Glossary

These definitions come from the Jupiter Academy glossary, updated for the Jupiter docs. Matt contributed the original definitions of Custodian, Funding rate, KYC/KYB and Solana.

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A

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Airdrop

A distribution of free tokens to wallet addresses, often used to reward early users or promote a project. See Airdrop Checker.

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AMM

Automated Market Maker. A smart contract that lets you swap tokens instantly by trading against a liquidity pool of assets rather than waiting for a specific buyer or seller.

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APR

Annual Percentage Rate. The yearly interest rate earned or paid, without accounting for compounding.

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APY

Annual Percentage Yield. The yearly rate of return. Unlike APR, it usually accounts for compounding.

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B

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Block explorer

A tool that allows users to browse and search blockchain data, including transactions, addresses, and blocks.

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Blockchain

A distributed, immutable ledger that records transactions across a network of computers. Each block contains a set of transactions and links to the previous block.

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Borrow rate

The interest rate charged when borrowing assets from a lending protocol. It fluctuates based on supply and demand in the lending pool.

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Bridge

A protocol that enables the transfer of assets between different blockchains. See Bridge & Swap.

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Burn

Permanently destroying tokens so they can never be used again, which reduces the token’s total supply. On Solana, this is done with the token program’s burn instruction.

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C

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Cold wallet

A wallet that keeps its private keys offline, such as a hardware wallet, providing enhanced security for long-term storage.

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Collateral

Assets deposited as security when borrowing. Depending on the protocol, the collateral can be liquidated if its value falls too far relative to the debt, or claimed by the lender if the loan is not repaid by its due date.

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Consensus

The process by which blockchain network participants agree on the current state of the ledger.

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Custodial wallet

A wallet where a third party (like an exchange) holds and manages your private keys on your behalf.

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Custodian

A custodian is an entity (like a bank or platform) that holds and secures your assets on your behalf.

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D

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DAO

Decentralized Autonomous Organization. A community-led entity governed by smart contracts and token-holder votes rather than a central authority. See Jupiter DAO.

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dApp

Decentralized Application. An application whose core logic runs as smart contracts on a blockchain, used through an interface such as a website or a wallet.

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DCA

Dollar-Cost Averaging. An investment strategy where you buy a fixed amount of an asset at regular intervals, regardless of price. See DCA orders.

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DeFi

Decentralized Finance. Financial services built on blockchain technology that operate without traditional intermediaries like banks.

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DEX

Decentralized Exchange. A platform for trading cryptocurrencies through smart contracts, such as liquidity pools or onchain order books, without a central operator holding your funds.

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DEX aggregator

A service that checks prices across multiple DEXs and other liquidity sources, then routes or splits a swap across them, balancing price, speed and success rate. Jupiter is a DEX aggregator on Solana. See Ultra Mode.

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E

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Epoch

A defined period in a blockchain protocol. On Solana, an epoch is a fixed number of slots (432,000). At the end of each epoch, staking rewards are distributed and stake changes take effect.

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F

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Fiat

Government-issued currency (e.g. USD, EUR) that is not backed by a physical commodity but by the issuing government.

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Flash loan

An uncollateralized loan that must be borrowed and repaid within the same transaction.

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Funding rate

A periodic payment between longs and shorts in perpetual futures markets that keeps the contract price close to the spot price. On Jupiter Perps, Beta markets apply funding hourly; the SOL, ETH and wBTC markets charge a borrow fee instead.

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G

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Gas

The fee paid to process a transaction. Ethereum prices it in gas units; Solana has no gas unit and charges a base fee per signature plus an optional priority fee, but the word gas is still commonly used for these network fees, as in gasless swaps.

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Governance

The system by which decisions are made within a decentralized protocol, typically through token-holder voting. See voting in the Jupiter DAO.

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H

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Hot wallet

A cryptocurrency wallet connected to the internet, offering convenience for frequent transactions but with higher security risk.

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I

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Impermanent loss

The shortfall a liquidity provider can face compared with simply holding the same tokens, caused by a change in the price ratio of the pooled tokens since the deposit. It shrinks if the ratio returns to where it was, and becomes permanent if you withdraw at the changed ratio.

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J

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JLP

Jupiter Liquidity Provider token. You receive it when you deposit into the JLP pool, which provides the liquidity traders borrow on the SOL, ETH and wBTC markets of Jupiter Perps. It represents your share of the pool. See JLP.

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JUP

The governance token of the Jupiter ecosystem on Solana. See JUP token.

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K

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Keypair

A pair of cryptographic keys (a public key and a private key) used to sign transactions and prove ownership of a wallet.

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KYC/KYB

Know Your Customer / Know Your Business. Identity checks a financial service runs before letting someone use it: KYC verifies an individual with ID documents, and KYB verifies a company and the people who own or control it.

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L

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Lending pool

A smart contract where users deposit assets that can be borrowed by others. Depositors earn interest from borrowers. See Earn on Jupiter Lend.

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Leverage

Using borrowed funds to amplify the size of a trading position beyond what your own capital would allow.

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Limit order

An order to buy or sell an asset at a specific price or better. On Jupiter, your tokens wait in a vault until the target price is reached, then a keeper executes the trade against onchain liquidity. See Limit orders.

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Liquid staking token

A token (like JupSOL) that represents your staked SOL, allowing you to earn staking rewards while still being able to use the token in DeFi apps like lending or trading. See JupSOL.

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Liquidation

The forced sale of collateral when a borrowing position becomes too risky, typically when the LTV ratio exceeds a threshold. See liquidation on Jupiter Lend and Jupiter Perps.

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Liquidity

The ease with which an asset can be bought or sold without significantly affecting its price.

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Liquidity pool

A collection of tokens locked in a smart contract that provides liquidity for decentralized trading.

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LTV

Loan-to-Value ratio. The loan amount divided by the value of the collateral backing it.

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M

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Mainnet

The primary, production blockchain network where real transactions with real value occur.

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Market cap

The total value of a cryptocurrency, calculated by multiplying its price by its circulating supply.

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MEV

Maximal Extractable Value. The extra value validators or bots can capture by including, excluding or reordering transactions in a block. A common example is a sandwich attack: a bot buys just before your swap and sells right after it, so you get a worse price.

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Minting

The process of creating new tokens or NFTs on a blockchain.

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Multiply

A Jupiter Lend feature that amplifies your exposure to an asset: it borrows against your collateral and reinvests the borrowed funds into the same asset in one atomic pass, using a flashloan. See Multiply on Jupiter Lend.

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N

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NFT

Non-Fungible Token. A unique digital asset on a blockchain that represents ownership of a specific item like art, music, or collectibles.

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Node

A computer that maintains a copy of the blockchain and helps validate transactions on the network.

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Non-custodial wallet

A wallet where the user has full control of their private keys, so no wallet provider or exchange can access the funds. The issuers of some tokens, such as certain stablecoins, can still freeze them.

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O

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Onchain

Actions or data that are recorded directly on the blockchain, making them transparent and verifiable.

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Oracle

A service that provides external real-world data (like prices) to smart contracts on the blockchain. See how Jupiter Lend uses oracles.

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Order book

A list of buy and sell orders for an asset, organized by price level.

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P

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Perpetuals

Perpetual futures contracts that have no expiration date, so traders can keep a leveraged position open as long as it is not liquidated. Jupiter Perps offers perpetual trading on Solana. See Jupiter Perps.

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PnL

Profit and Loss. The net gain or loss on a trade or investment.

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Position Health

Position Health is the status that shows how close your position is to liquidation. It reflects your current debt-to-collateral ratio relative to the Liquidation Threshold. The closer you are to the threshold, the higher the risk. See Borrow on Jupiter Lend.

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Private key

A secret cryptographic key that proves ownership of a wallet and is used to sign transactions. Never share your private key.

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Protocol

A set of rules and smart contracts that define how a decentralized application or service operates.

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Public key

A cryptographic key paired with your private key. It can be safely shared: on Solana, your wallet address is your public key, so others use it to send you funds.

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R

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Recovery phrase

A sequence of words, usually 12 or 24, that can restore access to a wallet. Also called a seed phrase or mnemonic. Must be kept secret and secure.

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RPC

Remote Procedure Call. The communication link that allows your wallet to talk to the blockchain so it can read your balance and send your transactions.

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Rug pull

A scam where a project’s creators abandon it and run away with investors’ funds. Often shortened to rug.

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S

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Seed phrase

Another name for a recovery phrase: a sequence of words, usually 12 or 24, that can restore access to a wallet. Must be kept secret and secure. See Recovery phrase.

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Self-custody

Holding and managing your own cryptocurrency without relying on a third party. You control your private keys.

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Slippage

The difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual price at which it executes, often due to market movement or low liquidity.

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Smart contract

Self-executing code deployed on a blockchain that automatically enforces the terms of an agreement.

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SOL

The native coin of the Solana blockchain, used for paying transaction fees and staking.

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Solana

A high-performance blockchain designed for fast, low-cost transactions and scalable decentralized applications. Jupiter products use it as their main infrastructure.

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SPL token

The token standard on Solana, similar to ERC-20 on Ethereum. Tokens are created with the Token Program or its newer version, Token-2022 (Token Extensions). SOL itself is not an SPL token; its SPL form is wrapped SOL (wSOL).

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Stablecoin

A cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged 1:1 to a fiat currency like the US dollar (e.g. USDC, USDT).

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Staking

Committing tokens to a network or protocol in exchange for rewards. Staking SOL delegates it to a validator that helps secure Solana; staking JUP locks it in Jupiter’s governance contract and gives you voting power in the Jupiter DAO. See Stake SOL and JUP staking.

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Swap

Exchanging one cryptocurrency for another. On Jupiter, Spot routes each swap across Solana DEXs and other liquidity sources. See Jupiter Spot.

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T

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Token

A digital asset on a blockchain that can represent value, utility, governance rights, or other functions.

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TPS

Transactions Per Second. A measure of blockchain throughput.

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Transaction

An operation recorded on the blockchain, such as sending tokens, swapping, or interacting with a smart contract.

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TVL

Total Value Locked. The total amount of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol, used as a measure of its size and adoption.

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U

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Utilization rate

The percentage of deposited assets in a lending pool that are currently being borrowed. Higher utilization leads to higher borrow rates.

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V

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Validator

A node that participates in the consensus process to verify transactions and produce blocks on a proof-of-stake blockchain.

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Vault

A smart contract that holds deposited assets and executes a specific strategy, such as lending or yield farming.

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W

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Wallet

Software or hardware that stores your cryptographic keys and lets you interact with the blockchain to send, receive, and manage your assets.

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Whale

An individual or entity that holds a very large amount of a cryptocurrency, capable of influencing market prices.

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Wrapped token

A token that represents another asset in a different form, often an asset from another blockchain, such as wBTC for bitcoin. Wrapped SOL (wSOL) is SOL itself in SPL token form. See Wrapped SOL (wSOL).

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Y

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Yield

The return earned on a crypto investment, typically expressed as APR or APY.

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Yield farming

A DeFi strategy where users move assets between protocols to maximize returns from lending, liquidity provision, or staking rewards.