Glossary
A
AMF
The French markets regulator, and the name that appears most often across the European entries for these providers.
Audience
The audience says who an account is built for, and it shapes the fees, limits and approval rules you will meet.
AUSTRAC
AUSTRAC is Australia's body for tracking and reporting suspicious financial activity, and digital asset providers register with it under a published identifier.
Autorite des marches financiers (AMF)
The French regulator's register number, which pairs with an authorisation to show a provider is approved to operate in France.
B
Backup options
A backup is the spare copy that lets you regain access when the device holding your keys is gone.
BaFin
BaFin is Germany's financial supervisory authority, watching banks, payment firms and investment firms in the country.
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas is the central bank of the Philippines, issuing the peso and supervising banks and payment companies.
C
Card network
The card network is the payment scheme that carries a purchase from the bank to the shop, and it sets where the card is …
Card type
The card type shows whether a card spends your own balance or a credit line, which changes what happens when the account is empty.
Cashback rate
The share of what you spend that a provider returns to you, usually as credit.
Central Bank of Bahrain
A central bank issues a country's currency, holds its reserves, sets monetary policy and can supervise banks and payment companies.
Central Bank of Ireland
The Irish central bank supervises payment and electronic money firms, and its register separates payment institutions from e-money institutions.
Central Bank of Ireland (CBI)
The Central Bank of Ireland is Ireland's monetary authority and the supervisor of banks and payment firms holding customer funds.
Coins listed
How many different crypto assets a provider lists, which tells you how much choice you have.
Coins supported
The size of a wallet or exchange catalogue, which tells you whether your coins can live there at all.
Comision Nacional del Mercado de Valores (CNMV)
The Spanish regulator, whose register entry ties a bank's crypto activity to a single legal entity across its brands.
Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier (CSSF)
The CSSF is Luxembourg's financial sector supervisor, watching banks, investment firms and payment service providers.
Connectivity
Connectivity is how a hardware wallet links to a phone or computer, and it decides where you can sign.
Currency conversion fee
The charge for swapping money into another currency, and a large part of what a transfer costs you.
Custody
Whether the provider holds your crypto for you, or you hold the keys yourself.
D
E
F
FCA
The Financial Conduct Authority is the UK watchdog that authorises and supervises firms providing financial services.
FDIC
The FDIC is the United States banking regulator, and each bank below carries its own certificate number.
Features
Features are the capabilities a provider adds on top of holding money, and they tell you what the account or wallet is really for.
Founded
The founding year shows how long a company has been trading, and how much history sits behind the product you are comparing.
Free plan
A free plan lets you open an account and test the core product at no cost, and most of the providers here offer one.
Free plan limits
Free plan limits are the caps on trading, bots, exports and compute that decide when you have to start paying.
H
I
L
Legal entity
The legal entity is the registered company behind the brand, the one that holds your money and signs the contract you agree to.
Lock-up terms
How long a deposit must stay put, and whether that timing also decides when your earnings arrive.
LT_BL
LT_BL is the country tag for Lithuania in payment services registers, shown next to the licence a provider holds.
M
Maker fee
The fee for putting an order on the book that sets the price, as opposed to taking one, and where the rate sits at …
MiCA
The European rulebook for crypto assets, which replaced a patchwork of national rules and requires providers to hold an authorisation.
Monthly fee
The monthly fee is what a provider takes each month for keeping an account or card open, whether you use it or not.
N
O
P
Platforms
Whether a crypto tool runs in a browser, on a phone or across a set of blockchain networks decides how and where you can …
Price
What the product costs to open, set against the price of the asset you are buying.
Price from
Entry pricing is the smallest outlay a tool asks once you move past its free version, billed month by month.
Proof of reserves
A published snapshot of the coins a provider says it holds against customer balances.
R
S
SEC
A name that covers different regulators by country, which is why one acronym needs reading with its location attached.
Secure element
A secure element is a tamper-resistant chip that keeps keys sealed inside hardware and signs without exposing them.
Support channels
The support channels listed for a provider show who answers a question and whether a real person replies or a page does.
Supported assets
The coins, tokens and other holdings a platform lets you hold, earn on or trade.
T
Taker fee
The cut a provider takes when your order is filled immediately from the order book.
Tool type
The working category a piece of crypto software falls into, used for sorting and ranking.
Top-up fee
What it costs to add money to a prepaid card, from a free first load to a percentage at the counter.