Glossary

Short, plain definitions for the words that show up in the bot and in this guide. If a term has a whole page of its own, you'll find a pointer to it.

The protocol

Alkanes

Smart-contract tokens that live on Bitcoin L1. They are not a separate chain and not an ERC-20 sidechain. They settle on Bitcoin itself. Alkanex is a Telegram bot for trading them.

AlkaneId

The unique address of an Alkane, written block:tx (for example 2:0). You paste an AlkaneId into the chat to pull up that token's live card. The bot's own example is 2:0.

A set of rules layered on top of Bitcoin that gives ordinary Bitcoin transactions extra meaning, in this case smart-contract tokens. Bitcoin nodes don't enforce it; specialised indexers read the chain and compute the token state. You never interact with the metaprotocol directly. The bot does.

Bitcoin and frBTC

BTC

Native Bitcoin. In the bot it is the balance that pays network fees and funds new buys. Your wallet keeps two balances: BTC on-chain and frBTC.

frBTC

The wrapped form of BTC that Alkanes pools actually trade in. Think of it as "Bitcoin, in a form the pools can swap." When you hold enough frBTC, a buy spends it directly with no wrapping step.

Wrap

Turning BTC into frBTC. The bot wraps BTC into frBTC on demand when you buy, wrapping exactly what the trade needs. Deposits stay as BTC until you spend them. Wrapping has a small protocol premium (~0.1%).

The wrap is not instant. Deposits stay as BTC; the wrap happens as part of a BTC-funded buy, and needs the trade to confirm. The bot waits for your funding to confirm on Bitcoin, then settles the wrap in the buy transaction, so expect minutes, gated on Bitcoin block times.

Unwrap

The reverse of wrap: turning frBTC back into native BTC in your own wallet. In the bot this is the Convert to BTC action on the wallet card. Your frBTC is not burned until the conversion confirms, and the BTC arrives once the Subfrost federation releases it, usually 30-60 minutes (sometimes longer), for a small network fee. The bot's wording: "Turn it into native Bitcoin in your wallet. It usually takes 30-60 minutes (sometimes longer), for a small network fee."

FROST federation

The group that custodies the real BTC behind frBTC. When you wrap, your BTC is held by the subfrost FROST federation, not by the bot, and the pinned signer is verified on every wrap. The bot states this directly: "Wrapped BTC (frBTC) is held by the subfrost FROST federation, not by this bot. Pinned signer verified on every wrap."

DIESEL

An Alkane token that is mined block by block. On buys and normal swaps (not sells), the bot can mine DIESEL straight into your own wallet in the same transaction, 100% yours, and it adds only a small amount to the network fee.

DIESEL mining is only effective once your operator enables it account-wide. Operator-enabled When it's on, the per-user toggle in Settings controls it (default on). It mines on buys and normal swaps, never on sells.

Trading and routing

AMM pool

An automated market maker pool: a shared reserve of two tokens (for example frBTC and some token) that you trade against. The price comes from the ratio of the reserves, not from an order book. If a token has no pool, the bot tells you so: "No AMM pool yet. Token is not tradeable here."

Liquidity

How much value is sitting in a pool. Deeper liquidity means your trade moves the price less. A thin pool triggers a Low liquidity badge on the card, because it carries a higher slippage risk.

Route

The path your trade takes through pools to get from frBTC to the token you want. It can be a direct pool (one pool, frBTC paired with the token) or a path through several pools.

Hop

One swap step in a route. A direct pool is 1 hop. Going frBTC to token A to token B is 2 hops. The card shows the hop count.

Multi-hop

A route with more than one hop, used when no direct frBTC pool exists. The bot enumerates paths (up to a few hops) and ranks them by the amount you actually receive, not simply the fewest hops, with a tie-break toward the deepest liquidity. A Multi-hop badge appears on the card when this happens.

Slippage

The gap between the price you saw and the price you get, caused by other trades and by your own trade moving the pool. You set a slippage tolerance in Settings (default 2%); the bot uses it as your minimum acceptable output and will cancel a trade rather than fill it worse than that. If the price moves past your tolerance, the swap reverts and your frBTC is refunded.

Price impact

How much your specific trade moves the pool price, driven by your size against the pool's depth. It is shown separately from the swap fee. The card and previews label it Price impact, and a high value triggers a hard confirmation before the bot signs: "High price impact. Consider smaller amount."

Price impact and slippage are related but not the same. Price impact is what your trade does to the price right now. Slippage tolerance is the limit you set on how far the realised price may drift before the bot refuses to fill.

Bitcoin mechanics

sat/vB

Satoshis per virtual byte, the unit for the Bitcoin network fee rate. A higher sat/vB rate buys faster confirmation, not literally faster Bitcoin. You set a fee cap in Settings (default 50 sat/vB) so a busy network can't overcharge you: "Trades never pay above the cap. It protects you when the mempool spikes."

Mempool

The waiting room of unconfirmed Bitcoin transactions. When it fills up, fee rates rise and confirmations slow down. Your fee cap is what protects you when the mempool spikes.

UTXO

An unspent transaction output, a discrete "piece" of Bitcoin in your wallet. A buy spends one BTC piece (one UTXO). Pieces that hold your tokens are protected and never spent as BTC, which is why you can have a balance and still see "Not enough spendable BTC." The bot explains it: "A buy spends one BTC piece (UTXO). Pieces that hold your tokens are protected and never spent as BTC, so they do not count."

Custody

Custodial

The bot holds and signs for your wallet. Alkanex is custodial by default: it generates a Bitcoin wallet for you, encrypts your recovery phrase, and signs your trades, which is what makes the experience one-tap. You can reveal your recovery phrase any time to take control of your funds. Nobody, including the operator, can recover that phrase for you.

Non-custodial

A model where only you hold the keys and sign your own transactions. Alkanex does not offer a non-custodial or connect-your-own-wallet mode today. It is a roadmap direction only, with no button, setting, or in-bot path, so do not expect it in the bot right now.

See the Security and custody page for the full picture.