Glossary

A financial free zone in Abu Dhabi with its own legal framework based on English common law. JIL operates JIL Ltd here for MENA operations and secondary fiat rails.

Regulations and procedures to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income. JIL enforces AML at the protocol level via jurisdiction corridors.

JIL's programmable compliance framework that embeds regulatory rules directly into the settlement decision. Enables transfer restrictions, investor limits, lock-up periods, and jurisdiction corridors.

JIL's AI-powered asset management system that executes strategies (DCA, rebalancing, yield optimization) within user-defined guardrails. Operates autonomously but always within policy constraints - the user sets boundaries, the AI executes. Protected by MPC signing so the AI never holds keys.

JIL's programmable transaction lifecycle engine that automates issuance, vesting, distribution and compliance evaluation. Works with ATCE to ensure every operation respects jurisdiction-specific rules and policy corridors.

A type of wire fraud where attackers impersonate legitimate business contacts to redirect payments. BEC caused $2.9B in losses in 2024 (FBI IC3). JIL's BID service prevents BEC by cryptographically binding beneficiary identity to every wire transfer.

A consensus mechanism that can reach agreement even when some nodes fail or act maliciously. JIL uses hybrid-signed independent signing, meaning attestation holds even if 6 signing nodes are compromised.

JIL's standalone API product for beneficiary identity verification. Combines cryptographic binding (Ed25519), sanctions screening, phone/email/address validation, personal identity checks, and company verification in a single REST API. Banks use BID to verify beneficiary identity before releasing funds, preventing BEC fraud. See jilsovereign.com/bid.

One basis point = 0.01%. JIL charges 35-90 bps per settlement event ($1 floor) for live attestation, and starts at 5 bps per record for retroactive validation. Compared to 50-200 bps for competitors like Fireblocks.

US law requiring financial institutions to assist government agencies in detecting and preventing money laundering. JIL's compliance framework supports BSA requirements.

The mean annual growth rate of an investment over a specified period longer than one year. JIL projections use 40% CAGR for market growth estimates.

Chainlink's protocol for secure cross-chain messaging. One of JIL's competitors in the cross-chain infrastructure space.

An automatic mechanism that halts or throttles trading when market movements exceed predefined thresholds. JIL uses adaptive circuit breakers tied to the state machine (NORMAL, ELEVATED, STRESSED, HALTED) to prevent cascading losses during market stress.

The consensus engine (formerly Tendermint) that JIL uses for its independent cryptographic signing. Provides deterministic finality and sub-2-second settlement times.

JIL's routing service that enforces zone-specific corridor modes and cross-border destination restrictions for settlements. Determines which compliance zones a transaction must pass through based on source and destination jurisdictions.

A new type of identifier that enables verifiable, decentralized digital identity. JIL's DID Registry integrates with KYC providers using zero-knowledge proofs.

A NIST-approved post-quantum digital signature algorithm based on lattice cryptography. JIL implements ML-DSA-65 for quantum-resistant signatures.

The primary financial post-trade market infrastructure in the US, processing trillions in securities transactions. JIL provides a neutral settlement integrity layer that works alongside existing rails like DTCC.

JIL's secure encrypted storage for sensitive documents such as tax records, contracts, and compliance certificates. Stored off-chain with ledger hash verification, accessible only by the wallet owner via MPC authentication.

A property where once a transaction is confirmed, it cannot be reversed or reorganized. Unlike probabilistic finality (Bitcoin, Ethereum PoW) where confidence grows over time, JIL's independent cryptographic signing provides absolute, deterministic finality - a confirmed transaction is final, period. Critical for institutional settlement where reversals are unacceptable.

A settlement mechanism that links asset transfer to payment transfer, ensuring both occur simultaneously. JIL's atomic settlement engine implements DvP.

A widely-used digital signature algorithm. JIL supports Ed25519 for classical cryptography while transitioning to post-quantum ML-DSA-65.

A fixed period of time in a distributed signing cycle, typically containing multiple slots or blocks. At the end of each epoch, the signing node set may rotate and protocol parameters can be updated. JIL epochs align with compliance reporting periods.

Criteria used by investors to evaluate corporate sustainability and societal impact. JIL's 10% Human Flourishing Allocation (from JIL's profits, not a tax on clients) appeals to ESG-focused participants.

The UK's financial regulatory body. JIL's jurisdiction corridors support FCA compliance requirements.

Switzerland's independent financial-markets regulator. JIL AG operates under FINMA oversight via VQF SRO membership for maximum institutional credibility.

Japan's financial regulatory body. JIL supports FSA compliance requirements through jurisdiction corridors.

JIL's protection coverage model providing up to $250K+ automatic coverage for Premium-tier custody clients. Unlike traditional exchange custody (no protection) or bank deposits (FDIC-protected but centralized), JIL combines 2-of-3 key splitting with institutional-grade third-party underwritten protection.

A bureau of the US Treasury Department tasked with safeguarding the financial system from illicit use. JIL's US_FINCEN compliance zone enforces FinCEN regulations including BSA/AML requirements.

Traditional banking channels (ACH, SWIFT, SEPA, Faster Payments) used to move fiat currency in and out of crypto ecosystems. JIL integrates fiat rails across 4 hub jurisdictions (US, Switzerland, UAE, Singapore) for on-ramp/off-ramp operations with full compliance corridor enforcement.

JIL's centralized signing node coordination service (JILHQ). Manages image distribution, configuration bundles, health monitoring, SentinelAI inspections, and secure update deployment across all 10 independent signing nodes. Runs on a dedicated server with its own registry, database, and message bus.

ADGM's financial services regulator. JIL Ltd operates under FSRA oversight for MENA operations.

JIL's social recovery mechanism where users designate trusted guardians who can assist in wallet recovery via multisig approval. Includes a mandatory 24-hour timelock and a 7-day expiry on recovery requests, preventing unauthorized access while ensuring users never permanently lose their accounts.

A US Supreme Court test for determining whether a transaction qualifies as a "security." JIL's compliance framework helps issuers navigate Howey Test requirements.

A periodic health signal sent from each independent signing node to the Fleet Controller (JILHQ). Heartbeats report node health, uptime, software version, signing participation, and resource utilization. SentinelAI uses heartbeat data for threat scoring and automated recovery decisions.

JIL Sovereign Technologies, Inc. is incorporated in Delaware, US. Wholly-owned hubs in Switzerland, UAE, and Singapore provide regional regulatory coverage and operational presence.

A physical computing device that safeguards and manages cryptographic keys. JIL independent signing nodes use HSM-grade key storage (AES-256-GCM encrypted at rest) with 5 key types per signing node: Ed25519, HMAC, API key, SSH, and HSM signing keys.

JIL's architecture combining four pillars: (1) independent cryptographic signing with deterministic finality, (2) JIL-5600 unified ledger for high-throughput state management, (3) ATE/ATCE policy evaluation at the verification layer, and (4) the execution engine. "Hybrid" describes the architecture - not the signing mechanism, which relies on JIL-operated signing nodes.

JIL's term for 2-of-3 Shamir key splitting combined with third-party underwritten protection coverage up to $250K+ (Premium tier). A user-held shard is available today through the user key-generation ceremony. On the default service key all 3 shards are server-held, and in both cases the engine reassembles the key in server memory to sign, so JIL is able to sign without you. We say so rather than imply otherwise.

A permanent, tamper-evident record of a verification outcome written to the JIL evidence record. Once committed, the record append-only: any alteration breaks the hash chain and is detectable. Immutable records serve as the authoritative audit trail for every verification signal JIL produces, and are independently verifiable by any party with access to the ledger.

JIL's high-performance unified ledger engine built in Rust. Handles state management, transaction processing, and ledger finalization at a measured 9,500 TPS per node on a medium-grade validator. Named after the target throughput class, the JIL-5600 is one of the four pillars of JIL's hybrid architecture.

A method of encoding structured data using JSON for search engine understanding. JIL uses JSON-LD schemas across all pages for rich search results, including Organization, WebPage, BreadcrumbList, and DefinedTermSet types.

A compact, URL-safe JSON Web Token format for securely transmitting claims between parties. JIL uses JWT for API authentication with 24-hour time-limited authorization credentials for independent signing node operations.

The process of verifying the identity and legitimacy of a business entity. JIL's certification process includes KYB verification for corporate account holders.

Regulations requiring financial institutions to verify customer identity. JIL integrates KYC at the protocol level through the DID Registry and jurisdiction corridors.

A NIST-approved post-quantum key encapsulation mechanism. JIL implements ML-KEM for quantum-resistant key exchange alongside ML-DSA-65 signatures.

Singapore's central bank and financial regulatory authority. JIL Pte Ltd operates in Singapore for APAC operations under MAS frameworks.

Geographic region covering the Middle East and North Africa. JIL Ltd (ADGM) handles MENA operations with secondary fiat rails.

The EU's comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto-assets. JIL's jurisdiction corridors support MiCA compliance for EU operations.

A cryptographic technique where multiple parties jointly compute a function over their inputs while keeping those inputs private. JIL uses Shamir-based 2-of-3 key splitting: the key is split into 3 shards, each shard is encrypted at rest, and any 2 meet the signing threshold. The current engine reassembles the key in memory to sign, so this is threshold storage, not yet a non-interactive threshold-signing protocol. Moving to FROST or GG20, where the key is never reassembled, is a separate audit-gated piece of work and we will not claim it before it ships.

A legal term for businesses that transmit or convert money. Many crypto businesses register as MSBs with FinCEN in the US.

US agency responsible for technology standards. JIL implements NIST-approved post-quantum cryptography (ML-DSA-65, ML-KEM).

US bank regulator. Anchorage Digital is the only federally chartered crypto bank with an OCC charter.

US Treasury department that administers economic sanctions. JIL's compliance framework includes OFAC sanctions screening.

Services that convert between fiat currency and crypto (on-ramp: fiat to crypto; off-ramp: crypto to fiat). JIL provides regulated on/off-ramp services across 4 hub jurisdictions with full AML/KYC compliance via fiat rails integration.

Individuals who hold or have held prominent public functions. JIL's compliance framework includes PEP screening for enhanced due diligence.

A configurable rule set that defines which transactions are permitted between specific jurisdictions, counterparty types, and asset classes. Policy corridors evaluate sanctions status, AML requirements, transaction limits, and regulatory constraints before JIL signals a verification outcome. Each of JIL's 13 compliance zones maintains its own corridor rules.

Cryptographic algorithms designed to resist attacks from both classical and quantum computers. JIL implements NIST-approved post-quantum algorithms across its entire stack: ML-DSA-65 for digital signatures and ML-KEM for key encapsulation/exchange.

A Kafka-compatible streaming platform used as JIL's message bus. Each independent signing node runs its own RedPanda instance for P2P settlement message consumption across zone-specific topics. Lightweight, single-binary deployment with no JVM dependency.

A trading mechanism where parties request price quotes from market makers. JIL supports RFQ for large institutional trades.

JIL's adaptive monitoring system that tracks market conditions, MEV extraction attempts, solvency metrics, and liquidity risk. Makes autonomous decisions (spread adjustments, batch caps, state transitions) and escalates to human governance when thresholds are breached.

A high-performance embedded database for key-value data. JIL uses RocksDB for persistent ledger storage with full replication across regions.

A protocol for executing procedures on remote systems. JIL provides RPC endpoints for applications to interact with the platform programmatically.

A software licensing model where applications are provided over the internet. JIL offers SaaS custody subscriptions for institutional clients.

An auditing procedure ensuring service providers securely manage data. JIL targets SOC 2 certification by Month 6 of operations.

A non-governmental organization with power to create and enforce regulations. JIL AG uses VQF SRO membership for Swiss AML compliance.

JIL's encrypted off-chain document storage system. Tax records, contracts, compliance certificates, and other sensitive documents are stored in Hetzner S3 object storage with SHA-256 content-addressable hashing. Ledger hash verification ensures document integrity while keeping content private and accessible only by the wallet owner.

JIL's automated policy enforcement system that automatically detects violations (frozen accounts, expired compliance, breached limits), triggers recovery procedures, and restores to a healthy state without human intervention. Reduces operational overhead and eliminates single points of failure.

JIL's AI-powered fleet inspection and auto-recovery system. SentinelAI continuously monitors independent signing node health via heartbeats, assigns threat scores, triggers automated remediation (node cycling, snapshot restoration), and escalates to human operators when thresholds are breached. Includes anti-loop protection and S3 golden snapshot backups.

A piece of a split cryptographic key. In JIL's MPC 2-of-3 system the private key is split into 3 shards. Where a user key-generation ceremony was used, the user holds 1 and the platform holds 2. On the default service key the platform generates and stores all 3. Because the threshold is 2, the platform's shards are together sufficient to reconstruct the key and sign. Splitting reduces the blast radius of a single shard leak. It does not currently prevent the platform from signing alone.

A fixed time interval during which a designated signing node proposes a block. JIL assigns slots to its independent signing nodes in rotation, achieving 1.5-second block times with deterministic finality at each slot.

A service running on each independent signing node that consumes settlement messages from authorized RedPanda zone topics. Processes compliance checks, writes to PostgreSQL, and handles retry/DLQ for failed messages. Each consumer subscribes only to its authorized compliance zones.

Zone-specific RedPanda topics (e.g., jil.settlement.DE_BAFIN, jil.settlement.EU_ESMA) that route settlement messages to independent signing nodes authorized for that jurisdiction. Each of the 13 compliance zones has its own topic, consumer group, and DLQ.

Global messaging network for international bank transfers. JIL provides SWIFT-level institutional guarantees with sub-2-second settlement.

Trade date plus 2 business days - the traditional settlement time for securities. JIL provides settlement in <10 seconds compared to T+2.

JIL's independent cryptographic signing mechanism. Independent signing nodes broadcast pre-votes and pre-commits per slot, and finalize blocks when 2/3 or more agree. Provides deterministic finality with 1.5-second block times using BPoH timestamps for ordering.

A measure of settlement throughput. JIL measures 9,500 transactions per second per node on a medium-grade validator; on the planned 20-node fleet that projects to roughly 200,000 TPS, which we label a projection because the fleet is not built yet.

Businesses that provide services involving virtual assets (exchanges, custodians). JIL's custody integrations meet VASP requirements.

The process by which JIL's distributed set of independent signing nodes collectively agrees on the outcome of a verification. JIL requires hybrid-signed independent signing nodes (70% threshold) to sign before a verification record is committed to the ledger. This multi-jurisdiction signing ensures no single signing node, jurisdiction, or operator can unilaterally approve or reject a transaction.

JIL's infrastructure of 20 independent signing nodes across independent timestamp anchors using hybrid-signed independent signing. Each signing node runs RedPanda for message streaming, a settlement consumer for zone-authorized compliance processing, and a full ledger node. The signing nodes are geographically distributed to prevent single-jurisdiction failure.

The structured output JIL returns after evaluating a transaction against identity, policy, and sanctions rules. A verification signal is one of three values: Yes (proceed), No (block), or Review (escalate to human review). JIL evaluates and signals - it does not authorize or execute fund movement. Every signal is paired with an immutable ledger-anchored record.

A Swiss Self-Regulatory Organization for AML compliance. JIL AG uses VQF membership for Swiss banking access at lower cost than full FINMA licensing while maintaining regulatory credibility.

A pseudorandom function that provides publicly verifiable proofs of its output's correctness. Used for fair, unpredictable leader selection - ensuring no signing node can predict or manipulate which independent signing node proposes the next block.

A monitoring microservice that tracks independent signing node health, market anomalies, fraud attempts, and system degradation. Triggers automated alerts and remediation procedures when anomalies are detected.

JIL's passwordless authentication mechanism using FIDO2/WebAuthn standards. Supports biometric authentication (Face ID, Touch ID), hardware security keys, and platform authenticators from Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Meta. Eliminates password-based attacks entirely.

The three possible outcomes of a JIL pre-settlement attestation. Yes means the recipient identity, policy rules, and sanctions screening all passed - the transaction may proceed. No means one or more checks failed - the transaction should be blocked. Review means the verification requires human escalation before a final determination. JIL signals the outcome but does not execute or authorize fund movement.

Cryptographic proofs that verify information without revealing the underlying data. JIL uses ZK proofs for privacy-preserving KYC and compliance verification.

Ledger-recorded vault that receives 10% of JIL's profits, automatically allocated to Human Flourishing initiatives. This is an internal allocation - not a tax on clients. Hard-coded into the protocol - cannot be changed.

JIL's system for automatic compliance evaluation in cross-border settlements. Routes transactions through appropriate compliance checks based on source and destination jurisdictions.

JIL's highest-compliance zone for institutional-only access. Requires verified institutional KYC, accreditation verification, and audit trails.

JIL's standard compliance zone for all verified users. Requires basic KYC with standard AML screening.

JIL's enhanced monitoring zone for higher-risk jurisdictions. Requires enhanced KYC, daily limits, and manual review thresholds.

JIL's distributed settlement design where each independent signing node autonomously consumes settlement messages from its authorized compliance zone topics via RedPanda. No central routing layer - nodes self-organize via consumer groups with automatic retry recovery and dead-letter queuing.

Ten jurisdiction-specific compliance evaluation zones: DE_BAFIN (Germany), EU_ESMA (European Union), SG_MAS (Singapore), CH_FINMA (Switzerland), US_FINCEN (USA), GB_FCA (UK), JP_JFSA (Japan), AE_FSRA (UAE), BR_CVM (Brazil), and GLOBAL_FATF (fallback). Each zone enforces specific transaction limits, velocity controls, sanctions lists, and settlement corridors.

JIL's architecture for running multiple instances of any service. All 300+ services are wired with a NODE_ID environment variable, and Kafka consumer groups are node-aware. Adding independent signing nodes to a zone's consumer group increases throughput via partition parallelism.

A queue that captures messages that fail processing after all retry attempts are exhausted. JIL routes permanently failed settlement messages to jil.settlement.dlq with full error history for manual review and resolution.

An international standard for financial messaging that defines a common platform for exchanging payment data. JIL's ISO 20022 Gateway translates between traditional financial messaging and JIL's settlement protocol.