Hackathon Glossary Documentation
Glossary
| Term / Acronym | Definition |
|---|---|
| Account servicing entity (ASE) | An account servicing entity provides and maintains financial accounts for sending or receiving money, and is a legally regulated entity in the country it operates. |
| Authorization server | An authorization server grants authorization and privileges to client software by issuing access tokens that allow the client to call Open Payments APIs. Open Payments uses GNAP (Grant Negotiation and Authorization Protocol) as the mechanism for delegating authorization. |
| Client | In the context of Open Payments, a client is a piece of software, such as a mobile or web application, that interacts with an authorization server to obtain grants and access tokens. Clients use tokens to access resource servers and perform actions, such as retrieving transaction history and setting up payments, on behalf of a user or system. |
| Grant | A delegation of authorization and privileges to a client allowing the client to access protected resources or to perform actions on behalf of a resource owner. In Open Payments, this process is managed by an authorization server, which issues grants as access tokens. |
| Grant Negotiation and Authorization Protocol (GNAP) | A protocol defining the mechanism for delegating authorization to a piece of software, and sending the results and artifacts of that delegation to the software. This delegation can include access to a set of APIs as well as subject information passed directly to the software. |
| Identity provider (IdP) | A system or service that stores and manages user authentication and consent information during an interactive grant process. Open Payments requires any authorization server that issues interactive grants to be integrated with an IdP. |
| ILP packet | A unit of data that carries payment information through the Interledger network. A single payment can be broken into smaller packets of value which are then routed across the network. |
| Incoming payment | An object created by the recipient's ASE, on their resource server, that represents a payment being received. The object represents the amount of received or expected funds, and it contains other information about the payment, such as the currency, receiver's wallet address, and payment status. |
| Interledger Protocol (ILP) | An open protocol tech stack for sending packets of value across different payment networks. Like the internet, connectors route packets of money across independent networks. The open architecture and minimal protocol enable interoperability for any value transfer system. Interledger is not tied to a single company, payment network, or currency. The Interledger network is made up of connectors or members that communicate with each other using ILP. |
| Open Payments (OP) | Open Payments is an open RESTful API and an API standard that enables clients to interface with Open Payments-enabled accounts. A third-party application can use the Open Payments APIs to securely set up payments to and from a user's Open Payments-enabled account only if the user that owns the account gives consent to authorize this. |
| Outgoing payment | An object created by the sender's ASE, on their resource server, that represents a payment being sent. The sender must give explicit consent before the object can be created. This object contains information about the payment, such as the amount, currency, receiver's wallet address, and payment status. |
| Payment Pointer | A payment pointer is similar to a wallet address, and it is used to facilitate sending and receiving ILP packets. Where a wallet address begins with https:// a payment pointer begins with $. For example, $wallet.example.com/alice. Most payment pointers can be converted to wallet addresses by replacing the $ with https://. For example, https://wallet.example.com/alice. |
| Peer | Entities that are adjacent to each other on the Interledger network, operating as counterparties that send or receive Interledger packets to/from each other. |
| Quote | An object created by the ASE of a person sending a payment, on the resource server of the ASE. The object represents the total cost, including any applicable fees, for the sender to make a payment. When a quote is created, it serves as a commitment from the sender's ASE to deliver the amount to the recipient's ASE and is only valid for a limited time. |
| Resource server | A server that hosts and manages access to protected Open Payments resources for incoming payments, quotes, and outgoing payments. This ensures that only authorized clients can perform actions through the Open Payments APIs. |
| Wallet address | A secure, unique identifier for an Open Payments-enabled account. A wallet address is an entry point to the Open Payments APIs to facilitate sending and receiving payments. |
| Wallet provider | A digital wallet provider supplies you with the financial account you'll use to send or receive payments. Wallet providers are regulated within the countries they operate and ar |