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Glossary

Glossary

Below, we define some frequently used terms in the ZetaChain ecosystem and during ZetaChain development.

Every EVM chain has their own, unique id, represented by a number.

Chainlist (opens in a new tab) is a great resource to find EVM chain ids by chain name.

ZetaChain uses the Tendermint consensus protocol which is a partially synchronous Byzantine Fault Tolerant (BFT) consensus algorithm. Each validator node can vote on block proposals with voting power proportional to the staking coins (ZETA) bonded. Each validator is identified by its consensus public key. Validators need to be online all the time, ready to participate in the constantly growing block production. In exchange for their service, validators will receive block rewards, and potentially other rewards such as gas fees or processing fees, proportional to their bonded staking coins.

The ZetaChain validator set can manage vaults on connected chains just as an account on that chain can. This functionality allows even non-smart-contract chains like Bitcoin to be managed by contracts on ZetaChain.

ZetaChain's node observes and processes transactions from all connected chains. By being "hyper-connected" the node is able to support chain-agnostic observation and thus interoperability.

Blanket term for apps or concepts that span multiple blockchains.

When a destination transaction fails (insufficient funds sent, unforeseen changes on the destination, etc.) ZetaChain is capable of reverting the transaction and returning funds to the sender on the source chain.

ZRC-20 is a token standard integrated into ZetaChain's smart contract platform. At a high-level, ZRC-20 tokens are an extension of the standard ERC-20 tokens found in the Ethereum ecosystem, ZRC-20 tokens have the added ability to manage assets on all ZetaChain-connected chains. Any fungible token, including Bitcoin, Dogecoin, ERC-20-equivalents on other chains, gas assets on other chains, and so on, may be represented on ZetaChain as a ZRC-20 and orchestrated as if it were any other fungible token (like an ERC-20).

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