Glossary

Key terms and definitions used across the Crossmint documentation.

A reference of key terms used throughout the Crossmint documentation. If you encounter an unfamiliar term in any guide or concept page, check here first.

Term	Definition
Smart contract wallet	A wallet deployed as a smart contract on a public blockchain. It lives onchain — not inside Crossmint’s servers — and its behavior is governed by auditable code. On EVM chains, Crossmint wallets implement ERC-4337 with ERC-7579 modular extensions. See Architecture.
Signer	A cryptographic identity authorized to approve actions on a wallet. Signers are separate from the wallet itself and can be added, removed, or rotated without changing the wallet’s address. See Signers.
Operational signer	A signer added to a wallet for day-to-day transaction authorization. Operational signers are registered by the recovery signer and can be scoped with specific permissions. Examples: a device key for user wallets, a server key for company wallets. See Signers.
Delegated signer	The previous term for operational signer. Still used in current SDK method names (addDelegatedSigner, delegatedSigners) but being renamed in the next breaking release.
Recovery signer	A signer used to regain access to a wallet when the operational signer is lost — for example, when a user gets a new phone. Recovery signers authorize the enrollment of a new operational signer without changing the wallet address. See Signers.
Admin signer	The previous term for recovery signer. You may still encounter this term in older SDK versions and API responses.
Custody	An entity has custody of a wallet if it can unilaterally execute transactions on the wallet or unilaterally block transactions on the wallet. See Custody Models for full details.
Non-custodial	A wallet configuration where your company cannot unilaterally move or block funds. Users control their own signers. See Custody Models.
Wallet locator	A human-readable identifier for a wallet, following the format email:[e-mail]:evm or userId:abc123:solana. Used in API calls instead of raw wallet addresses.
Signer locator	A human-readable identifier for a signer, such as external-wallet:0x1234... or email:[e-mail]. Used when registering or referencing signers in API calls.
Secure enclave	The secure storage built into a user’s phone, computer, or browser — such as the iOS Secure Enclave, Android Keystore, or the browser’s built-in credential store. Cryptographic keys generated inside a secure enclave are non-extractable and never leave the device. Crossmint uses device secure enclaves to back device key signers.
TEE (Trusted Execution Environment)	A hardware-attested secure enclave (e.g., Intel TDX) where sensitive cryptographic operations occur. Crossmint uses TEEs for email and SMS recovery signers — master secrets are derived inside the TEE and never exposed to Crossmint or the host application.
Onchain	Deployed to or enforced by the blockchain. In Crossmint wallets, signer permissions and wallet logic are onchain and publicly auditable.