Key terms
| Concept | Explainer |
|---|---|
| User | Every individual user and every person in a business entity has a unique user_id. User ID is used to identify the user in the Byzantine ecosystem and to update user personal information. |
| Entity | A legal entity. At least one root user account needs to be tied to each legal entity to be able to make transactions. An entity can be found via any account_id that is tied to it. |
| Account | Every individual and business user of Byzantine has an account, associated with a unique account_id. Accounts can be tied to legal entities. |
| Wallet | A wallet is the user’s blockchain access point: it stores their assets and enables transactions. The wallet is where a user account’s vault shares are held. If a user doesn’t already have one, a secure wallet is automatically created and embedded in their account during onboarding. One account is associated with at least 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. |
A
user_id is tied to a specific email and a specific integrator_id. Each email address can only be used once per integrator — attempting to create a second user with the same email will return an error. Refert to Multi-accounts for more details.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. The are two methods of authentication to use the wallet. For more details, see Authentication methods.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

