Payments, Banking & Web3 Encyclopedia

Alternative Payment Method: a payment method outside conventional card rails, including wallets, bank transfers and local methods.

Payment Service Provider: a provider that enables merchants to accept and manage one or more payment methods.

Technology that securely transmits payment information between the merchant and payment/acquiring infrastructure.

A layer that connects multiple providers and centralizes routing, redundancy and payment logic.

A flow that converts fiat value into crypto or digital assets.

A flow that converts crypto or digital assets into fiat-accessible value.

A cross-rail payment and settlement structure connecting local collection with alternative settlement rails.

Permissioned access to banking/payment functionality through standardized or regulated interfaces.

A cryptoasset designed to track a reference value, often a fiat currency. USDT and USDC are common examples.

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital asset and payment network. Merchants may accept BTC directly or through payment processors, subject to provider support, jurisdiction and risk approval.

A Bitcoin Layer-2 payment network using payment channels for faster, lower-cost transactions.

A broad term for blockchain-enabled applications, digital assets, wallets and protocol-based infrastructure.

Business-to-Business / Business-to-Consumer. In payments and iGaming, B2B describes companies selling infrastructure, platforms or services to other businesses, while B2C describes operators or merchants serving end customers directly.

Payment methods widely used in a specific country or market, such as local bank transfers, instant-payment rails or wallets.

A flow that converts government-issued currency into a digital asset, commonly through an on-ramp.

A flow that converts a digital asset into fiat currency, commonly through an off-ramp.

The acquiring function that enables merchants to accept card payments and routes transactions into card networks.

Software participating in the Bitcoin Lightning Network and capable of opening channels and routing Lightning payments.

A wallet designed to send and receive Bitcoin payments over the Lightning Network.

The transfer of funds owed to a merchant or counterparty after payment processing and reconciliation.

A card transaction reversed through the issuer/card-network dispute process.

Authentication controls used in card payments; 3-D Secure is a card authentication protocol and SCA refers to Strong Customer Authentication requirements in applicable markets.

Brazil's instant-payment system used for real-time transfers and merchant payments.

Automated Clearing House, a U.S. bank-transfer network used for account-to-account payments.

Single Euro Payments Area, a framework for euro-denominated bank transfers across participating European markets.

A betting operation or platform that offers wagering markets on sporting events.

A portion of merchant funds retained temporarily by a provider or acquirer to manage risk and potential liabilities.

A market or business context that may be unregulated, not locally licensed, or subject to evolving or ambiguous regulatory treatment.

A business or operator that accepts payments from customers in exchange for goods or services. In the payments ecosystem, a merchant typically connects to an acquirer, PSP, payment gateway, payment orchestrator or other infrastructure to accept, route and settle transactions.

An account structure used to receive funds from card-payment acquiring activity, subject to the acquiring and settlement model.

Merchant Identification Number: an identifier assigned to a merchant within card-processing infrastructure.

Merchant Discount Rate: the merchant-facing rate charged for processing a payment, typically expressed as a percentage and sometimes combined with fixed fees.

Know Your Customer / Know Your Business: due-diligence processes used to identify and assess individuals and companies.

Software as a Service: software delivered as an ongoing hosted service rather than a locally installed product.

A product or service supplied by one company that another company can offer under its own brand, subject to the underlying agreement.

A financial institution or acquiring provider that enables merchants to accept card payments and participates in authorization and settlement flows.

The institution that issues a payment card or account instrument to the customer and participates in authorization decisions.

A software-based wallet that stores payment credentials or digital assets and enables payment or transfer activity.

Layer 1 refers to a blockchain base network; Layer 2 refers to systems built above it to improve scalability, speed or transaction economics.

A payment channel used by the Bitcoin Lightning Network to enable repeated transfers without recording every individual payment directly on Bitcoin's base layer.

Payments in which payer, payee, institutions or settlement layers span more than one country or currency environment.

A merchant-facing payment interface or layer that can present and manage multiple deposit and withdrawal methods, especially relevant in iGaming.

A technology layer that can connect an operator to multiple casino game providers through a consolidated integration.