Key terms
| Concept | Explainer |
|---|---|
| User account | Every individual user of Byzantine has a user account, associated with a unique user_id. User accounts can be tied to legal entities. |
| Entity | A legal entity. At least one user account needs to be tied to each legal entity to be able to make transactions. |
| Wallet | A wallet is the digital access point to the blockchain - it is where user assets are stored and how they make transactions. Every entity has one wallet. |
| Vault | Byzantine products, like Byzantine Prime USDC, are smart contracts known as vaults. These smart contracts are blockchain-based code that automatically handles all administration work surrounding a user’s deposit. These vaults are what make Byzantine’s high security and non-custodial nature possible. |
Wallet authentication
Even if the user accesses the blockchain through an integrator’s interface and Byzantine’s API, the user is **sole owner and controller **of their assets. Each time a transaction is to be made, the user must themselves approve it with one of the available signature methods. Without this signature tied to the user’s device or the user’s identity, nobody could physically make transactions. In this way, user ownership and control are programatically guaranteed.Two-step transactions
Since the user is the sole controller of the wallet, they need to sign every transaction themselves. Therefore, making a transaction via the Byzantine API is split into two steps:- Requesting the transaction body
- Submitting the signed transaction