Glossary
Plain-English definitions for words you'll see throughout Landblock documentation.
- ADR (Architectural Decision Record)
- A document recording a significant technical decision: what was decided, why, what alternatives were considered, and what the consequences are.
- BA Unit (Basic Administrative Unit)
- The legal entity that holds rights to land — the owner. Could be a person, a family, a company, or a government. From the ISO 19152 LADM standard.
- Canonical proof
- The standardized data package a registry publishes when a land record changes. Contains what changed, when, the registry's signature, and a hash of the supporting evidence.
- CID (Content Identifier)
- A unique address for a file stored on IPFS. Derived from the file's content — two identical files always produce the same CID. Used to point to off-chain evidence without storing the evidence on-chain.
- DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)
- An organization governed by smart contracts and token votes rather than traditional corporate hierarchy. The Landblock Protocol DAO governs protocol upgrades, standards, fees, and treasury.
- DID (Decentralized Identifier)
- A self-sovereign digital identity not controlled by any company. Looks like:
did:ethr:polygon:0x4B08.... The holder proves ownership by signing messages with a private key. - Evidence Store
- The off-chain storage layer for land documents and records. Built on IPFS + Filecoin. Files are encrypted; on-chain records contain only a CID pointer to the file.
- Federation
- Connecting independent registries so they can verify each other's records without merging databases or surrendering sovereignty.
- FLS (Federation Liaison Service)
- The routing service that handles cross-registry queries. Routes queries to one of three tiers based on their complexity and the registries involved.
- Gnosis Safe
- A multi-signature smart contract wallet. Requires multiple keyholders to approve any transaction. Used for Landblock's treasury and DAO execution.
- Hash / cryptographic hash
- A fixed-length fingerprint of any data. The same input always produces the same hash. Changing even one character produces a completely different hash. Used to create tamper-evident records without storing raw data on-chain.
- IPFS (InterPlanetary File System)
- A distributed file storage system where files are addressed by their content (CID) rather than a location. Landblock uses it for off-chain evidence and channel logs.
- LADM (Land Administration Domain Model)
- ISO 19152 — the international standard for how land administration data should be structured. Landblock's data model follows LADM to ensure interoperability with government systems.
- LDBK
- Landblock's utility token. Used to pay for network operations. Fixed supply of 21 million. Not a governance token.
- LGT
- Landblock's governance token. Used to vote on protocol proposals. Does not grant access to network services.
- Mirror Mode
- How an existing government registry joins Landblock without rebuilding its systems. An adapter publishes cryptographic proofs of record changes to the blockchain.
- Paymaster (ERC-4337)
- A smart contract that pays gas fees on behalf of users, enabling gasless transactions. Users don't need to hold MATIC to interact with Landblock contracts.
- Polygon PoS
- The blockchain Landblock runs on. ~2 second finality, near-zero fees, secured by checkpoints to Ethereum mainnet.
- RRR (Right, Restriction, Responsibility)
- The three types of interests a party can hold on land. A right is a positive entitlement (ownership, lease). A restriction limits land use (zoning, conservation). A responsibility is an obligation tied to land. From LADM.
- Spatial Unit
- The physical parcel of land — the geographic area being administered. From LADM.
- Supersedes chain
- How Landblock handles record updates. New proofs point back to the ones they replace, creating a complete, immutable history of every change.
- Verifiable Credential (VC)
- A signed, cryptographic statement from an issuer about a subject. Example: "This DID belongs to an employee of Registry X with MEMBER access." Holders present VCs to prove claims without contacting the issuer each time.
- ZKP (Zero-Knowledge Proof)
- A cryptographic technique that lets you prove a statement is true without revealing the underlying data. Example: prove you own a property without revealing your name or address.