Glossary

Accounting Entity - An Accounting Entity represents a set of books (accounting) for a Party. All [Conduit Network] rights, obligations, or value transfer transactions occur within the scope of an Accounting Entity for all counterparties (Parties) in a transaction. Each Accounting Entity supports order management and fulfillment for Resources, complete with inventory, purchase orders, sales orders, and invoicing, which are useful for tax, import, or export invoices.

Billing - Billing is the process of calculating a charge for the use, sale or transfer of a Resource, or a set of Resources, which can occur in real time, near time or be periodic based. Billing works hand and hand with Settlement which can be real time, near time or periodic as well.

Block of CNDT - An amount of CNDT that can be mined based on the Conduit Network mining schedule.

CNDT (Token) - The native token of the Conduit Network.

Conduit Core - A modular stack of network and computer hardware consisting of a Connectivity Module, a Security Module, and at least one Compute Module.

Conduit Network - Conduit Network is a computer network designed with decentralized opinions and an economic system implemented as a robust rewards program. Conduit Network provides a rich set of semantics and protocols designed to facilitate and foster economic activity in which all parties involved experience mutual benefit. The design of Conduit Network is based on three key tenets:

  • Cost Reduction
  • Mutual Benefit
  • Decentralization

Conduit Node0 License - A license to operate a Worker Node at the Standard Trust Level, running a verified Worker Node OS on the Conduit Network.

Conduit NodeX License - A license to operate a Worker Node at the Enhanced Trust Level, running a verified Worker Node OS on the Conduit Network.

Conduit Rewards System - Conduit implements a multifaceted rewards system for many different types of participation in the network with the goal to create a secure decentralized network for both Web 2 and Web 3, owned by its operators, creators and users. How it works

CROP - CROP stands for Cost Reduction from (shared) OPerations representing efficiency increase in economic terms. CROP has two primary functions: it is a measuring tool and fund source. As a measuring tool it is an indicator of economic activity of a network as it is attached to every economic transaction in the network. As a fund source CROP creates a pool of resources to be used according to the Conduit Network Distribution Pools that incentivize shared operational efficiency in the network.

CROP Ledger - A ledger type specifically designed to track CROP contributions. These ledgers are utilized at a network and individual Party level. They keep track of a Parties CROP contributions, as well as the total Conduit Network CROP contributions. They inform Mining events for individual Parties and block releases and phase changes for Conduit Network.

Ecosystem - A mutual company, trade association or co-operative operated for the mutual benefit of its participants that uses the Conduit Network.

Enhanced Trust (Trust Level) - Enhanced Trust Nodes represent a compromise between Standard Trust and High Trust that attempts to find the sweet spot between cost and the friction of use versus the skill or economic cost of breaching security or violating trust. Enhanced Trust Nodes are only available from a list of qualifying hardware device manufacturers from third-parties that have been vetted. Enhanced Trust Nodes can be purchased directly from their suppliers and can be configured to operate within the Network or purchased pre-configured through the Conduit infrastructure Ecosystem. NOTE: In order to participate in economic activity a Enhanced Node must also have a Conduit NodeX License attached.

Event Proof - Proof of circumstances that can trigger:

  • The Billings of one or more counter-parties for a Resource use, sale or transfer
  • An exception or error handling routed for human inspection or automated intervention
  • The triggering of another action
  • The notification of one or more Parties or Agents.

Founders Edition - The inaugural manufacturing run of Conduit Core devices limited to 1,000 units.

High Trust (Trust Level) - Nodes that are appropriate for use in the most demanding trustless security environments including critical banking, nation state and utilities infrastructure. These Nodes can only be purchased through licensed Syndicates (a Network version of a DAO) within the infrastructure Ecosystem. These Syndicates must demonstrate that they maintain a fully audited supply chain that can provide full provenance for all components. All components that are deemed to pose a quantifiable risk must also come from Members of licensed Syndicates within the infrastructure Ecosystem. All hardware, OS and software for High Trust Nodes are designed by Conduit and only manufactured by licensed Parties who use approved suppliers for components. Software components can only be created and modified by licensed Parties and must be audited by licensed Parties. All hardware for High Trust Nodes that run Secure Core Services must be NIST rated to comply with the FIPS 140-2 (level 3) standards.

The entire supply chain for High Trust Nodes must ensure provenance and auditable history of each component. Any party who wishes to participate in building components for High Trust Nodes must go through a rigorous training process, risk assessment and submit to regular audit processes as well as agreeing to join a Syndicate that places the right to all IP used within a Network trust. Therefore, High Trust Nodes for use in the Network are only available through the Conduit infrastructure Ecosystem and must be purchased through Network websites or Apps.

Low Trust (Trust Level) - Nodes that are appropriate only when there is virtually no value to compromising the device or gaining access to information it contains or produces. Shared public information is a good example. Any hardware system can be considered a Low Trust Node. In fact, all non-verified Nodes in the Network are considered Low Trust Nodes until proven differently. This means that any device already owned or in use by anyone can be considered and used as a Low Trust Node. The Conduit infrastructure Ecosystem websites and apps do not offer any pre-configured Low Trust Nodes as their use is not encouraged by the Network. However, every hardware connected to the internet today and every cloud computing environment unless certified to a higher standard are considered Low Trust.

LP Entity - LP Entity is an authorized term given to a Participant that is licensed to conduct business activities and trade in the Conduit Network.

Member - A Participant in the network that has been through basic KYC.

Mining - Mining on the Conduit network is done by proving and tracking economic activity. The proving and tracking is done by contributions made on every economic transaction in the Conduit Network called CROP contributions.

Node - A Node is a compute resource that is connected to and resides on the the Conduit Network. Nodes can have different functions, operate in different capacities, and have differing Trust Levels.

Node0 License - A license to install and run the Worker Node OS on the Conduit Network on a Standard Trust hardware trust level or higher and participate in network economics.

Node Operator - The Party responsible for operating a node on the Conduit Network.

Participant - A Participant is any person or legal person taking action on or in the Conduit Network.

Party - A Party is a Participant or LP Entity. Each Party has at least one Accounting Entity which is the default root accounting entity for the Party.

Phase - A subdivision of the Conduit Mining Schedule based on the total amount of CROP contributed in the network. Phases establish the amount of Blocks released and the amount of CNDT in a Block.

Predicate - Predicates are made of boolean statements that use values stated in an object graph.

Predicate Proof - A cryptographic proof generated from Predicates. Can be specified as zero knowledge or transparent based on authority rights.

Resource(s) - A Resource is anything in the Network that has economic value. Resources are measured by Smart Meters that run on Worker Nodes running the Worker Node OS.

Secure Core Services - A common set of services that protect the network, enable data to be held in trustless and even hostile environments, route and broker the use of network resources, and handle all billing and transfer of value on the nework. These services include:

  • Accounting, ledgers, key storage, secure storage and wallets
  • Data replication, consensus and messaging
  • Financial settlement, payments, blockchain bridges and tokenizable assets
  • Identity, authentication, authorization and claims management
  • Resource management, capacity, location, name resolution and routing

Security Module - The Conduit Security module is a computer that meets the High Trust hardware specification and runs the Conduit Secure Core Services.

Settlement - A concluded transfer of value. When something of value (for example, a right in or to a product or service) is transferred between two or more parties concurrent with a corresponding transfer of value (for example, usually a payment of cash, or cash together with Points) and which closes a receivable on a Sales Transaction, and thereby extinguishes a particular right, obligation and/or liability.

Smart Meter - Smart Meters perform two functions:

  1. The creation of Predicate Proofs upon a Predicate dictating a significant event
  2. Provide Billing information for use, sale or transfer of a Resource that Smart Meter monitors or measures to a Security Module to calculate the charge and do the Billing and Settlement.

Standard Trust (Trust Level) - Nodes that are appropriate for use where there is low value to someone gaining unauthorized access or for use where there may be economic loss but which would not be significant in either individual cases or the aggregate. Standard Trust Nodes may be able to be considered Enhanced Nodes when they exist in environments that have high physical and connectivity protection. For example, secure data centers or in private networks not connected to the internet. Standard Nodes can be supplied by many commodity hardware providers. Even legacy hardware that new Network Participants already own may qualify for use as a Standard Node. Standard Nodes can be purchased directly from their suppliers and can be configured to operate within the Network by installing the Worker Node OS. Also, a limited list of pre-configured Standard Nodes are available for purchase via the Conduit infrastructure Ecosystem websites and apps. These come with the Worker Node OS preinstalled. NOTE: In order to participate in economic activity a Standard Node must also have a Conduit Node0 License attached.

Syndicate - Syndicates are DAOs inside of an Ecosystem which means they function like a subcontractor in an Ecosystem. They are not legal entities themselves, rather a consortium governed by the Syndicate Governance under the Ecosystem Governance.

Temporal Ledger - A Temporal Ledger enables the recording of updates that supersede existing information, or to record transactions that occur on a future date and don’t require any additional processing to take effect. For example, a Party can change their address for example and have it go into effect in the future when they actually move. Temporal Rights Ledgers are one of the most fundamental differences between the Conduit Network and traditional blockchains because they solve custody problems.

Trust Levels (Hardware) - A hierarchy of states describing risk and levels of security.

Wallet - A storage mechanism for two types of accounts:

  • Fungible - Accounts that hold asset classes that are freely exchangeable, such as gold, rice, cash, shares of stock in a specific company, etc.
  • Non-fungible - Accounts that hold asset classes where each item is unique and can’t be exchanged one for another because the assets are not equivalent, such as real estate, vehicles and NFTs.

Worker Node - Any device that is used to measure the existence of or use or purchase of something of economic value, a resource.

Worker Node OS - A SELinux based operating system that uses Conduit Network authorizations and implements Smart Meters.