Glossary for new investors.

APY

Annual percentage yield — the real annual return after compounding. A 14.5% APY assumes the daily yield is reinvested every day for a year.

Compounding

Earning yield on yield. Each day's payout is added to your principal so tomorrow's payout is calculated on a slightly larger base.

Stablecoin

A crypto-asset pegged to a fiat currency (usually the US dollar). USDC and USDT are the two largest stablecoins by market cap.

Custody

Who holds the keys. Ulltimate Rewards uses segregated cold-storage custody so the bulk of assets are offline and unreachable from the internet.

KYC

Know Your Customer — identity verification required by financial regulators to prevent money laundering and fraud.

AML

Anti-Money Laundering — the global framework of rules platforms follow to detect and report illicit financial activity.

Cold storage

Crypto keys held on devices that have never touched the internet. Considered the gold standard for institutional custody.

Dollar-cost averaging

Buying a fixed dollar amount on a schedule (e.g. $100 weekly) rather than trying to time the market. Smooths out volatility over time.

Market cap

Asset price multiplied by circulating supply. The standard measure of a crypto-asset's overall size and liquidity.

Sparkline

A small inline chart showing recent price action — usually 7 days. Useful for spotting trend direction at a glance.