Glossary
A comprehensive reference of terms used across the Mezo ecosystem. For Mezo Earn-specific terms, see the Mezo Earn Glossary.
Automated Market Maker. A type of decentralized exchange that uses liquidity pools and mathematical formulas instead of order books to determine asset prices and execute trades. Mezo Pools use an Aerodrome-style AMM with constant-product curves for volatile pairs and stable-curves for correlated pairs. See Mezo Pools Overview.
Block Explorer
Section titled “Block Explorer”A web tool for viewing transactions, addresses, and on-chain data. Mezo’s mainnet explorer is at explorer.mezo.org and the testnet explorer is at explorer.test.mezo.org.
The multiplier applied to a veBTC position when veMEZO votes are directed to it. Without boost, veBTC operates at 1x. With maximum boost, veBTC operates at 5x. The boost depends on your relative share of total veBTC and total veMEZO in the system. See Boost Mechanism.
Boosted Weight
Section titled “Boosted Weight”The combined voting weight when veBTC and veMEZO are paired. Calculated as your veBTC weight multiplied by your boost multiplier (between 1x and 5x). Boosted weight determines your share of fees and your influence over emissions.
Bitcoin. BTC is the native gas token on Mezo (with 18 decimals) and the primary collateral for minting MUSD. All transactions on Mezo are paid in BTC.
BTC Wallet
Section titled “BTC Wallet”A Bitcoin-native wallet used to deposit BTC directly to Mezo. Supported wallets include UniSat, OKX, and Xverse. Supported address formats are Legacy (P2PKH), Native SegWit (P2WPKH), and Nested SegWit (P2SH-P2WPKH). See Deposit Assets.
Chain ID
Section titled “Chain ID”A numeric identifier for a blockchain network. Mezo Mainnet uses chain ID 31612 and Mezo Testnet uses chain ID 31611. See Configure your Environment.
Chain Splitter
Section titled “Chain Splitter”The first splitter in the emissions hierarchy. Controls what percentage of MEZO emissions go to validators (initially 20%) versus the rest of the ecosystem (80%). The ratio is governable but can only change by ±1% per epoch. See Emissions Schedule.
A waiting period before tokens begin to unlock. In Mezo’s vesting schedule, the Team and Investor allocations have a 1-year cliff from TGE, meaning no tokens unlock during the first 12 months. See Token Distribution.
Collateral
Section titled “Collateral”Assets pledged to secure a loan. On Mezo, BTC is deposited as collateral to borrow MUSD. If the collateral’s value drops too low relative to the debt, the position may be liquidated. See Borrow and Mint MUSD.
Collateral Surplus
Section titled “Collateral Surplus”The excess collateral remaining after a trove is fully redeemed against. This surplus is sent to a holding contract for the borrower to claim. See Liquidations & Redemptions.
Collateralization Ratio (ICR)
Section titled “Collateralization Ratio (ICR)”Individual Collateralization Ratio. The ratio of the dollar value of a trove’s collateral to its total debt. For example, if your BTC collateral is worth 10,000, your ICR is 130%. See MUSD Key Concepts.
CometBFT
Section titled “CometBFT”The consensus engine underlying Mezo, formerly known as Tendermint. CometBFT provides Byzantine Fault Tolerant consensus, enabling fast block finality on the Mezo network.
Cosmos SDK
Section titled “Cosmos SDK”The modular framework used to build the Mezo blockchain. Cosmos SDK provides the application layer, while CometBFT handles consensus. This architecture allows Mezo to support both Cosmos-native and EVM-compatible functionality.
Critical Collateralization Ratio (CCR)
Section titled “Critical Collateralization Ratio (CCR)”The system-wide collateral threshold set at 150%. When the Total Collateralization Ratio (TCR) falls below the CCR, the system enters Recovery Mode. See MUSD Key Concepts.
Decentralized Application. A software application that runs on a blockchain rather than centralized servers. Developers can build dApps on Mezo using standard EVM tooling. See dApp Requirements.
The gradual reduction in voting weight as a lock approaches expiration. veBTC and veMEZO voting power decays linearly over time. You can reset decay by extending your lock. See veBTC Overview and veMEZO Overview.
Delegator
Section titled “Delegator”A participant who delegates their stake or voting power to a validator. Validators may share rewards with delegators, though this is not required.
Ecosystem Gauge
Section titled “Ecosystem Gauge”A gauge that routes MEZO emissions to partner protocols or ecosystem initiatives. Ecosystem gauges receive approximately 8% of net emissions and are used to fund grants and ecosystem development. See Emissions Schedule.
Ecosystem Splitter
Section titled “Ecosystem Splitter”The second splitter in the emissions hierarchy. Divides non-validator emissions between staking gauges (initially 90%) and non-staking ecosystem gauges (initially 10%). The ratio is governable with ±1% movement per epoch. See Emissions Schedule.
Emissions
Section titled “Emissions”New MEZO tokens distributed each epoch to gauges, validators, and veMEZO holders (as rebases). Emissions follow a Bitcoin-inspired halving schedule, starting at 25% annualized and declining to 2% after year 8. See Emissions Schedule.
A 7-day cycle that governs voting and reward distribution in Mezo Earn. Epochs begin every Thursday at 00:00 UTC. Votes do not carry over between epochs. See veBTC Overview.
ERC-20
Section titled “ERC-20”A standard interface for fungible tokens on EVM-compatible blockchains. Tokens bridged from Ethereum to Mezo are represented as mERC-20 tokens (e.g., mUSDC, mUSDT). See Bridges.
Ethereum Virtual Machine. The runtime environment for smart contracts on Ethereum-compatible blockchains. Mezo is EVM-compatible, meaning developers can deploy Solidity contracts using familiar tools like Hardhat and Foundry. See Configure your Environment.
EVM Wallet
Section titled “EVM Wallet”An Ethereum-compatible wallet (e.g., MetaMask, Rabby) used to interact with Mezo’s EVM layer. EVM wallets are used for dApp interactions, swaps, and managing positions on Mezo. See Connect your wallet.
Faucet
Section titled “Faucet”A service that distributes small amounts of testnet tokens for development purposes. The Mezo testnet faucet provides test BTC for deploying and testing dApps on Mezo Testnet.
Gas Compensation
Section titled “Gas Compensation”A 200 MUSD refund paid to the caller of a liquidation function, along with 0.5% of the liquidated collateral. This ensures liquidations remain profitable for callers even during high network activity. The 200 MUSD is deducted when a loan is opened and returned when the loan is closed normally. See MUSD Architecture.
A smart contract that receives and distributes rewards based on votes. The more voting weight a gauge receives, the larger its share of MEZO emissions for that epoch. Gauge types include staking gauges, validator gauges, ecosystem gauges, and veBTC boost gauges. See Mezo Earn Glossary.
Global Interest Rate
Section titled “Global Interest Rate”A single interest rate set by governance that applies to all newly opened MUSD loans. Once a loan is opened, it retains the rate at which it was created, even if the global rate changes. Users can refinance to adopt the current global rate. See MUSD Key Concepts.
Governance
Section titled “Governance”The system through which veBTC holders shape protocol parameters and emissions. Governable parameters include splitter ratios and the max boost multiplier. veMEZO boosts voting power but has no independent governance rights. See Governance.
Halving Schedule
Section titled “Halving Schedule”The Bitcoin-inspired model governing MEZO emissions. The emission rate halves approximately every 2 years: 25% in years 0-2, 12.5% in years 2-4, 6.25% in years 4-8, then stabilizes at 2% perpetually. See Emissions Schedule.
Impermanent Loss
Section titled “Impermanent Loss”The potential loss a liquidity provider experiences when the price ratio of pooled assets changes compared to simply holding them. This is inherent to AMM-based pools and is more pronounced in volatile pools.
Incentives
Section titled “Incentives”Rewards posted on gauges to attract votes. Protocols or users deposit incentives (in any ERC-20 token) to attract voting power to specific gauges. Incentives create the matching market between veBTC and veMEZO holders. See Voting Overview.
Liquidation
Section titled “Liquidation”The forced closure of an undercollateralized trove. A trove can be liquidated when its ICR falls below 110% (or 150% during Recovery Mode). The Stability Pool absorbs the debt, and the liquidated collateral is distributed to Stability Pool depositors. See Liquidations & Redemptions.
Liquidity Pool
Section titled “Liquidity Pool”A smart contract holding reserves of two tokens that enables decentralized trading. Users deposit assets into a pool to become liquidity providers and earn trading fees. See Mezo Pools Overview.
The act of committing BTC or MEZO for a set period to receive veBTC or veMEZO. Longer locks grant higher initial voting weight. veBTC locks range from 1 to 28 days; veMEZO locks range from 1 week to 4 years. See veBTC Overview and veMEZO Overview.
LP Token
Section titled “LP Token”Liquidity Provider token. An ERC-20 token received when you deposit assets into a liquidity pool. LP tokens represent your proportional share of the pool’s reserves and entitle you to a portion of trading fees. See Mezo Pools Overview.
Mainnet
Section titled “Mainnet”The production blockchain network where real assets and transactions are processed. Mezo Mainnet has chain ID 31612 and uses BTC for gas. See Configure your Environment.
Matching Market
Section titled “Matching Market”The economic mechanism where veBTC holders can attract veMEZO votes by posting incentives on their boost gauges, and veMEZO holders can earn yield by voting on gauges with attractive incentives. See Matching Market.
Mezo’s native token used to boost voting power and influence where protocol fees and incentives go. MEZO can be locked as veMEZO to multiply veBTC voting weight by up to 5x and earn rebase rewards. Total genesis supply is 1,000,000,000 MEZO. See MEZO Overview.
Mezo App
Section titled “Mezo App”The primary web interface at mezo.org for interacting with the Mezo network. From the Mezo App, users can deposit assets, bridge, borrow MUSD, provide liquidity, lock tokens, and vote on gauges.
Mezo Borrow
Section titled “Mezo Borrow”The feature within the Mezo App that allows users to deposit BTC as collateral and borrow MUSD against it. Each borrowing position is called a trove. See Borrow and Mint MUSD.
Mezo Bridge
Section titled “Mezo Bridge”The native bridge for depositing and withdrawing assets between Mezo and Ethereum or Bitcoin. Supports BTC, tBTC, and mERC-20 tokens. See Bridges.
Mezo Earn
Section titled “Mezo Earn”The comprehensive earning and governance system on Mezo, encompassing locking (veBTC, veMEZO), voting on gauges, providing liquidity in pools, and depositing in vaults. See Mezo Earn Overview.
Mezo Market
Section titled “Mezo Market”The marketplace within the Mezo App for token swaps. Uses the router contract to route trades through available liquidity pools.
Mezo Passport
Section titled “Mezo Passport”A developer package built on RainbowKit that provides wallet connection options for both Bitcoin and EVM wallets. Mezo Passport integrates with viem and wagmi for streamlined wallet management. See Configure Mezo Passport.
Mezo Pools
Section titled “Mezo Pools”The liquidity pool system on Mezo, functioning as automated on-chain liquidity reserves for token swaps. Pools use an Aerodrome-style AMM and come in two types: volatile and stable. See Mezo Pools Overview.
Minimum Collateralization Ratio (MCR)
Section titled “Minimum Collateralization Ratio (MCR)”The minimum collateral ratio required for a trove, set at 110%. If a trove’s ICR falls below the MCR, it becomes eligible for liquidation. See MUSD Key Concepts.
Mezo’s Bitcoin-backed stablecoin, pegged to $1 USD. Users borrow MUSD by depositing BTC as collateral in a trove. The peg is maintained through redemptions and the Stability Pool. See MUSD Overview.
MUSD Bridge
Section titled “MUSD Bridge”The cross-chain bridge for transferring MUSD between Mezo and Ethereum, powered by Wormhole’s Native Token Transfer (NTT) protocol. See MUSD Bridge.
MUSD Savings Rate Gauge
Section titled “MUSD Savings Rate Gauge”A staking gauge for the MUSD Savings Vault. Users who deposit MUSD into the savings vault can stake their sMUSD receipt tokens to earn MEZO emissions, while veBTC voters on this gauge earn MUSD yield from protocol fees. See Vaults.
MUSD Savings Vault
Section titled “MUSD Savings Vault”Mezo’s native savings product for MUSD holders. Deposit MUSD to earn a share of protocol fees generated by borrowing activity (interest, issuance fees, refinance fees). You receive sMUSD as a receipt token representing your share. See Vaults.
A computer running the Mezo chain client (mezod) that participates in the network. Node types include validator nodes (consensus and block production), RPC nodes (API endpoints for dApps), and seed nodes (network bootstrapping). See Validator Kit.
Oracle
Section titled “Oracle”A service that provides external data (such as asset prices) to smart contracts on-chain. Mezo uses Skip Connect as its primary oracle, integrated directly into validator nodes. Third-party oracles including Pyth, Stork, and Supra are also available. See Oracle Infrastructure.
Origination Fee
Section titled “Origination Fee”A one-time fee charged when borrowing MUSD, calculated as 0.1% of the borrowed amount. The fee is added to the loan’s principal and accrues interest. A refinancing origination fee (a fraction of the regular fee) is charged when refinancing. See MUSD Key Concepts.
Protocol Controlled Value. A contract that manages fees collected from MUSD borrowing and refinancing. Fees are allocated between paying down the bootstrap loan and the gauge system. Once the bootstrap loan is repaid, fees accrue as protocol-owned liquidity in the Stability Pool. See MUSD Architecture.
A transaction that refreshes a veBTC position’s boosted weight. Required after changes to veMEZO votes, lock extensions, or adding BTC. Without poking, boost changes don’t take effect. See Mezo Earn Glossary.
Pool Factory
Section titled “Pool Factory”The smart contract that deploys new liquidity pools on Mezo. Currently managed by the Mezo team with plans to open permissionless pool creation in the future. Mainnet address: 0x83FE469C636C4081b87bA5b3Ae9991c6Ed104248. See Mezo Pools (Developers).
Portal Bridge
Section titled “Portal Bridge”The user interface at portalbridge.com for bridging MUSD between Mezo and Ethereum using the Wormhole NTT protocol. See MUSD Bridge.
Price Feed
Section titled “Price Feed”On-chain data provided by oracles that reports the current market price of assets. Mezo uses Skip Connect to determine asset prices during block consensus and write them to on-chain state. See Oracle Infrastructure.
Rebase
Section titled “Rebase”Anti-dilution distributions to veMEZO holders from weekly MEZO emissions. When the lock ratio (veMEZO supply / total MEZO supply) is low, a larger share of emissions goes to rebases, protecting early lockers from dilution. As more MEZO is locked, the rebase share shrinks. See Emissions Schedule.
Recovery Mode
Section titled “Recovery Mode”A temporary safety state that activates when the system-wide Total Collateralization Ratio (TCR) falls below the CCR of 150%. During Recovery Mode, the liquidation threshold increases from 110% to 150%, new loans cannot be opened below 150%, and refinancing is blocked. See Liquidations & Redemptions.
Redemption
Section titled “Redemption”The act of swapping MUSD for an equivalent dollar value of BTC directly from the protocol. Any MUSD holder can redeem, regardless of whether they are a borrower. Redemptions target the trove with the lowest collateralization ratio first. This mechanism helps maintain the MUSD peg at $1. See Liquidations & Redemptions.
Refinance
Section titled “Refinance”The process of updating a loan’s interest rate to the current global interest rate. Refinancing incurs a reduced origination fee but avoids the need to close and reopen a loan. You can also refinance to extend your line of credit if BTC has appreciated. See MUSD Key Concepts.
Router Contract
Section titled “Router Contract”The smart contract that routes token swaps through available liquidity pools on Mezo. Users approve tokens to the router and call swap functions with their desired parameters. Mainnet address: 0x16A76d3cd3C1e3CE843C6680d6B37E9116b5C706. See Mezo Pools (Developers).
RPC Endpoint
Section titled “RPC Endpoint”A network URL that applications use to communicate with the Mezo blockchain. RPC endpoints support standard Ethereum JSON-RPC methods. Multiple providers are available for mainnet, including Boar, Imperator, Validation Cloud, and dRPC. See Configure your Environment.
RPC Provider
Section titled “RPC Provider”A service that operates RPC endpoints for the Mezo network. Providers like Boar, Imperator, Validation Cloud, and dRPC offer both HTTPS and WebSocket connections for mainnet. See Configure your Environment.
Slippage
Section titled “Slippage”The difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual execution price. Slippage is higher in pools with less liquidity or for larger trade sizes. Stable pools are designed to minimize slippage for correlated asset pairs.
Splitter
Section titled “Splitter”A contract that divides MEZO emissions between two destinations. Split ratios are governable but can only change by ±1% per epoch to prevent sudden shifts. See Chain Splitter and Ecosystem Splitter.
Stability Pool
Section titled “Stability Pool”A reserve of MUSD that serves as the first line of defense against liquidations. Users deposit MUSD into the Stability Pool and receive a share of liquidated collateral in return. The PCV contract seeds the pool with an initial 100M MUSD deposit. See MUSD Key Concepts.
Stable Pool
Section titled “Stable Pool”A liquidity pool optimized for trading between assets with highly correlated values, such as MUSD and USDC. Stable pools use a specialized formula to provide much lower slippage and charge a 0.05% trading fee. See Pools Fees.
Staking Gauge
Section titled “Staking Gauge”A gauge tied to a staking token (like LP tokens or sMUSD receipt tokens). Stakers earn MEZO emissions; veBTC voters on the gauge earn trading fees or protocol revenue. Staking gauges receive approximately 72% of net emissions. See Mezo Earn Glossary.
Subgraph
Section titled “Subgraph”An indexed, queryable data layer for blockchain data, accessed via GraphQL APIs. Mezo uses Goldsky for subgraph deployment, enabling dApps to efficiently query on-chain data like transfers, pool activity, and protocol state. See Subgraph Deployment.
Swap Fees
Section titled “Swap Fees”Fees charged on each token swap in a liquidity pool. Volatile pools charge 0.30% and stable pools charge 0.05%. Fees are collected in the input token and held in a separate PoolFees contract for liquidity providers to claim. See Pools Fees.
A decentralized Bitcoin wrapper built by Thesis and powered by the Threshold Network. tBTC is backed 1:1 by native Bitcoin and is the form BTC takes when bridged to Ethereum-compatible networks. On Mezo, deposited BTC is routed through tBTC’s custody infrastructure. See MUSD Architecture.
Tail Emissions
Section titled “Tail Emissions”The perpetual 2% annual MEZO emission rate that begins after year 8 of the halving schedule. Tail emissions provide ongoing incentives for validators, liquidity providers, and governance participants indefinitely. See Emissions Schedule.
Testnet
Section titled “Testnet”A testing network where developers can deploy and test applications without using real assets. Mezo Testnet has chain ID 31611. See Configure your Environment.
Token Generation Event. The moment when MEZO tokens were first created and distributed. Community and Foundation allocations were unlocked at TGE, while Team and Investor allocations are subject to a 1-year cliff and 3-year linear vesting. See Token Distribution.
Threshold Network
Section titled “Threshold Network”A decentralized network that powers the tBTC bridge. Threshold operates a decentralized signer set that has bridged over 28,000 Bitcoin since early 2020. See MUSD Architecture.
Token Distribution
Section titled “Token Distribution”The allocation of the 1,000,000,000 MEZO genesis supply: Community (40%), Investors & Partners (30%), Team (20%), and Foundation (10%). All vesting completes within 36 months of TGE. See Token Distribution.
Trading Fees
Section titled “Trading Fees”See Swap Fees.
A collateralized debt position on Mezo, bound to a single Ethereum address. Users open a trove by depositing BTC and borrowing MUSD against it. Also referred to as a “CDP” in similar protocols. See Borrow and Mint MUSD.
Validator
Section titled “Validator”A node operator that participates in consensus and block production on the Mezo network. Validators run the mezod client, secure the chain, and receive MEZO emissions based on delegated vote weight. See Mezo Validators.
Validator Gauge
Section titled “Validator Gauge”A gauge that directs MEZO emissions to network validators who secure the Mezo chain. Validator gauges receive approximately 20% of emissions via the Chain Splitter. See Mezo Earn Glossary.
Validator Kit
Section titled “Validator Kit”A comprehensive toolkit for deploying and managing Mezo nodes. Supports Docker, native daemon, Kubernetes, and cloud deployment. Includes configuration templates, monitoring, and automation scripts. See Validator Kit Guide.
Vote-escrowed BTC. An NFT representing locked Bitcoin that grants voting power and fee-earning rights in Mezo Earn. Voting weight decays linearly over the lock period. Max lock is 28 days. See veBTC Overview.
veBTC Boost Gauge
Section titled “veBTC Boost Gauge”A gauge attached to a specific veBTC NFT. veMEZO holders vote on these gauges to provide boost to that veBTC position in exchange for incentives. See Matching Market.
veMEZO
Section titled “veMEZO”Vote-escrowed MEZO. An NFT representing locked MEZO tokens that can boost veBTC voting power up to 5x. veMEZO carries no independent governance weight — it only amplifies veBTC positions. Max lock is 4 years. See veMEZO Overview.
Vesting Schedule
Section titled “Vesting Schedule”The timeline over which locked token allocations gradually become available. All MEZO vesting completes within 36 months of TGE. Team and Investor allocations have a 1-year cliff followed by 2-year linear monthly unlock. See Token Distribution.
Volatile Pool
Section titled “Volatile Pool”A liquidity pool designed for asset pairs with uncorrelated prices, such as BTC and MUSD. Volatile pools use a constant-product formula (x * y = k) and charge a 0.30% swap fee. See Pools Fees.
Voting Weight
Section titled “Voting Weight”The influence a position has when voting for gauges. For veBTC, calculated as locked BTC multiplied by remaining lock duration divided by max lock duration (28 days). For veMEZO, the same formula applies but with a 4-year max lock. See Voting Overview.
Wormhole
Section titled “Wormhole”A cross-chain messaging protocol that powers the MUSD Bridge. Wormhole enables secure token transfers between Mezo and Ethereum. See MUSD Bridge.
Wormhole NTT
Section titled “Wormhole NTT”Wormhole Native Token Transfer. The specific Wormhole protocol used for the MUSD Bridge. NTT maintains token fungibility by locking tokens on the source chain and minting on the destination, keeping total supply constant across chains. See MUSD Bridge.