# Glossary

> The terms used across Deference, in one place.

| Term             | Meaning                                                                                                                                                   |
| ---------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Activation       | Burning INFERENCE to add service credit after the activation fee                                                                                          |
| API key          | A secret that starts with `sk-df-` and authenticates requests                                                                                             |
| Available credit | Your credit minus what running requests hold                                                                                                              |
| Claim            | Receiving reward INFERENCE, in your wallet or as credit                                                                                                   |
| Credit           | The dollar balance on your account that pays for requests. It cannot be sent or withdrawn                                                                 |
| Launch token     | DEFERENCE, whose trading fees fund INFERENCE for eligible holders                                                                                         |
| Free credit      | A balance you get from the Setup checklist on Home. It pays for open-weight text models, expires, and is spent first                                      |
| Hold             | Credit set aside while a request runs. It is released when the request is charged. A non-streamed timeout keeps it until the cost is reviewed             |
| INFERENCE        | The ERC-20 on Ethereum that you buy with USDC and turn into credit. The sale sends its fee to the treasury and the rest of the USDC to the funding wallet |
| Model id         | The `author/name` string that picks a model, such as `anthropic/claude-sonnet-5.5`                                                                        |
| Payout           | One flush of the DEF pool's fees: the USDC it sent the treasury and the INFERENCE it bought or minted for holders                                         |
| Funding wallet   | The sale's destination for purchase funds; Stats shows its observed USDC balance                                                                          |
| USDC             | The dollar stablecoin you pay with on Ethereum                                                                                                            |