Glossary

Bag of Cells (BoC) The standard format for serializing data structures. Every piece of data—from a simple integer to a complex smart contract—is stored as a "cell" that can reference up to four other cells, forming a directed acyclic graph of data.

BLS (Boneh-Lynn-Shacham) A cryptographic signature scheme that allows for signature aggregation. Note that while TON supports BLS, this specific execution layer currently requires alternative designs for contracts that traditionally rely on BLS opcodes.

Collator Specialized node component responsible for grouping the ordered queue of messages from the DAG mempool into candidate blocks for the blockchain.

DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) The underlying data structure used for message intake. Unlike a linear chain, the DAG allows messages to be added and ordered asynchronously, significantly increasing throughput and reducing latency.

Epoch A specific time interval in the network's lifecycle. During an epoch, a fixed set of validators is responsible for signing master blocks and maintaining network consensus.

External Message A message sent from outside the blockchain (e.g., by a user’s wallet or an off-chain service) to a smart contract. These messages are ordered by the protocol before being executed.

Global_id A unique integer identifier for the network. It is required in cryptographic signatures to ensure that a transaction intended for this specific network cannot be "replayed" or executed on other chains.

Lite Client A lightweight node that does not store the full blockchain state. It relies on verification proofs to confirm specific transactions or account states by checking Merkle proofs against the master block.

Masterchain The primary "control" chain of the network. It stores the hashes of the most recent blocks of all shardchains, the current validator set, and the network configuration.

Merkle Proof A cryptographic proof used to verify that a specific piece of data (like a transaction) is included within a block without requiring the user to process or download the entire block.

Shardchain An individual horizontal partition of the blockchain. In a mesh architecture, different application-specific chains operate as shards to allow for parallel transaction processing across the network.

TL-B (Type Language Binary) A specialized schema language used to describe the binary serialization format of objects. It defines how data structures, such as block headers and proofs, are packed into cells.

TVM (TON Virtual Machine) The stack-based deterministic execution environment for smart contracts. It enables the execution of complex logic written in languages like FunC or Tact.

Tycho Protocol Tycho is a high-performance protocol for building TVM-compatible app-specific chains.