| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Account | Anything Control Center tracks: a wallet, an exchange, or a manual holding. See How accounts work. |
| Archive | Stop tracking a wallet but keep its history. You can restore it later. |
| Claim | Another word for a wallet account. |
| Confirmed | A transaction included in a Bitcoin block. Control Center counts only confirmed transactions. |
| Derivation path | The route a wallet uses to create keys from your seed, such as m/84'/0'/0'. You rarely need it. |
| Descriptor | A line of text that fully describes a wallet’s public keys and address type, such as wpkh([…]xpub…). Preferred over a bare xpub. |
| Electrum server | A server that answers “what is the balance of these addresses?” Control Center reads wallet balances from one. Examples: Electrs, Fulcrum. |
| Generated with Bitcoin Control Center | The header on a statement PDF. You created the statement in Control Center. |
| Keystore | One key in a multisig wallet, usually one signing device. The app uses this word on multisig screens. |
| Mempool | An app that shows Bitcoin network data and prices. Control Center uses it for prices and statement lookups. mempool.space is the public version. |
| Multisig | A wallet that needs signatures from several keys, such as 2 of 3, to spend. |
| Ownership proven | The date under a wallet on a statement. It is that wallet’s latest completed signature, saved when you generated the statement. |
| Pending | A wallet you started to verify but haven’t signed for yet. |
| Proof of control | Signing a message with your wallet to show you hold its keys. It doesn’t move funds. See Verify ownership. |
| Proof-of-ownership statement | What the app calls a statement: a PDF of your verified self-custody wallets for a date range you choose. |
| Quorum | How many keys a multisig wallet needs. In a 2-of-3 wallet, the quorum is 2. |
| Script type | The kind of address a wallet uses. Legacy (1…), Nested SegWit (3…), Native SegWit (bc1q…), or Taproot (bc1p…). |
| Seed phrase | The 12 or 24 words that back up your wallet. Never type it into Control Center or any website. |
| Tor | A network that hides your IP address. The desktop app can reach your Electrum server through Tor. |
| Unverified | An account tracked without proof of ownership: a tracked xpub or descriptor, a Bitkey, or a manual or ETF holding. It counts in totals but not on statements. |
| Verified | A wallet you’ve proven control of. It can go on a statement. |
| Watch-only | Can see balances but can’t spend. Control Center is watch-only. |
| xpub | An extended public key. It lets Control Center find all your wallet’s addresses without being able to spend. ypub and zpub are versions that also hint at the address type. |
Help
Glossary
Plain-English meanings of the terms you’ll see in Control Center.