Glossary
Financial Infrastructure
Local-Currency Stablecoin
A payment stablecoin pegged to a specific national fiat currency rather than to the U.S. dollar. Twin issues local-currency stablecoins for different emerging markets: Argentina (ARGt), Brazil (BRAt), Mexico (MEXt), and Colombia (COLt), among others. Each token tracks the value of its underlying local currency and is fully backed.
Reserve Backing
Reserve backing ensures that every token in circulation corresponds to an equivalent value held in reserve, making redemption at face value possible at any time.
Onchain Settlement
The finalization of a financial transaction recorded directly on a public blockchain, without intermediaries. Twin tokens settle onchain across multiple networks, enabling near-instant, verifiable, and auditable transfers between counterparties across Latin America.
Tokenized Real-World Asset (RWA)
A blockchain-based digital representation of an off-chain financial instrument, such as a stock, bond, or ETF. Twin tokenizes real-world assets, enabling onchain access to traditional financial products.
Cross-Border Settlement
Twin's local-currency stablecoins enable cross-border settlement across Latin America: the transfer and final settlement of value between parties in different countries, without reliance on correspondent banking infrastructure. Settlement times are reduced from days to minutes.
Onchain Financial Infrastructure
The layer of smart contracts, custody systems, liquidity mechanisms, and interoperability protocols that together enable regulated financial activity to occur on a public blockchain. Twin's architecture, comprising its token contracts, oracle, Uniswap V4 pools, LayerZero bridge, and BitGo custody layer, constitutes an onchain financial infrastructure purpose-built for Latin American markets.
Blockchain and Onchain Infrastructure
Blockchain
A distributed, cryptographically secured ledger that records transactions across a network of computers without requiring a central authority. Each transaction is grouped into a block and linked to the previous one, forming an immutable chain. Twin operates across multiple blockchains: Arbitrum, Polygon, and Base.
Smart Contract
Self-executing code deployed on a blockchain that automatically enforces the terms of an agreement when predefined conditions are met.
Layer 2 (L2)
A secondary network built on top of a Layer 1 blockchain (L1) to increase transaction throughput and reduce costs while inheriting the security guarantees of the underlying chain.
Public Blockchain
A blockchain network that is open, permissionless, and verifiable by anyone. All transactions recorded on a public blockchain are transparent and auditable in real time. Twin deploys its tokens on public blockchains to ensure maximum transparency and independent verifiability of onchain activity.
Gas Fee
The transaction cost paid to a blockchain network in exchange for processing and recording an operation onchain. On L2s, gas fees are significantly lower than on Ethereum mainnet, making Twin token transfers economically viable at scale.
Immutability
The property of a blockchain record that, once confirmed, cannot be altered or deleted. Transaction history involving Twin tokens is permanently and immutably recorded onchain, providing a tamper-proof audit trail.
Stablecoins
Stablecoin
A digital token designed to maintain a stable value relative to a national currency. Unlike volatile cryptocurrencies, stablecoins are engineered for use as payment and settlement instruments. Twin issues fully backed, local-currency stablecoins across Latin America.
Fully Backed
Twin maintains full backing for all tokens at all times: a stablecoin is fully backed when the total value of assets held in reserve equals or exceeds the total supply of tokens in circulation. Full backing makes redemption at face value possible on demand.
Peg
Twin tokens maintain a peg to their respective local currencies: the fixed exchange rate at which each token is redeemable for its underlying reference asset. ARGt, for example, is designed to be redeemable at exactly 1 token per 1 Argentine peso.
Stablecoin Issuer
The entity responsible for minting stablecoins, maintaining reserves, publishing attestations, and managing redemptions. Twin is the issuer of all tokens in the Twin ecosystem. As issuer, Twin is responsible for reserve custody, regulatory compliance, and operational integrity.
Token Supply
The total number of tokens in existence at any given time. Twin's token supply is dynamic: it increases when new tokens are minted and decreases when tokens are redeemed. Total supply is publicly verifiable onchain at all times, ensuring full transparency.
Circulating Supply
The number of tokens that have been minted and are currently active in the market: held in wallets, deployed in protocols, or actively used for payments and settlement. Circulating supply excludes tokens that have been redeemed and burned.
Attestation
A third-party verification report confirming that a stablecoin issuer holds the reserves it claims. Twin publishes attestations to provide independent proof that every token in circulation is fully backed by equivalent assets held in reserve.
Wallet
A digital wallet is the application users need to hold and transfer Twin tokens. It stores the private keys that prove ownership of onchain assets. Twin tokens are compatible with any EVM-compatible wallet, including MetaMask, Rainbow, and Safe.
Tokenization
Tokenization
The process of representing a real-world asset or right as a digital token on a blockchain. Tokenization enables assets that traditionally require intermediaries and manual settlement (currencies, equities, bonds, funds) to be transferred, held, and settled programmatically and onchain.
Asset Tokenization
The specific application of tokenization to financial assets: converting ownership rights or economic exposure to an asset into a blockchain-based token. Asset tokenization reduces settlement friction, enables fractional ownership, and creates programmable financial instruments. Twin tokenizes equities, ETFs, and bonds alongside its stablecoin infrastructure.
Token
A digital unit of value or utility deployed on a blockchain via a smart contract. Tokens can represent currencies, assets, rights, or access. Twin tokens represent local-currency value (stablecoins) or ownership of tokenized financial assets, each with distinct legal and operational characteristics.
Token Standard
A technical specification that defines how a token behaves on a given blockchain, ensuring interoperability with wallets, exchanges, and protocols. Twin tokens implement established standards: ERC-20 for base token functionality and OFT (Omnichain Fungible Token) for native cross-chain transfers via LayerZero V2.
Fractional Ownership
The ability to hold a proportional share of an asset that would otherwise require full ownership to access. Tokenization enables fractional ownership by dividing an asset into discrete onchain units. Twin's tokenized RWA products may support fractional access to equities, ETFs, and bonds.
Onchain Finance and DeFi Infrastructure
Decentralized Exchange (DEX)
A protocol that enables peer-to-peer trading of onchain assets without a central intermediary. DEX trading is governed entirely by smart contracts, with no custody of user funds by the exchange operator.
Total Value Locked (TVL)
The aggregate value of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol at a given point in time. TVL is a standard metric for measuring the scale and depth of onchain liquidity infrastructure.
Composability
Twin tokens are composable: because they follow open token standards, wallets, exchanges, DeFi protocols, and payment applications can integrate them without requiring permission from Twin. Composability is the property of onchain protocols that allows them to be combined and built upon by third-party developers.
Non-Custodial
A model in which users retain control of their private keys and, therefore, their assets, without delegating custody to a third party. Twin's onchain token infrastructure is non-custodial at the user level: tokens held in a user's wallet are controlled exclusively by that user.