> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.unitindex.org/theunit/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.unitindex.org/theunit/the-unit/glossary.md).

# Glossary

## UNIT

1. **Financial Index**: a number used to track the performance of financial assets.
2. **Unit of Account**: a standard amount of value used to price assets in an economy.
3. **Benchmark**: a standard by which asset performances are measured and judged.
4. **Indexed Unit**: a unit of value defined by a formula in terms of an index.
5. **DAO**: a blockchain-based organization that uses decentralized decision-making (through smart contracts), where stakeholders vote on proposals to determine the organization's actions.
6. **Alpha**: a measure of an investment's performance relative to a benchmark index, typically the market. It represents the **excess return** or **outperformance** of an investment compared to the return of the benchmark. Positive alpha indicates that the investment has performed better than the market or benchmark, while negative alpha means underperforming.

## TINU

1. **Index Fund**: a portfolio of assets designed to mimic the composition and performance of a financial index.
2. **Bitcoin/Any-Coin Dominance**: the ratio between the market capitalization of Bitcoin or any coin to the total market cap of the entire cryptocurrency market.
3. **Flatcoin**: a cryptocurrency whose value is pegged to the cost of living, rather than fiat or commodity.
4. **On-chain ETF**: An ETF coin that is traded on DEXes.
5. **Vault**: a smart contract that manages assets in a non-custodial manner.
6. **UN Farming**: depositing tokens into a liquidity pool on a DeFi protocol to earn rewards, typically paid out in the protocol's governance token.
7. **UN Staking**: locking UN into a staking contract with the purpose of gaining more UN.
8. Flash Loan: A flash loan is a type of loan where a user borrows assets with no upfront collateral and returns the borrowed assets within the same blockchain transaction.
9. **Flash Loan Fee**: A fee required to be paid to the borrower in the flash loan transaction.
10. **Inflation Hedge**: an investment that is considered to provide protection against the decreased value of a currency.

<figure><picture><source srcset="/files/BaAlkk898Qgnisl7TQFI" media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)"><img src="/files/MrAPqjLbpQMYJAxJS4Pp" alt=""></picture><figcaption><p>The relationship between UNIT &#x26; TINU</p></figcaption></figure>