appendix-d.md

Aggregated signature. A single small proof that stands in for thousands of signatures, which is how Mimblewimble keeps a chain small.

Block reward. New coins paid to whoever finds a block. Epic halves this on a schedule; Bitcoin halves roughly every four years.

CoinJoin. A technique that combines several payments into one transaction so an observer cannot tell which input funded which output.

Confiscation resistance. The property that holdings cannot be taken without the keys, regardless of who asks.

Consensus. The rules every node enforces, and the reason a ledger with no administrator still has one agreed history.

Custodial. Held by someone else — an exchange, a broker, a bank. You have a claim, not the coins.

Cut-through. Removing intermediate outputs — within a block, and across blocks as the chain is compacted — keeping only what is still unspent.

Dandelion++. A relay protocol that sends a transaction through a random "stem" before broadcasting it, so the first node to see it is not obviously its author.

Emission curve. The schedule by which new supply is created over time.

Era. Epic's term for a period between halvings of the block reward.

Fungibility. The property that one unit is indistinguishable from another. A coin with a history is worth less than a clean one; a coin that cannot have a history is worth the same as every other.

Genesis block. The first block in a chain.

Halving. The scheduled cut in block reward. Epic's are annual in its early eras, then stretch out.

Kernel. In Mimblewimble, the part of a transaction that proves it balances and commits to the fee, without revealing amounts.

Levy. Epic's declining issuance allocation, which funds development and expires before the supply curve flattens.

Light wallet. A wallet that does not store the chain and asks a node about it instead, trading verification for convenience.

Mimblewimble. The protocol family Epic uses: no addresses, no amounts on-chain, and a compact ledger built from cut-through and aggregated signatures.

Mempool. The queue of transactions waiting to be included in a block.

Mixnet. A network that hides who is talking to whom by routing traffic through several relays.

Node. A computer that validates the chain and relays transactions.

Onchain note. NonKYC's term for the number that attributes a deposit to your account on a ledger with no addresses.

Output. A discrete amount of coin, spent as a whole and re-created as change.

Pedersen commitment. A cryptographic commitment that hides an amount while still allowing the network to verify the books balance.

Permissionless. Usable without anyone's approval.

Range proof. A zero-knowledge proof that a hidden amount is a valid, non-negative number. Epic uses these; they are a genuine zero-knowledge construction, and the protocol has no general-purpose zero-knowledge circuit beyond them.

Reorg. A reorganization of recent blocks, where the chain replaces its tip. Normally shallow; consequential when deep.

Seed phrase. The words that regenerate a wallet. Whoever holds them holds the coins.

Slate. In Mimblewimble, the file exchanged between two parties to build a transaction together — the closest thing the protocol has to an invoice.

Solo mining. Mining without a pool, keeping the full reward and bearing the full variance.

Stem phase. The first, private hop of a Dandelion++ relay.

Taint. The informal marking of coins by their history, which exchanges and analytics firms use to refuse or flag deposits.

Tail emission. A small permanent block reward, used by some chains to pay for security indefinitely. Epic has none; its supply is capped.

UTXO. An unspent transaction output — the individual coin being spent.

Zero-knowledge proof. A proof that a statement is true without revealing why it is true.