A crypto transaction that takes place outside a blockchain network.

Off-chain is a descriptive term used for transactions between crypto traders outside of a blockchain network. These transactions, although valid, are neither supervised by the network nor recorded at the time they were carried out. However, they are usually added later to the network, so that records can be created and affixed to the blockchain ledger.

A term used in corporate finance to describe bank accounts created and maintained outside the control of one’s country.

An offshore account is any bank account that was created in a foreign country and is generally funded from the proceeds of a person’s work in their own country. These accounts serve a variety of purposes, including as reserves for emergencies and as security against unreliable currency value fluctuations. The government of one’s own country may be aware or unaware of this account. If they know, it may have significant implications for the individual.

In crypto, as transactions are carried out online and globally, coins are often purchased with different currencies. However, some currencies are more valuable than others, so smart traders own offshore accounts to reduce the stress of using weak or fluctuating currencies.

A randomly-generated numerical value in cryptography used as an authentication protocol.

A nonce is an old term used in cryptography for a single purpose and one-time use. In the world of crypto, this string of numbers is used as a sort of validating evidence that the attached transaction has only been executed once. And this is possible because a nonce is generated randomly and is unique to each transaction. As a result, it is virtually impossible to use the same nonce twice, meaning that users on a blockchain network are prevented from ‘replaying’ transactions.

Nonces are also important parts of crypto mining. In fact, they are a critical component in hashing and consequently contribute to the level of mining difficulty on a network.

Off-chain

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