Glossary

Threshold Network Lingo

Term	Definition
Threshold Cryptography	Threshold cryptography is a revolutionary technology that distributes sensitive operations across multiple independent entities – like nodes in a network – and requires a threshold, or minimum number of those entities to cooperate for the operation to be successful.
Staking Provider	An ethereum address of a party authorized to operate in the network on behalf of a given owner. The staking provider handles the everyday operations on the delegated stake without actually owning the staked tokens. A staking provider can not simply transfer away delegated tokens, however, it should be noted that the staking provider’s misbehavior may result in slashing tokens and thus the entire staked amount is indeed at stake.
Authorizer	An ethereum address appointed by an owner to authorize applications on behalf of the owner. An application must be approved by the authorizer before the staking provider is eligible to participate.
Beneficiary	An ethereum address where the rewards for participation are sent, earned by the staking provider, on behalf of the owner. A beneficiary doesn’t sign or publish any protocol-relevant transactions, but any currency or tokens earned by the staking provider will be transferred to the beneficiary.
Delegated stake	An owner’s staked tokens, delegated to the staking provider by the owner. Delegation enables token owners to have their wallets offline and their stake operated by staking providers on their behalf.
Application	An external smart contract or a set of smart contracts utilizing functionalities offered by Threshold Network. Example applications are: random beacon, proxy re-encryption, and tBTC. Applications authorized for the given staking provider are eligible to slash the stake delegated to that staking provider.