This crypto glossary explains every specialist word we use on this site in plain English, from the jargon of exchanges and wallets to the banking and wealth terms that come up when you live in, invest in or hold a passport from St Kitts and Nevis. Crypto has a habit of hiding simple ideas behind strange words. A “seed phrase” is a list of backup words, “slippage” is paying a bit more than you expected, and “self-custody” just means keeping your own keys. Once you know the words, most of the subject turns out to be common sense.
The islands add a second vocabulary on top. Buying crypto from Basseterre or Charlestown means SWIFT wires, correspondent banks, the EC dollar peg and KYC checks. Investors coming for Citizenship by Investment or a villa on the Peninsula meet source of wealth, due diligence and the Alien Landholding Licence, and Nevis companies bring registered agents and economic substance. All of them are here.
How to use this glossary
The terms below are grouped into four sections: buying and trading, wallets and security, money and regulation, and wealth and structures. Within each section they are in alphabetical order. Every entry starts with a one-line definition you can read in a few seconds; the trickier ones carry a second paragraph explaining how the idea plays out in practice, often with a local angle.
You will also meet these words elsewhere on the site as small dotted tooltips. Tap or hover over one in any guide and the short definition appears without leaving the page, with a link back to the full entry here. Each entry also has its own anchor, so you can share a direct link with a friend who has just asked, for example, what a seed phrase is.
A glossary explains words, not decisions. Where a term matters for a real choice, such as whether you need an OTC desk, follow the link to the guide that covers it properly.
Five terms explained in more depth
What is an OTC desk?
An over-the-counter desk is a private trading service for large orders. Instead of placing a big order on an exchange’s public order book, where it would eat through the cheapest offers and push the price up, you ask the desk for a single firm quote, accept it and settle by bank wire. Desks usually start at tens of thousands of US dollars and suit property buyers, CBI applicants and companies. Our OTC trading guide explains how quotes and settlement work from St Kitts and Nevis.
What is slippage?
Slippage is the difference between the price you saw and the average price you actually paid. It happens because an order fills against several sellers at slightly different prices. On a few hundred dollars of Bitcoin it is negligible; on a large order or a thinly traded coin it can cost real money. A limit order, which only fills at your chosen price or better, is the everyday cure. Our guide to buying crypto with XCD shows where it fits into a first purchase.
What is a seed phrase?
Your seed phrase is the set of 12 or 24 words that can rebuild your wallet on any device, and it is the single most important thing in crypto security. Anyone who sees it can take your coins from anywhere in the world; if you lose it and your phone dies, nobody can recover them for you. Write it on paper or a metal plate, keep it somewhere a hurricane or a burglar will not reach, and never type it into a website. Our wallet guide covers storm-proof backups.
What does the capital gains rule mean here?
Capital gains are profits from selling something for more than you paid. St Kitts and Nevis has no individual income tax, and Deloitte’s tax summary says capital gains are not taxed unless the asset is sold within one year of purchase, a rule it describes in the section on companies. How that applies to an individual selling crypto is not spelled out, and if you are tax resident somewhere else, that country’s rules may matter more. Our crypto tax page sets out what is known.
What do VASP and FSRC mean?
A VASP, or virtual asset service provider, is a business that exchanges, transfers or holds crypto for other people. In St Kitts and Nevis such businesses must register with the FSRC, the Financial Services Regulatory Commission, under the Virtual Asset Act. Owning crypto yourself needs no registration. Our crypto regulation guide explains the law and its recent amendments, and our page on crypto scams explains why “we are registered” is a claim worth checking.
A note on local terms
Some entries are specific to the federation and its neighbours. The ECCB is the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, headquartered in Basseterre, which issues the EC dollar for eight territories. The XCD peg fixes that dollar at EC$2.70 to US$1, which is why converting a US-dollar crypto price into local money is simple arithmetic. CBI and SISC refer to the Citizenship by Investment programme and its donation route, covered in our CBI and crypto guide, while a Nevis LLC is the company form many investors use, explained in our Nevis LLC guide.
Coin names are not listed because each major coin has its own page; the coin hub compares them.
Ready to put the words into practice?
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Buying & trading
- Escrow
A neutral party holds the asset until both sides do what they promised, then releases it.
- Exchange (CEX)
A company that matches buyers and sellers of crypto and holds customer funds, much like a broker.
A centralised exchange runs the order book, holds your deposits and usually asks for ID before you trade. Convenient, but while coins sit there the exchange controls them.
- Limit order
An order that only fills at your chosen price or better. It protects you from slippage.
- Maker / taker fee
Makers add a resting order to the book and usually pay less; takers fill an existing order immediately and pay a bit more.
- Market order
An order that fills straight away at whatever prices are available. Quick, but exposed to slippage.
- Markup
Extra margin built into an “instant buy” price on top of the market rate, often not shown as a separate fee.
- On-ramp
A service that turns ordinary money (cards, bank transfers) into crypto. An off-ramp does the reverse.
- Order book
The live list of buy and sell orders on an exchange, sorted by price.
- OTC desk
A private trading service that fills large orders at one agreed price instead of on the public order book.
“Over the counter” desks quote a firm price for big tickets, often from US$50,000 or US$100,000 upwards, so the order does not move the market. They suit property buyers, CBI applicants and businesses.
- P2P trading
Buying crypto directly from another person, with the platform holding the seller’s coins in escrow until you pay.
- Slippage
The gap between the price you expected and the average price you actually got, because your order ate through several price levels.
Slippage is small on liquid pairs like BTC/USD and grows with order size or on thin markets. Limit orders and OTC desks are the usual cures.
- Spread
The difference between the buy price and the sell price. A wide spread is a hidden fee.
Money & regulation
- AML
Anti-money-laundering rules that make financial firms monitor transactions and report suspicious activity.
- Capital gains
Profit from selling an asset for more than you paid. Whether it is taxed depends on where you are tax resident and, in St Kitts and Nevis, how long you held it.
- CARF
The OECD Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework: crypto platforms report customer transactions to tax authorities, similar to CRS for bank accounts.
- CBDC
Central bank digital currency: a digital form of a country’s official money issued by its central bank. DCash was the ECCB’s pilot.
- Correspondent bank
A larger, usually US bank that processes international US-dollar wires for a smaller local bank. It can delay or reject crypto-related payments.
- CRS
The Common Reporting Standard: banks and other institutions share account details of foreign tax residents with their home tax authorities.
- ECCB
The Eastern Caribbean Central Bank, headquartered in Basseterre. It issues the EC dollar for eight member territories and supervises banks.
- FSRC
The Financial Services Regulatory Commission, the regulator that supervises non-bank financial businesses, including virtual asset businesses, in St Kitts and Nevis.
- KYC
“Know your customer” checks: an exchange verifies your identity with a passport or ID, a selfie and sometimes proof of address.
- Legal tender
Money that must be accepted to settle debts by law. In St Kitts and Nevis that is the EC dollar; no cryptocurrency has that status.
- Source of funds
Proof of where the specific money for a transaction came from, such as exchange statements showing the sale of coins.
- Source of wealth
How you built your overall net worth: salary, a business, investments or crypto gains, backed by documents.
- Stablecoin
A crypto token designed to hold a steady value, usually US$1, backed by cash and short-term government debt. USDT and USDC are the largest.
- SWIFT wire
A standard international bank transfer. It usually takes one to three business days and carries fixed fees on both ends.
- Tax residency
The country that has the right to tax your worldwide income, usually where you live most of the year, not simply where you hold a passport.
- VASP
Virtual asset service provider: a business that exchanges, transfers or holds crypto for others and must register under the Virtual Assets Act.
- XCD peg
The Eastern Caribbean dollar is fixed at EC$2.70 to US$1, so converting between the two is predictable.
Wallets & security
- 2FA
Two-factor authentication: a second code from an app or security key on top of your password. Use an app, not SMS.
- Address poisoning
A scam where a lookalike address is planted in your history so you copy the wrong one next time.
- Blockchain
A shared public ledger where transactions are grouped into blocks that cannot be quietly edited later.
- Cold storage
Keeping crypto keys completely offline, for example on a hardware wallet in a safe.
- Custodial wallet
A wallet where a company holds the keys for you, such as an exchange account. Easy to use, but you depend on that company.
- Hardware wallet
A small device that keeps private keys offline and signs transactions without exposing them to your computer or phone.
- Multisig
A wallet that needs several keys (say two of three) to approve a payment, so one lost or stolen key is not fatal.
- Network fee
The fee paid to the blockchain to process a transfer. It goes to miners or validators, not the exchange.
- Private key
The secret number that proves ownership of coins on a blockchain. Your seed phrase generates it.
- Seed phrase
The 12 or 24 words that can restore a wallet. Anyone who sees them can take your coins, so never type them into a website or share them.
- Self-custody
Holding your own keys in your own wallet rather than leaving coins with an exchange.
Wealth & structures
- Alien Landholding Licence
The government licence a non-citizen needs to buy land in St Kitts and Nevis, with a fee based on the property value.
- CBI
Citizenship by Investment: a government programme that grants citizenship in return for an approved contribution or investment plus due diligence checks.
- Due diligence
Background, criminal and financial checks run on an applicant or customer before approval.
- Economic substance
Rules requiring some company types to show real activity, staff or management in the jurisdiction to keep tax benefits.
- Escrow agent
In a property deal, a lawyer or firm that holds the purchase money until title transfers.
- Nevis LLC
A limited liability company formed under the Nevis Limited Liability Company Ordinance, often used to hold investments.
- Proof of reserves
An exchange publishes cryptographic evidence that it holds at least as many coins as customers have deposited.
- Registered agent
A licensed local service provider that forms and maintains Nevis companies and is the official contact for the registry.
- SISC
The Sustainable Island State Contribution, the donation route of the St Kitts and Nevis CBI programme.
