Glossary
Common terms and Panther-specific usage.
A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z
A
Appending
Within Panther Protocol, the term appending is used to describe the process of reading queued UTXOs from storage and creating a batch of up to 64 UTXOs.
B
Batch
Within Panther Protocol, the term batch is used to describe a group of up to 64 UTXOs.
C
Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency TL;DR
Digital asset using cryptography to secure transactions.
Cryptocurrency detail
Cryptocurrencies and cryptography are indissociable because the digital asset uses cryptography to secure transactions. With no centralilized authority regulating the system, it operates while nodes support it. Panther Protocol provides a privacy-enhanced trading service for users to trade digital assets such as cryptocurrencies.
Cryptographically secure
To be considered cryptographically secured, the result needs to be:
Confidential — Not understood by anyone
Unalterable by anyone, including the creator
Non-repudiable: This means that the sender or creator cannot later deny their intentions at later stages
Able to be authenticated by all parties involved
D
Dummy
Within Panther Protocol, the term dummy is used to describe a placeholder UTXO used to fill up a queue to 64 UTXOs.
Decentralized
Decentralization, in simple terms, means dissolving central authority and giving the right of governance to the stakeholders involved in the system, giving full control back to the ordinary user. Panther Protocol is goverened by a decentralized authority, the Panther DAO.
DeFi adaptors
Shielded Pools are connected to popular DeFi protocols through custom plugins called “DeFi Adaptors.” The first use case for Panther’s DeFi Adaptors, zSwap, allows users to execute swaps on the most liquid DEXs without publicly revealing their identity.
Diverse Pool Privacy (or “Why multiple assets?”)
By allowing users of multiple kinds of assets to enter the Pool (e.g. different tokens types supported within a given chain, such as ERC-20, non-fungible, and other standards of tokens), users of every compatible token can access the same privacy, regardless of the liquidity of their assets. While a single-asset Pool for rarely-used tokens would struggle to find much security due to the relatively low volume of transactions, MASPs can leverage popular assets to quickly build critical speed and provide much-needed privacy to the long tail of crypto assets.
The fact that different types of assets can co-exist in the same Pool is called Diverse Pool Privacy. Thanks to it, Pools can get large enough to preserve data heterogeneity, i.e. have so many transactions happening within them that it becomes challenging to track and deanonymize users.
E
ECDH
[Elliptic-curve Diffie–Hellman (ECDH)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptic-curve_Diffie%E2%80%93Hellman#:~:text=Elliptic%2Dcurve%20Diffie%E2%80%93Hellman%20(,or%20to%20derive%20another%20key) is is a variant of the Diffie–Hellman protocol using elliptic-curve cryptography. ECDH provides a key agreement protocol that enables two parties to share secrets over insecure channels. This shared secret may be a key, or, as in the case with Panther Protocol, it can be used to derive a key. The key, or the derived key, is then used to decrypt/encrypt subsequent communications using a symmetrical key cipher.
Panther Protocol uses EDCH over the baby Jubjub elliptic curve.
F
Fully collateralized
Within the Panther Protocol, the zAsset is always backed by 1:1 of the underlying asset, i.e. fully collateralized. If you have 1 zBTC (privacy-enhanced BTC), that zBTC is always backed by an entire BTC within a Panther Vault.
G
H
Hash
Hash functions are used in data storage. Often they convert variable input sized data into fixed-sized values.
I
Inserting
Within Panther Protocol, the term inserting is used to describe the process of adding a batch of up to 64 UTXOs into the Merkle Tree.
Interoperable
“Interoperable” means that Panther will provide DeFi users with privacy no matter what public blockchain is used by their DeFi application of choice. Panther can be perceived as a private hub that connects all public blockchains, creating a privacy pipe that creates one robust privacy-enabled environment.
J
K
Keys
Keys are used to decrypt cryptographic secrets. Public keys are points on elliptic curve, while private keys are scalars in the field. Thus keys are found in pairs, or keypairs.
L
M
MASPs
Within Panther, Multi-Asset Shielded Pools (MASPs) are sets of smart contracts where users can deposit various tokens. Within a pool, the transaction path of these tokens are safeguarded by zero-knowledge proofs (ZKPs). This renders the transactions within these pools untraceable while providing users with the flexibility to selectively disclose information, thus enabling a pathway to compliance.
Merkle tree
A Merkle tree is a hash-based data structure stored in a tree-like structure. Hashes may encoded files that are much smaller than the original data file. Each leaf node of the tree is a hash of a block of data, and each non-leaf node is a hash of its children.
Merkle trees are useful in distributed systems as they provide an efficient data verification mechanism. They are popular in peer-to-peer networks such Bitcoin, and Git. Panther uses Merkle trees in its MASP.
N
O
Oshiya TL;DR
Ecosystem operators known as zMiners earn rewards by running an Oshiya node to collect and process Shielded Pool transactions.
Oshiya detail
Panther's Oshiya selects a batch of pending transactions represented by UTXOs from the mining queue on the Bus tree and creates a SNARK-proof that proves the correctness of Merkle tree updates it proposes, and submits these updates to be written on-chain together with the proof to the smart contract. Finally, Oshiya validates this proof by calling a verifier contract and updates the root Merkle Tree of the Panther contract.
Oshiya's use of SNARKs provides operational efficiency by enabling up to 64 transactions to be committed to one proof.
P
Panther Protocol
Panther Protocol TL;DR
Panther is a cross-protocol app layer that uses Zero-Knowledge technology to build DeFi solutions that meet regulatory requirements and satisfy users’ on-chain data privacy needs.
Privacy Encancing Technology
PET TL;DR
A Privacy Encancing Technology, PET, improves the privacy layer. No two methods are equal in their impact.
Q
Queue
Within Panther Protocol, a queue is a group of UTXOs held in storage on-chain.
R
Relayers
Relayers TL;DR
Panther Relayers provide an (optional) privacy layer within Panther Protocol by breaking the link between the initiator of the transaction and the transaction itself.
Relayers detail
Panther Relayers are network operators who charge a fee for signing transactions with their public key, paying the transaction gas fees, and relaying bundles of transactions to the Shielded Pool contract where they are processed by zMiners. Relayers enhance privacy, since observers are unable to pinpoint the actual address that initiated the transaction.
S
Shielded Pool
Shielded Pool TL;DR
A proprietary Multi Asset Shielded Pool is core to Panther Protocol's private operating environment: allowing users to conduct (disclosable) confidential digital asset trades.
Shielded Pool detail
Shielded Pools are essentially a collection of append-only Merkle trees, where each leaf is a commitment to a UTXO representing a number of zAssets (or zNFTs).
Users trade UTXOs that represent the underlying locked asset. The UTXOs may only be traded within a Shielded Pool. The Shielded Pool acts like a walled garden: only invited users and assets may enter. Assets are deposited in the Panther vault in exchange for a zAsset.
Slippage
Slippage is the delta between the anticipated price of an order and the execution price.
Staking
Panther DAO has approved staking yield pre-mainnet beta launch to reward the growing community. DeFi Lama tracks Panther Protocol’s market capitalization and Advanced Staking TVL (total volume locked).
T
Transparency
Public blockchains require transparency to allow anyone, and most importantly node operators, to validate transactions without dependence on centralized intermediaries. This transparency, while advantageous in many respects, also necessitates a privacy solution. This is what Panther Protocol offers.
U
UTXO
UTXO or Unspent Transaction Output define the outcome of a digital transaction. Bitcoin uses UTXOs, but the cryptocurrency is not itself a UTXO. Within Bitcoin if Alice has a UTXO representing 5 BTC and wants to send Bob 2 BTC, the entire UTXO is unlocked and sent to Bob and Bob returns a UTXO to the value of 3 BTC.
Alternatively, Alice may own 2 UTXOs that, in total, represent 2 BTC and both of these will have their ownership transferred to Bob to complete the transaction.
Panther Protocol also leverages a UTXO model, but one that is quite unique to the use cases it solves for.
V
VASPs
VASPs are virtual asset service providers. In most states, entities like crypto exchanges must be licensed to provide VASP services. Within Panther, the Zone manager must be a licensed VASP.
W
X
Y
Z
zAccount
Within Panther, zAccounts are akin to bank accounts that safeguard users’ on-chain data privacy and ownership. All transactions conducted by a given user are linked to the same zAccount. Panther developed this novel mechanism to support compliance, decentralized identity, and selective disclosures.
zAccounts are implemented using a particular type of UTXO inside the UTXOs Merkle Tree. Every zAccount UTXO contains important values at a user/account level, such as the zAccount’s ID, zAsset balances, PRP balance, ZoneID, etc.
zAsset TL;DR
A zAsset, is a "mirror" asset that is printed when an asset is deposited and locked in the Panther contract. It’s subsequently spent when that asset is withdrawn.
zAsset detail
When an asset is deposited and locked in the Panther vault, a UTXO or zAsset is printed. In this way, the zAsset:asset always exists in a strict 1:1 ratio. Users can send, swap, receive, and pay with zAssets.
zBridges
To realize the Protocol’s vision of cross-chain zero-knowledge access to DeFi, Panther will deploy its Shielded Pools onto multiple blockchains (L1s and L2s). The zBridges will connect these Pools on different blockchain networks, enabling privacy-enhanced cross-chain transactions.
zMiners
zMiners TL;DR
zMiners are ecosystem operators who earn rewards by running an Oshiya node.
zMiners details
zMiners are essential contributors to the transaction processing capabilities of Panther Protocol. They decentralize the responsibility of processing queues containing up to 64 UTXO commitments with a SNARK proof, enabling continual execution of transactions in Panther's Shielded Pools.
Zone manager
A licensed entity who configures a trading area by allowlisting assets and trusted counterparties.
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