict a claim in Claims Under Review carries: Verified; True, imprecisely stated; Oversimplified; Contested; Unsupported; False; or Unresolved.
  3. Commodity-based trust sharesalso spot bitcoin ETP · commodity trust sharesThe exchange-rule category that spot bitcoin exchange-traded products fall into: shares of a trust holding a commodity, redeemable in kind or in cash.
  4. Correction kindsalso corrections policyThe five categories the Gazette uses when it corrects a published piece: factual error, imprecision, missing context, attribution and retraction.
  5. Customs dutiesalso tariff revenue · tariff receiptsTariff revenue as the Treasury books it: gross collections less refunds equals net receipts, reported monthly in Table 4 of the Monthly Treasury Statement.
  6. Debt subject to limitalso debt ceiling · statutory debt limit · debt limit headroomThe portion of federal debt counted against the statutory debt ceiling, published daily alongside the ceiling itself in the Daily Treasury Statement.
  7. Debt to the Pennyalso total public debt outstandingThe Treasury's daily statement of total public debt outstanding, published to the cent for every business day.
  8. Fiduciary powersalso trust powersThe legal authority, granted under 12 U.S.C. § 92a, for a national bank to act as trustee or custodian for others.
  9. Generic listing standardsalso GLS · Rule 5711(d)Exchange rules, approved by the SEC, under which an exchange may list a class of products, such as commodity-based trust shares, without a separate rule filing for each one.
  10. GENIUS Actalso Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins ActPublic Law 119-27, signed 18 July 2025, the federal framework for payment stablecoins that fixes what their reserves may hold.
  11. IEEPAalso International Emergency Economic Powers Act · Learning Resources v. TrumpThe International Emergency Economic Powers Act, the 1977 statute the Supreme Court held in February 2026 does not authorise a president to impose tariffs.
  12. Money transmitter licencealso MTL · virtual currency licence · BitLicenseA state-issued licence to move money or virtual currency for others; the usual legal footing for U.S. crypto custody before a bank charter.
  13. Monthly Treasury Statementalso MTSThe Treasury's monthly account of receipts, outlays and the deficit, with tables by source, function and agency, published about eight business days after month end.
  14. National trust bankalso uninsured trust bank · national trust company · OCC trust charterA federally chartered bank, supervised by the OCC, that exercises fiduciary powers such as custody but does not take deposits or make loans.
  15. Net interestalso interest on the public debtWhat the federal government pays on its debt after interest received by trust funds is netted out; the fastest-growing major line in the budget.
  16. OCC digital-asset applications listalso OCC pending applicationsThe Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's public table of pending charter and licensing applications from firms planning digital-asset products.
  17. Official vs private holdersalso foreign official holders · private foreign holdersIn Treasury data, official holders are foreign central banks and governments; private holders are everyone else abroad, from funds to stablecoin issuers.
  18. Riskless principalExecuting a customer's order by buying or selling for the firm's own account and immediately passing the asset through, so the firm never holds market risk.
  19. Stablecoin reservealso reserve backing · 1:1 backingThe assets a dollar stablecoin issuer holds against the tokens it has issued; under the GENIUS Act, cash, insured deposits and Treasuries of 93 days or less, at least one to one.
  20. TIC dataalso Treasury International Capital · foreign holders of TreasuriesThe Treasury International Capital system: monthly data on foreign holdings of U.S. securities, split between official institutions and private holders.
  21. Treasury billalso T-bill · billsShort-dated U.S. government debt, issued at a discount and maturing in a year or less; the asset the GENIUS Act requires stablecoin issuers to hold.