Glossary
The words on this page describe what the contracts do and nothing more, as the Risk Disclosure says under The words we use. Each entry gives the app’s word first, the whitepaper’s symbol where one exists, and one link to the page that explains it.
Acceleration
Section titled “Acceleration”A declared default makes every outstanding bond claimable at its full maturity value at once, first come, first served, whatever its maturity date said. See When a validator defaults.
Active
Section titled “Active”As a Coffer status, the validator is active and accepting bonds. As a bond pill, the bond is running and there is nothing to do yet. See Coffer lifecycle and statuses and Bond lifecycle and statuses.
Backing
Section titled “Backing”The validator’s total balance, the ETH in the Coffer contract plus the stake on the beacon chain, B = E + C in the whitepaper. The principal is not kept as backing, and rewards and penalties change the backing without changing the issue size. The app shows the beacon part as Validator Balance, and it counts that part only while the validator’s withdrawal credentials name the Coffer. See How a bond works.
Basis points
Section titled “Basis points”The unit of the issue size buffer. 100 bps is 1 percent and 10000 is the whole. See Create a Coffer.
Beacon chain
Section titled “Beacon chain”Ethereum’s consensus layer, where validators and their balances live. No Coffer function reads it, the app does. See Coffer lifecycle and statuses.
Block explorer
Section titled “Block explorer”A website that shows what is on the chain, Etherscan and beaconcha.in for Hoodi. A holder checks a validator’s credentials and balance there before buying. See Networks and addresses.
An arrangement between one validator and one holder. The holder pays the principal now and receives the maturity value on the maturity date, and each bond is unique, issued against one validator. See How a bond works.
Bond NFT
Section titled “Bond NFT”The token that represents a bond, minted when the bond is bought and burned on full redemption. Its holder has the exclusive right to the maturity value, and transferring the token transfers the bond. See Your bond as an NFT and Bond lifecycle and statuses.
Bond status
Section titled “Bond status”The four pills Active, Matured, Defaulted and Redeemed, in that precedence, and the animated card’s own labels, a countdown such as T-30d, Matured, Validator defaulted and Redeemed. See Bond lifecycle and statuses and Statuses across the layers.
Buffer
Section titled “Buffer”See Issue Size Buffer.
Two meanings. In a default, a holder claims the remaining value of a bond from the contract, first come, first served, see When a validator defaults. After a validator redemption, a holder claims the escrowed value from the redemption escrow, which pays the whole escrow at once, see Claim escrowed funds.
Clear Default
Section titled “Clear Default”The validator’s action that lifts a default once every outstanding bond has received its full maturity value. Only the validator can call it, it bumps the version, and it does not recall an exit request that already landed. See Default.
Closed
Section titled “Closed”The app’s pill for a Coffer whose owner switched issuance off. It is the owner’s own switch and does not outrank a real problem with the validator. See Terms and what can change.
Coffer
Section titled “Coffer”The protocol, and the contract a validator deploys and sets as the validator’s withdrawal credentials. It is permissionless and non custodial, and it relies on the Ethereum protocol alone, with no oracles and no governance. See What is Coffer.
Coffer status
Section titled “Coffer status”The twelve statuses the app derives from the validator’s beacon status, its withdrawal credentials and its slashed flag. The credentials are checked before the state, so a validator whose credentials do not point to the Coffer never reads Active, Exiting, Slashed or Exited. See Coffer lifecycle and statuses and Statuses across the layers.
Compounding credentials
Section titled “Compounding credentials”The 0x02 withdrawal credential type. It lets a validator hold more than 32 ETH on the beacon chain and lets the Coffer request partial withdrawals. A 0x01 validator converts through the app, and a fresh deposit can use 0x02 from the start. See Point your validator at the Coffer.
Consensus layer
Section titled “Consensus layer”The part of Ethereum that runs validators, the beacon chain. The validator’s balance there is C in the whitepaper. See How a bond works.
Consensus withdrawal
Section titled “Consensus withdrawal”A partial withdrawal the Coffer requests from the validator’s beacon balance into its own balance, through the protocol’s withdrawal request contract. It takes about two days, the request queue plus the beacon sweep, and an accepted request waits at least about 27 hours in the queue. See Funds.
Contract Balance
Section titled “Contract Balance”The terms card row for the ETH the Coffer contract holds on the execution layer, E in the whitepaper, the balance that pays redemptions. See Funds.
Contract wallet
Section titled “Contract wallet”A wallet that is itself a smart contract, a Safe for example. It signs listings and offers through ERC-1271 and the marketplace checks the signature at fill time, so a wallet that revokes its authorisation after signing fails at the fill. See Contract wallets.
Coverage
Section titled “Coverage”The three bands buffered, covered and uncovered, computed off chain and drawn as the coffer mark. Buffered while what the Coffer promised is within the backing with its beacon side discounted by the buffer, covered while it is within the full backing, uncovered beyond it. Grey means the band is unknown. See Before you buy and Statuses across the layers.
Declare Default
Section titled “Declare Default”The action anyone can take on a matured bond the contract cannot pay in full. It reverts while the contract balance covers that bond, and it never reads the beacon balance. See Default.
Default
Section titled “Default”The state of a Coffer after a declaration. Issuance stops, the validator’s withdrawals freeze, every outstanding bond becomes claimable at its full maturity value, and anyone can request the validator’s full exit. It ends only by paying. See Default.
Defaulted
Section titled “Defaulted”The bond pill for a matured bond whose Coffer is in default. See Bond lifecycle and statuses.
Deposit
Section titled “Deposit”The validator’s stake sent to the beacon deposit contract with withdrawal credentials pointing at the Coffer, 32 to 2048 ETH. It shows as pending for at least two epochs, and a churn cap can hold it longer. Only a deposit within one day before the Coffer’s creation counts as evidence of a validator on its way. See Point your validator at the Coffer and Statuses across the layers.
Duration
Section titled “Duration”A bond’s term, n in the whitepaper, chosen by the holder within the range the validator sets. The minimum duration is the least notice a validator ever has, since a bond can mature no sooner than that after its purchase. See Create a Coffer.
Escrow
Section titled “Escrow”See Redemption escrow.
Execution layer
Section titled “Execution layer”The part of Ethereum that runs contracts and wallets. The Coffer contract and its balance live there, E in the whitepaper. See How a bond works.
Execution withdrawal
Section titled “Execution withdrawal”The validator taking ETH out of the Coffer contract. While bonds are outstanding it is bounded by the issue size and by the contract balance, it is unrestricted once no bond is outstanding, and it is frozen in a default. Each one bumps the version. See Funds.
The validator leaving the beacon chain for good. In a default anyone can request the full exit, repeatedly, the caller pays the request fee, and the exit sweeps the whole stake into the contract, the 32 ETH floor included. The app’s button is Exit Validator. See When a validator defaults.
Expiration
Section titled “Expiration”The moment after which a signed listing or offer can no longer be filled. Until then it stays fillable unless the maker cancels it on chain, and the app shows the time left. See How trading works.
Factory
Section titled “Factory”The contract that deploys a Coffer as a minimal clone at a deterministic address, so the address is known before the deployment. See Create a Coffer.
Fee curve
Section titled “Fee curve”The shared contract that sets the protocol fee by the time since its own deployment, from 1 percent at launch to a 9.9 percent plateau from day 3650, and pools the fees for the recipient. See Fees.
The on-chain transaction that settles a signed listing or offer. It checks the signature, the nonce and the maturity value at that moment, and it advances the nonce by one. See Buy or accept.
What every transaction pays the network, borne by whoever sends it. Around Coffer nothing else is charged beyond the three fees. See Fees.
Holder
Section titled “Holder”The party that buys a bond and holds its NFT. The holder earns a fixed rate for an agreed period, backed by one validator’s stake. See Overview for holders.
The Ethereum test network Coffer runs on, chain id 560048, the production deployment until mainnet. Test ETH has no value. See Networks and addresses.
Inactivity leak
Section titled “Inactivity leak”The penalty that grows with time when the chain stops finalising because a large share of validators is offline. It can reach the whole balance, and no buffer prevents it. See Risks.
Interest
Section titled “Interest”What a bond earns over its term, I in the whitepaper. Interest is simple, the principal times the annual rate times the days over 365, and it does not compound. The buy card’s estimate calls it Reward, already net of the protocol fee. See How a bond works.
Interest rate
Section titled “Interest rate”The annual rate r a validator sets, fixed for a bond the moment it is bought. It is above zero and at most 100 percent. See Create a Coffer.
Issue Size
Section titled “Issue Size”The amount currently available for issuing bonds, S in the whitepaper. A bond can be bought only while its maturity value fits inside it, buying reduces it by that value, and redeeming does not change it. See How a bond works.
Issue Size Buffer
Section titled “Issue Size Buffer”The share of the beacon balance the validator holds back from the issue size, R in the whitepaper, set in basis points. It is the validator’s own allowance for penalties, the protocol does not enforce it, and a higher buffer means a smaller issue size. See Before you buy.
Listing
Section titled “Listing”A signed message by a bond’s holder offering it at a price in ETH. Signing costs nothing, the buyer fills it on chain, and only a cancel on chain revokes it. See List a bond.
The party that signs a listing or an offer. A listing’s maker holds the bond and has approved the marketplace, while an offer’s maker is checked for nothing until the fill. See How trading works.
Marketplace
Section titled “Marketplace”The separate contract where bonds are traded through signed listings and offers. The protocol contracts do not operate a trading venue. See How trading works.
Marketplace approval
Section titled “Marketplace approval”The one approval that lets the marketplace move any bond you hold, given once before your first listing. Revoking it takes your listings out of the app. It moves bonds and never WETH, which is the WETH allowance. See List a bond.
Marketplace fee
Section titled “Marketplace fee”A fixed 9 percent of the buyer’s profit, the maturity value minus the price, when that difference is positive. It is paid in ETH on a listing and in WETH on an offer, there is no fee at or above the maturity value, and the rate is a constant with no setter. See Fees.
Matured
Section titled “Matured”The bond status for a claimable bond. It has two routes in, the clock reaching the maturity date, or the Coffer entering default. See Bond lifecycle and statuses.
Maturity
Section titled “Maturity”The end of a bond’s term, when the holder can redeem. A bond can mature no sooner than the minimum duration after its purchase, and the buy card’s estimate calls the date Unlock Date. See How a bond works.
Maturity value
Section titled “Maturity value”What the holder receives at maturity, the principal plus the interest less the fee, M in the whitepaper, fixed at purchase. The marketplace checks a signed maturity value against the live one at every fill. See How a bond works.
Mempool
Section titled “Mempool”The waiting room for transactions before a block includes them. Near a bond’s maturity a redeem and a validator’s top up race there, and either can land first. See Redeem at maturity.
Min amount
Section titled “Min amount”The smallest principal a Coffer accepts, set by the validator, at creation at most the buffer scaled starting balance. See Create a Coffer.
See Bond NFT.
Non custodial
Section titled “Non custodial”No one holds funds for anyone. The principal goes to the validator’s wallet, redemptions are paid by the contract, and the app is one way to use the contracts. See What is Coffer.
The counter a signed message is bound to, one per maker and bond on each side. A fill or a cancel advances it, which invalidates every earlier signature for that bond, and a global nonce cancels everything at once. See How trading works.
A signed message by a would-be buyer naming a WETH amount for a bond. The holder accepts it on chain and the WETH moves from the buyer to the seller. See Make an offer.
Outstanding
Section titled “Outstanding”A bond whose maturity value is not yet zero, matured or not. The total outstanding is the sum the whitepaper’s issue size formula subtracts. See How a bond works.
The wallet that controls a Coffer, the validator’s role in the contract. It can be transferred in two steps and never renounced, and the app warns when the connected wallet is not the owner of the Coffer being created. See Ownership and Create a Coffer.
Partial redemption
Section titled “Partial redemption”In a default a redeem pays the smaller of the contract balance and the bond’s remaining value, so a bond can be paid in parts and stays live for the rest. The app’s button reads Waiting For Funds while the balance is empty. See When a validator defaults.
Penalties
Section titled “Penalties”What lowers a beacon balance, missed attestations, missed sync committee duties, the inactivity leak and slashing. The buffer is the validator’s allowance for them. See Risks.
Pending
Section titled “Pending”The app’s short pill in lists for the three pending Coffer statuses, Deposit in Queue, Activating and Activation Queue, where the detail view draws the finer line. Status Unknown is not one of them, it reads Unknown. See Coffer lifecycle and statuses.
Permissionless
Section titled “Permissionless”Anyone can deploy a Coffer and anyone can buy a bond. Whether a person may do so under the law that applies to them is their own responsibility. See What is Coffer.
Predicted address
Section titled “Predicted address”The Coffer’s address known before it exists, because the factory deploys deterministically. It is the withdrawal address a validator’s deposit points at. See Create a Coffer.
Principal
Section titled “Principal”The ETH the holder pays for a bond, P in the whitepaper. It goes to the validator’s wallet, and the fee is never taken from it. The buy card’s estimate calls it Deposit. See How a bond works.
Protocol admin
Section titled “Protocol admin”The owner of the fee curve contract. The one thing it can change is which address the recipient is. See Fees.
Protocol fee
Section titled “Protocol fee”The one fee the Coffer contracts charge, on buying a bond. It is taken from the interest and never from the principal, and it is fixed at purchase from the fee curve’s value that day. See Fees.
Recipient
Section titled “Recipient”The role the pooled protocol fees are directed to. Anyone can trigger the payout, and it always pays the recipient. See Fees.
Redeem
Section titled “Redeem”The holder’s action at or after maturity. Outside a default it pays the full maturity value or declares the default, never a partial amount. In a default it pays what the contract holds, up to the bond’s remaining value. See Redeem at maturity.
Redeemed
Section titled “Redeemed”The bond pill for a settled bond, whether the holder redeemed it, the validator settled it into escrow, or the holder collected that escrow. See Bond lifecycle and statuses.
Redemption escrow
Section titled “Redemption escrow”The contract that holds the maturity value of bonds the validator settled. A validator can settle chosen bonds at their full maturity value before or after maturity, the money waits in the escrow, and the holder claims it. See Claim escrowed funds.
Request fee
Section titled “Request fee”The small, variable fee the Ethereum protocol’s withdrawal request contract charges for an exit or a consensus withdrawal request. Whoever sends the request pays it. See Fees.
Server behind the app
Section titled “Server behind the app”The service that mirrors the chain for the app and stores the signed listings and offers. It writes nothing on chain, and everything the app shows can be checked on the chain. See Architecture.
Signed message
Section titled “Signed message”A listing or an offer, signed at no cost and stored off chain. There is one live signed message per maker and bond on each side, and it is live, filled, cancelled, expired or replaced. A new message at the same nonce with better terms, a higher offer or a lower ask, replaces the earlier one in one signature. See How trading works and Statuses across the layers.
Slashing
Section titled “Slashing”The penalty for a provable validator fault, an initial amount plus a further amount that grows with how much stake is slashed in the same window. Several validators under one operator can be slashed together. See Risks.
Slot and epoch
Section titled “Slot and epoch”The beacon chain’s clock, a slot every 12 seconds and 32 slots to an epoch, about six and a half minutes. Deposits and exits are measured in epochs. See Point your validator at the Coffer.
Starting balance
Section titled “Starting balance”The balance a validator reports at creation. The contract derives the opening issue size from it at the buffer discount. See Create a Coffer.
The beacon chain’s periodic pass that pays withdrawals to the withdrawal address. A consensus withdrawal waits for it, and an exit sweeps the whole stake into the Coffer. See Point your validator at the Coffer.
Syncing
Section titled “Syncing”The app’s state right after a transaction, until it shows the result, usually a few seconds. See Buy a bond.
System contracts
Section titled “System contracts”The three contracts the Ethereum protocol itself provides and a Coffer drives, the deposit contract, the withdrawal request contract from EIP-7002 and the consolidation request contract from EIP-7251. Their addresses are on the networks page.
The party that fills a signed message on chain and pays the gas, the buyer of a listing or the holder accepting an offer. See Buy or accept.
What a validator sets for new bonds, the interest rate, the duration range, the minimum amount, the issue size, the buffer and whether issuance is active. While bonds are outstanding the rate, the issue size and the maximum duration can only go down and the buffer can only go up. See Terms and what can change.
Top up
Section titled “Top up”ETH sent to the Coffer contract’s address. It raises the contract balance and the issue size, and near a maturity it races the holder’s redeem. See Funds.
Uncovered
Section titled “Uncovered”See Coverage.
Validator
Section titled “Validator”The party that runs an Ethereum validator and deploys a Coffer against its stake. The validator raises liquidity without exiting, and keeping the contract funded for every matured bond is its one duty. See Overview for validators.
Validator Balance
Section titled “Validator Balance”The terms card row for the validator’s balance on the beacon chain, C in the whitepaper. The whitepaper’s backing is this balance plus the contract balance. The row reads a dash while the validator’s withdrawal credentials do not point to the Coffer, and after an exit has moved the balance to the contract. See Before you buy.
Version
Section titled “Version”The Coffer’s counter of changes that touch holder protections. It rises on such a terms change, on an execution withdrawal and on clearing a default. See Terms and what can change.
Wrapped ETH, the token marketplace offers are paid in. The app’s wallet menu wraps ETH into it and unwraps it back, and a seller whose wallet cannot take ETH within the gas allowed is paid in WETH instead. See Make an offer.
WETH allowance
Section titled “WETH allowance”What the marketplace may draw from your WETH, given once before your first offer and unlimited, so the step never comes back. A fill draws only an offer’s amount plus its fee, and only against an offer you signed. Granting it is where the app asks you to tick the offer checks. See Make an offer.
Withdrawal credentials
Section titled “Withdrawal credentials”The address a validator’s withdrawals go to, set on the beacon chain. 0x00 means no address is committed yet, so buying means trusting the eventual change, while 0x01 and 0x02 name an address, and for a Coffer that address must be the Coffer. 0x02 adds compounding. See Point your validator at the Coffer.
What a validator earns from staking. A validator that earns more yield than it pays on sold bonds increases its overall earnings, and the word is used in that functional sense only. See Overview for validators.