Glossary

Plain-language definitions of the terms you’ll see across ZippySwap. New to atomic swaps? Start with LP, HTLC, and timelock.

LP — Liquidity Provider: A Liquidity Provider (LP) is a participant who holds inventory on both sides of a pair (e.g. ZIPc and ETH) and fills swaps for other users. When you swap ZIPc for ETH, an LP is the one locking the ETH for you and collecting your ZIPc. LPs earn a small fee on every swap they fill. Anyone can become an LP by registering on the Pools page and running the LP daemon.
Atomic swap: A trade between two blockchains that either completes fully on both sides or not at all — there is no state where one party gets paid and the other doesn’t. ZippySwap achieves this with HTLCs (see below). “Atomic” means indivisible.
HTLC — Hash Time-Locked Contract: A lock on funds that can be opened two ways: by revealing a secret (the preimage), or — if the secret is never revealed in time — by refunding the original owner after a deadline (the timelock). Both sides of a swap use HTLCs sharing the same hashlock, so revealing the secret to claim one side automatically lets the counterparty claim the other.
Hashlock & preimage: The preimage is a random 32-byte secret. Its SHA-256 hash is the hashlock. Funds locked under a hashlock can only be claimed by someone who knows the preimage. Because the same hashlock is used on both chains, the moment you reveal the preimage to claim your funds, the LP can use that same now-public preimage to claim theirs.
Timelock: A block height or time after which an unclaimed HTLC can be refunded to its original owner. If a swap stalls (e.g. the LP goes offline), you get your ZIPc back once the timelock expires — you are never stuck. ZippySwap uses an asymmetric timelock (longer on the side you redeem) so you always have time to claim before the other side can refund.
Non-custodial: ZippySwap never takes possession of your funds. Every step is enforced by on-chain contracts and signed by your own wallet. There is no account to be frozen and no balance held by an intermediary.
ZIPc / ZAT: ZIPc is ZippyCoin, the native asset of the ZippyCoin chain (Chain ID 947). ZAT (“zatoshi”) is its smallest unit: 1 ZIPc = 10¹⁸ ZAT, the way 1 ETH = 10¹⁸ wei.
Dilithium / post-quantum signing: ZippyCoin wallets sign with CRYSTALS-Dilithium, a post-quantum signature scheme designed to resist attacks from future quantum computers — unlike the ECDSA used by most chains. Your ZippySwap keystore uses it natively.
TVL — Total Value Locked: The sum of all funds LPs have committed to a given pair. Higher TVL generally means larger swaps can be filled and better rates.
bps — basis points: A fee unit: 1 basis point = 0.01%. So a 30 bps fee is 0.30%. LP fees and rate spreads are quoted in bps.
Stale quote: Quotes are built from live price oracles. If an oracle stops updating, the quote is flagged stale — don’t swap against a stale price, as the real rate may have moved.

Still unsure about the trade-offs? Read the risk disclosure.