Glossary
Asset
Digital assets can exist in various forms, but the Sablier Protocol exclusively supports the streaming of ERC-20 assets.
The stream itself is represented as an NFT (ERC-721).
Broker
A third-party entity that interacts with the Sablier Protocol on behalf of its users, who may charge service fees for facilitating these interactions.
Broker fees
The fees collected by the broker upon creating a stream for their users.
Cliff
The cut-off point for releasing assets. Prior to the cliff, the recipient cannot withdraw, though assets continue to accrue in the stream.
Core
Sablier contracts that are considered foundational, and are essential for Sablier to exist. Upgrading to a new version of core would require deploying an entirely new set of smart contracts, and would be considered a new version of the Sablier Protocol.
DeFi
Short for Decentralized Finance: an ecosystem of financial applications and services built on blockchain networks, primarily Ethereum, that leverage smart contracts to enable trustless, permissionless, and transparent financial transactions without relying on traditional intermediaries like banks or financial institutions.
Dynamic
Refers to either (i) non-linear streams, or (ii) the smart contract that can create non-linear streams.
End time
The time when a stream is scheduled to end.
ERC-20
ERC-20 tokens are fungible tokens on Ethereum. Sablier supports all standard ERC-20 implementations, including those with the missing return value bug.
ERC-721
ERC-721 tokens are non-fungible tokens ("NFTs") on Ethereum. Sablier streams are represented as NFTs.
Ethereum
A global, open-source platform for decentralized applications.
Ethereum Virtual Machine
The technical architecture of Ethereum, which many other blockchains have appropriated.
Flash Loan
A way to access the entire liquidity of the Sablier Protocol within one transaction as long as the principal plus a flash fee is returned. Sablier's flash loan implementation adheres to ERC-3156.
Foundry
Foundry is the application development toolkit that has been used to develop the Sablier Protocol.
Linear
A linear stream has the same payment rate per second.
Lockup
A type of stream in which the creator has to lock up a specified amount of assets.
Milestones
A milestone is the time component of a segment, which itself is a component of a dynamic stream.
Milestones play a crucial role in the calculation of the custom streaming curve.
Non-Linear
A non-linear stream features a payment rate per second that can vary over time.
Moreover, the streaming function is characterized by monotonicity, which implies that the total amount of assets released by the stream can only increase over time and never decrease."
Periphery
Sablier contracts that are useful, but not required for Sablier to exist. New periphery contracts can always be deployed without migrating streams.
Renounce
A renounced stream is a stream that cannot be canceled anymore.
PRBMath
PRBMath is fixed-point arithmetic library used by Sablier Core to facilitate non-linear streaming and compute percentage values.
PRBProxy
PRBProxy is a proxy contract that can compose transactions on behalf of the owner. PRBProxy is a key component of Sablier Periphery.
Protocol fees
Fees that are rewarded to the Sablier Protocol itself.
Range
The range of a linear stream consists of three components: (i) the start time, (ii) the cliff time, and (iii) the end time.
The range of a dynamic stream is determined by combining (i) the start time, (ii) the segment milestones, and (iii) the end time.
Real-time finance
A term coined by us in 2019 to emphasize the wide-ranging use cases for the Sablier Protocol.
Since the withdrawable amounts in streams are updated every second, they embody the concept of real-time financial transactions.
Segment
An entity with three properties:
- Amount
- Exponent
- Milestone
A segment is an essential component of a non-linear stream, as it facilitates the calculation of the custom streaming curve.
Start time
The time when a stream is scheduled to start.
Status
A stream can have one out of four possible statuses:
- Null
- Active
- Canceled
- Depleted
Stream
A new financial primitive that permits by-the-second payments.
Currently, the Sablier Protocol offers a single type of stream called a lockup stream, in which the creator has to lock up a specified amount of assets.
Streaming
The action of making by-the-second payments.
Vesting
One of the most popular use cases for streaming. The purpose of vesting is to delay gratification. Founders, investors, and employees must wait a certain amount of time before being able to access tokens.