The words, in plain language

This site uses a handful of blockchain words. Here is each one in ordinary English — no prior knowledge assumed.

Jump to a word: Block · Chain · Hash · Height · Validator · Anchor · Hub · Coin chain · Snapshot · Supply · Ledger · Transaction · First block · Combination · Personal blockchain · Fusion · Attestation · Test network · Main network · Non-custodial · Key · Seed phrase · Verified badge · Template · Account · Balance · Reward · Vault · Transfer · Base unit · Hosting · Export · Severance · Checkpoint · Registry · Minting · Block time · Burn · Emission · Fee · Address · Wallet · Public record · Publisher · Node · Tip · Shard · Stale · Explorer

Block: One sealed page of a chain's ledger. Each block records what happened in its moment, and once sealed it is not rewritten.
Chain: One blockchain in the family — a single ledger that keeps producing blocks in order. This family has five chains: the four coin chains and the hub that ties them together.
Hash (fingerprint): A short string of characters made from everything in a block. Change one letter anywhere in the block and the fingerprint no longer matches — that is how anyone can check the record.
Height: How many blocks a chain has produced, counted from its first block. A chain's height is its age in blocks: higher means it has been running longer.
Validator: The account that produces a chain's blocks — the keeper that seals each new page of the ledger in turn.
Anchor: A fingerprint of one chain written into another chain (here, into the family hub), so the first chain's history can later be checked against a record it cannot quietly change itself.
Hub: The family's tying-together chain. Each coin chain anchors into the hub, which is what makes four chains one combination.
Coin chain (spoke): One of the four chains that carries a coin — TWOPI, KEEL, AGORA or TESSERA. Each keeps its own ledger and its own blocks.
Snapshot: The published copy of the chains' own records that this site shows. The records are refreshed about every five minutes, and every page shows when they were published, so you always know how current the numbers in front of you are.
Supply / cap: How much of a coin exists in total. For every coin in this family the amount is fixed at a cap set when the coin was created — no more can ever be made.
Ledger: The full record a chain keeps — every block, in order, from the first one to the newest. A chain's ledger is its history book, and it is written so it cannot be quietly rewritten afterwards.
Transaction: One recorded action inside a block — for example, the anchor submissions that joined this family. A block can hold one transaction, many, or none.
First block (genesis): The very first block of a chain, created when the chain launched. Every later block is counted from it — that count is the chain's height.
Combination: This family's joining, verified end to end on October 25, 2026: the four coin chains anchored into one hub, so the whole family can be checked as one piece.
Personal blockchain: A blockchain of your own: one chain for one person, one business, or one family, created and published on this family and hosted here, with its own fixed supply and its own record. Making one is the whole point of Twin; the tools for it are a building program, not a finished door yet.
Fusion: Twin's door for joining: how other blockchains and projects get access to join this family, on attestation terms — a joining chain shows what it is and agrees to the family's terms, and then it belongs. Fusion is a way in, not a wall.
Attestation: A public statement, checked against published standards, that a chain or project is what it says it is and has agreed to the family's terms. Joining Twin runs on attestation; the attestation page publishes the standards and what the verified badge does — and does not — mean.
Test network: A practice version of a blockchain, run for trying things out before they touch the real record. Twin's proposed pilot chains start on the test network, so a new chain can be proven before it joins the main network.
Main network: The real, live version of a blockchain — the one whose record counts. A chain created on Twin's main network joins the family's published record.
Non-custodial: Not holding things for you. A non-custodial service never takes your keys or your coins: they stay in your own wallet, and only you can move them. Twin is fully non-custodial — which also means lost keys cannot be recovered by Twin.
Key: The secret half of an account: whoever holds an account's keys can sign for it and move what it holds. That is why Twin never holds them — your keys stay in your own wallet, and only you can use them.
Seed phrase: A short list of words that can restore a wallet and everything it holds. Anyone who learns the phrase can use the wallet, so it is kept private and offline — and losing it means losing the wallet, because no one at Twin can recover it.
Verified badge: Twin's published statement that a member's chain meets the standards on the attestation page — the same standards for everyone. The badge is not an endorsement and not a safety guarantee, and no fee can buy one.
Template: A ready-made pattern a new chain is created from, so its supply, accounts and rules start from a known, checked shape instead of a blank page. In the first version of Twin's joining door, chains are created from the family's templates.
Account: One named place on a chain where a balance is kept and actions are recorded. An account is identified by its address and controlled by whoever holds its keys — no one else can sign for it.
Balance: How much of a coin one account holds at a given moment, as the chain's ledger records it. Each coin page shows its founding accounts' balances, refreshed with the published record.
Reward: The small amount a chain pays with every block out of its rewards account: TWOPI pays 2, AGORA pays 1, TESSERA pays a tenth, and the hub pays 2 HUB — KEEL pays none. Every reward is a transfer between accounts, so no coin's total ever grows.
Vault: An account set aside when a chain is created, holding coins for a stated purpose. The hub's network vault pays its per-block rewards, and the other chains' rewards accounts work the same way: coins leave a vault only as transfers, so the total never grows.
Transfer: A move of coins from one account to another, recorded on the chain. Rewards reach their accounts as transfers, so the family's totals never grow when a reward is paid.
Base unit: The smallest unit of a chain's coin: 1 coin = 1,000,000 base units. Fees are counted in base units — the family's core-chain fee is 1 base unit per transaction, burned in full.
Hosting: The service of carrying a member's chain — keeping it running and published — for a monthly fee, instead of the owner running it themselves. On the fees page every hosting figure is proposed; none is in force.
Export: Taking a complete copy of your chain's data out, in full, so you hold it yourself. The joining terms guarantee an export window of at least 30 days before any severance for cause takes effect, and Twin never deletes your data or your keys.
Severance: How Twin ends a member chain’s standing when it breaks the terms: de-listing and de-anchoring only. A severed chain keeps existing — Twin disowns it; Twin cannot delete it — and before a severance for cause takes effect the member gets notice and the guaranteed export window.
Checkpoint: A hosted chain’s written record of its state at a moment, anchored into the hub. Checkpoints give a chain tamper-evidence, ordering proof and a public heartbeat; once anchored, a checkpoint is never removed, even after a severance.
Registry: Twin’s public list of its member chains and their standing — entered, anchored, in good standing, or severed. Every change of standing is entered in the public record with its date, so the door’s own decisions can be re-checked by anyone.
Minting: Making new coins. In this family every coin’s supply was fixed when its chain was created and no more can ever be made; a joining chain is held to the same rule — no unlimited minting and no hidden minting past what it declared.
Block time: The moment a block was sealed, as recorded in the block itself. Times on this site are shown in your local timezone with the zone named.
Burn: Coins permanently removed from circulation. TWOPI stands a hair under its cap because three anchor fees were burned when the family combined.
Emission: Coins paid out slowly over time by design. Four of the family's five chains pay a small reward with every block out of their rewards accounts — TWOPI pays 2, AGORA pays 1, TESSERA pays a tenth, and the hub pays 2 HUB — while KEEL pays none. Every payment is a transfer from one account to another, so no coin's total ever grows.
Public record: The chains' published records — their heights, blocks and balances — which anyone can fetch and check for themselves, and which are the same records this site shows. If this page and the public record ever disagreed, the record would win and the page would be corrected.
Fee: The small charge a chain collects for recording an action, such as an anchor submission. In this family, fees are burned — permanently removed from circulation — rather than paid out. Looking at this site costs nothing: there is no fee for reading the public record.
Address: The string of characters that identifies one account on a chain — where its balance is kept and where its actions are recorded. Each coin page prints its founding accounts' addresses in full.
Wallet: A tool that holds the keys to an account and signs actions for it. This site is not a wallet: it holds no keys, takes no signatures, and cannot move any coin.
Publisher: How the chains' own records reach this site: they are read from the chains and posted here about every five minutes. Publishing only ever reads and shows — it cannot change a chain.
Node: One running copy of a chain's program, keeping its ledger and producing or checking its blocks. You do not need to run or connect to one to check this family — this site publishes the chains' records for anyone to read.
Tip (newest block): The most recent block a chain has produced — the top of its ledger right now. A coin page shows its tip's time and fingerprint in the live panel.
Shard (one chain's part): One chain's part of the family's published block record. The explorer brings all five chains' parts together and searches them as one record, so a lookup never has to care which chain a block belongs to.
Stale (out of date): What this site calls data whose update is late. When a snapshot is older than usual, the page says so in a plain warning and shows the last published numbers with their times — stale numbers are never dressed up as live.
Explorer: This site's search tool: it lets anyone look up any block by its number (height) or its fingerprint (hash), and check the family's record for themselves.

This page was last reviewed on November 6, 2026, against the words the site itself uses.

Still unsure? The about page explains what this site is and what it can and cannot do, in the same plain words.