VigiChain Learn · Reference
Glossary
Every term the courses rely on, defined in a sentence or two and linked to the lesson that explains it properly. The definitions say what the software does today; where something is designed rather than built, the entry says so.
- Address
Where VIGI is received. A VigiChain address is the double SHA-256 of an ML-DSA public key, so it can be published freely; the key itself appears on chain only the first time the address spends.
Where the courses explain it →- Advisory BFT layer
A Byzantine-fault-tolerant layer beside proof of work, in which validators sign what they believe the current tip is. It speeds up agreement; it cannot overrule the work, and the heaviest valid chain still wins.
Where the courses explain it →- Anchor (Vigi Data)
A file’s hash recorded on chain. It proves that a byte-for-byte identical file existed at that height and has not changed since — never that its contents are true. The file itself is never uploaded.
Where the courses explain it →- Block
A group of transactions with a header that names the previous block’s hash. Changing an earlier block changes every hash after it, which is why history cannot be rewritten quietly.
Where the courses explain it →- Block height
A block’s position in the chain, counted from genesis. Here it is the only timestamp that means anything: proofs establish order by height, not by a wall clock.
Where the courses explain it →- Block reward
The new VIGI a valid block creates for its producer. Together with the gas of the transactions inside it, it is the entire issuance: there is no other way VIGI comes into existence.
Where the courses explain it →- Build provenance
A signed statement that binds a released binary’s digest to the source commit it was built from. The signature says who built it; the provenance says what from.
Where the courses explain it →- Burn-in
A thirty-day run of a frozen release by several independent producers, with divergence monitoring, before mainnet is considered. It has not started.
Where the courses explain it →- Checksum (SHA-256)
A file’s fingerprint, published beside it. Comparing it before installing proves the download arrived intact; only a signature says who built it.
Where the courses explain it →- Confirmation
A transaction is confirmed once a block includes it, and every block added on top makes reversing it harder. Blocks arrive about every thirty seconds.
Where the courses explain it →- Consensus freeze
Fixing the consensus rules at a tagged commit, so that a release, a burn-in and an audit all examine the same thing. It is the first gate towards mainnet and has not been taken.
Where the courses explain it →- Difficulty and target
The target is the value a block header’s hash must fall below. Every retarget window the network compares how long recent blocks took against thirty seconds and moves the target, so the rhythm holds whatever the hashpower.
Where the courses explain it →- Escrow (policy-locked output)
An output that carries a spending policy: validation refuses any spend that does not satisfy it. No agent holds the funds, and a badly written policy can lock them for good, so exercise the release path on testnet first.
Where the courses explain it →- Gas
What moving VIGI costs: the work a transaction imposes on every node that validates it. It goes to the producer of the block that includes it — it is not a charge set by an operator.
Where the courses explain it →- Genesis
The first block of a chain. Genesis sits outside any governance, and mainnet will start from its own genesis with nothing premined.
Where the courses explain it →- Harvest now, decrypt later
Recording data and public keys today in order to break them once a large quantum computer exists. A key published today is a key an adversary can keep.
Where the courses explain it →- Hash (SHA-256)
A function that turns any input into 32 bytes, such that finding another input with the same output is out of reach. Proof of work and addresses both apply it twice.
Where the courses explain it →- Hybrid encryption
Encryption whose key is derived from both a classical X25519 exchange and an ML-KEM-768 encapsulation, mixed, so that both would have to fall. The wallet uses it for data that leaves the device.
Where the courses explain it →- Keystore passphrase file
The one node file worth backing up: it protects the node’s identity. Chain data can always be downloaded again; a lost keystore is a lost identity.
Where the courses explain it →- Mainnet
The network whose VIGI will carry value. It is locked in the software and opens on evidence rather than on a date: no presale, no allocation, and only the core at launch.
Where the courses explain it →- Mempool
Where a signed transaction waits on the nodes until a block includes it.
Where the courses explain it →- Mining (proof of work)
Hashing a block header with double SHA-256, over and over, until the result falls below the target. Expensive to do and instant to verify; the node mines with CPU threads.
Where the courses explain it →- ML-DSA-65 (FIPS 204)
The NIST post-quantum signature standard VigiChain signs with. A public key is 1,952 bytes, an expanded secret key 4,032 and a signature 3,309; its security rests on lattice problems that Shor’s algorithm does not break.
Where the courses explain it →- Node
A machine running the VigiChain software. It checks every signature, amount and rule of every block and refuses a block that breaks one; every figure a wallet shows comes from a node.
Where the courses explain it →- Passphrase (twenty-fifth word)
An optional extra word mixed into the seed under BIP-39. A different passphrase over the same twenty-four words is a different wallet, so forgetting it is the same as losing the phrase.
Where the courses explain it →- Producer
A node that builds blocks. The number of distinct producers in recent blocks is published, including when it is one — a chain with a single producer stops when that machine stops.
Where the courses explain it →- Recovery phrase
Twenty-four words from the BIP-39 list, encoding 256 bits of randomness plus a checksum. They are the wallet: the key is regenerated from them, so whoever holds them holds the funds.
Where the courses explain it →- RPC
The interface on which a node answers questions — height, peers, balances, transactions. Wallets and explorers read the chain through it, and VigiWallet can be pointed at your own node’s RPC.
Where the courses explain it →- Self-custody
Holding your own keys. There is no account behind the key: whoever can sign owns, nobody can freeze or reverse an output, and nobody can recover one either.
Where the courses explain it →- Shor and Grover
The two quantum algorithms that matter here. Shor recovers a private key from the public key of classical signature schemes; Grover only halves a hash’s effective strength, which 256 bits absorbs.
Where the courses explain it →- Signature
Proof that the holder of a key authorised these exact bytes. It identifies a key, not a person, and says nothing about entitlement or truth.
Where the courses explain it →- Stake
What a validator puts up to take part in the advisory BFT layer. It does not buy control: stake voting does not control the protocol.
Where the courses explain it →- Testnet
The public network running today. Testnet VIGI has no monetary value, and the software says so; it exists to learn on and to break.
Where the courses explain it →- Tor route
How a node joins from an ordinary home connection: the onion route needs no port forwarding and no public address, so the installer sets it up when it can.
Where the courses explain it →- UTXO
Unspent transaction output. VigiChain has no balances: you hold discrete outputs, spend them whole and receive change back as a new output.
Where the courses explain it →- Validator
A staked participant in the advisory BFT layer who signs what they believe the tip is. Every node already validates every rule; a validator adds the signal, not authority.
Where the courses explain it →- VigiBank
A live reading of what one address holds, shown as a portfolio. It is not a bank: no deposits, no custody, no interest.
Where the courses explain it →- VigiRail
The institutional payment rail: the sender transfers the exact business amount, with contracted capacity instead of gas. Admission, post-quantum signing and settlement work on testnet; ISO 20022 validation and the encrypted envelope are not built.
Where the courses explain it →- VigiScan
The block explorer on this site: blocks, transactions and addresses as the network reports them.
Where the courses explain it →- vix
The smallest unit: one VIGI is 100,000,000 vix. Every amount inside the protocol is counted in vix, so no rounding ever happens.
Where the courses explain it →- Wrapped asset
A representation of an asset from another chain, minted only under a custody proof of reserve. Wrapped assets are switched off by default, and each activates only after its own audit.
Where the courses explain it →