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AMM (Automated Market Maker) A type of trading pool where prices are set by a math formula, not by people placing orders. When you swap tokens on NEXUS, you trade against a pool, not another user. The price adjusts automatically based on supply and demand. Atomic An operation that either fully succeeds or fully fails — there is no in-between. An atomic swap either gives you the tokens you wanted and takes your payment, or does nothing. You can never lose your tokens without receiving the other side.B
BIP39 / BIP86 Standards for creating and organizing wallet keys from a seed phrase (12 or 24 words). BIP39 generates the words; BIP86 defines the path used for Taproot addresses. You do not need to know this to use NEXUS — your wallet handles it. BitVM2 A system that allows disputes about computations to be resolved on Bitcoin. If someone claims the network processed transactions incorrectly, anyone can challenge this claim. The dispute is resolved through a series of narrowing questions until the exact error is found and verified on Bitcoin. No special permissions needed — anyone can challenge. Block A batch of confirmed transactions added to a blockchain. Each block references the previous one, forming a “chain.” Bitcoin adds a block roughly every 10 minutes; Dogecoin every 1 minute; Zcash every 75 seconds (~1.25 minutes). Block Height The number of blocks that have been added to a blockchain since it started. Block height 0 is the very first block (genesis). Current block height tells you how old a chain is and is used as a timestamp. Bond Funds locked up as a security deposit. On NEXUS, operators who process transactions must post a bond. If they cheat, they lose the bond. This creates a financial incentive to behave honestly.C
ChaCha20-Poly1305 An encryption algorithm used by NEXUS to encrypt transactions before they enter the mempool. It simultaneously encrypts and authenticates data — meaning it hides the content and ensures nobody tampered with it. Widely used in HTTPS and modern secure messaging. CLTV (CheckLockTimeVerify) A Bitcoin Script instruction that prevents a transaction from being spent until a certain block height or time has passed. NEXUS uses this for vault escape hatches — your backup withdrawal can only be used after the timelock expires. Confirmation When a transaction is included in a block, it has 1 confirmation. Each additional block added after that adds another confirmation. More confirmations = more certainty the transaction is permanent. NEXUS waits 6 confirmations for Bitcoin, 10 for Zcash, and 3 for Dogecoin. Constant Product AMM The simplest type of AMM. The rule is: the product of the two token amounts in a pool must always stay the same (x × y = k). This simple formula determines prices and ensures the pool never runs out of either token.D
Delegate Call A way for one smart contract to borrow and run another contract’s code, but using its own storage. Used for upgradeable contracts — you swap out the logic without changing the data.E
ECDH (Elliptic Curve Diffie-Hellman) A key agreement method. Two parties (sender and recipient) can each use their own keys to independently arrive at the same shared secret, without that secret ever crossing the network. NEXUS uses ECDH for stealth addresses and encrypted mempool transactions. EIP-1559 Ethereum’s fee mechanism, adopted by NEXUS. There is a “base fee” that adjusts automatically based on how full blocks are. You can also add a priority tip for faster inclusion. This makes fees predictable — the base fee changes by at most 12.5% per block. Epoch A defined period or round in NEXUS. State commitments are made per epoch. Each epoch links to the previous one, forming a chain that can be audited from the beginning. Escape Hatch A backup withdrawal mechanism built into every NEXUS vault. If NEXUS ever becomes unresponsive, you can unilaterally withdraw your funds after a waiting period (timelock). No permission from anyone required.F
Full Viewing Key (FVK) A Zcash key that lets you see the contents of shielded (private) transactions without being able to spend them. NEXUS makes its FVK public so anyone can verify state commits on Zcash — the operator can’t hide bad data, but only NEXUS can create new state commits. Fraud Proof Evidence submitted on-chain to prove that a state commitment was wrong. The challenger and prover play a narrowing game to pinpoint the exact bad step, then verify it on-chain. Successful challengers receive the prover’s bond.G
Gas A unit measuring how much computation a transaction uses. Every operation in a smart contract costs gas. You pay for gas with vSAT. Setting a gas limit protects you from runaway costs — if your contract needs more gas than you allow, it reverts and you only pay for what was used. Genesis The very first block or state in a chain. “Genesis epoch” means the starting point of NEXUS’s state history. Groth16 A type of zero-knowledge proof used by Zcash. It produces tiny proofs (~200 bytes) that can be verified very quickly. Zcash has native Groth16 verification built into its protocol — NEXUS on Zcash uses this for trustless state verification without any additional infrastructure.H
HKDF (HMAC-based Key Derivation Function) A standard method for deriving cryptographic keys from a shared secret. Given the same inputs, it always produces the same output. NEXUS uses HKDF-SHA256 to derive encryption keys for stealth addresses and the encrypted mempool.I
Intent Exchange A way to swap assets across chains without trusting a central party. You declare your intent (“I want to swap 1 BTC for at least X DOGE”) and a network of solvers compete to fill it at the best rate. You only pay if the swap executes as promised. Planned for NEXUS V2.L
L1 (Layer 1) The original blockchain — Bitcoin, Zcash, or Dogecoin. L1 is the source of truth. Funds on L1 are secured by that chain’s consensus rules. NEXUS Layer The execution environment built on top of L1 chains. NEXUS is a metaprotocol — it has no separate chain. It processes transactions and commits state summaries back to L1 (Zcash today, Bitcoin and Dogecoin next), inheriting L1 security. Liquidity The amount of tokens available in a trading pool. More liquidity = smaller price impact when you trade. Less liquidity = bigger price swings. Liquidity providers deposit tokens into pools and earn fees in return. LP Token (Liquidity Provider Token) A token you receive when you add liquidity to an AMM pool. It represents your share of the pool. Burn your LP tokens to withdraw your share of the pooled assets plus accumulated fees.M
Mempool Short for “memory pool.” A waiting room for transactions that have been submitted but not yet included in a block. Miners/validators pick transactions from the mempool, usually prioritizing higher fees. NEXUS encrypts mempool transactions to prevent front-running. Merkle Root / Merkle Tree A way to summarize a large set of data into a single hash. A Merkle tree hashes pairs of items repeatedly until one “root” hash remains. Given the root, you can prove any single item is in the set without revealing the rest. NEXUS uses Merkle roots for state commitments and L1 event tracking. Metaprotocol A protocol that adds new rules on top of an existing blockchain, without modifying that blockchain itself. NEXUS reads Bitcoin/Zcash/Dogecoin transactions, interprets them according to NEXUS rules, and writes state commitments back to those chains. The underlying chains are untouched. Multisig Short for multi-signature. A setup where multiple keys are required to authorize a transaction. NEXUS vaults use 2-of-2 multisig — both you and the protocol must sign for normal operations. The escape hatch allows you to exit alone after a timelock.N
NEP-20 NEXUS’s fungible token standard. Similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20. Any token created on NEXUS follows NEP-20 so wallets, AMMs, and other contracts can interact with them in a standard way. Nullifier In Zcash’s Sapling system, spending a note (private transaction output) reveals its nullifier — a unique value that marks that note as spent. This prevents double-spending. NEXUS uses nullifiers to chain state commits together: each epoch references the nullifier of the previous epoch’s state note.O
OP_RETURN A special Bitcoin transaction output that can store up to 80 bytes of arbitrary data on-chain. Bitcoin uses it for data that should be recorded but not spendable. Bitcoin and Dogecoin bridges use OP_RETURN for state commitments. Zcash uses Sapling encrypted memos instead (more data, cryptographically linked).P
P2PKH (Pay-to-Public-Key-Hash) The standard Dogecoin and legacy Bitcoin address format. The address is a hash of your public key. Spending requires proving you own the key behind that hash. P2TR (Pay-to-Taproot) Bitcoin’s modern address format (starts withbc1p on mainnet). Taproot enables more privacy and flexibility. NEXUS Bitcoin vaults use P2TR.
P2SH (Pay-to-Script-Hash)
An address that commits to a spending script. Zcash transparent vaults use P2SH for 2-of-2 multisig.
Privacy
NEXUS has two privacy layers in V1:
- Stealth addresses — one-time addresses so your transactions can’t be linked to your identity
- Encrypted mempool — transactions are encrypted before submission so miners can’t front-run them