Founder's Glossary
The terms you meet when forming a company, getting licensed, or issuing a token - defined the way founders actually use them, with costs, timelines, and jurisdiction specifics.
Company Formation
UBO
A UBO (Ultimate Beneficial Owner) is the natural person who ultimately owns or controls a company - typically anyone holding 25% or more of shares or voting rights, directly or through other entities. Every incorporation and bank account application requires identifying and verifying the UBOs.
KYC
KYC (Know Your Customer) is the identity-verification process that registered agents, banks, and regulators run on a company's directors, shareholders, and UBOs before providing services. For company formation it typically means certified passport copies, proof of address, and source-of-funds documentation for each key person.
Nominee director
A nominee director is a professional appointed to a company's board in place of the beneficial owner, usually to satisfy local-director requirements or keep the owner's name off public registers. The nominee acts on the owner's instructions under a service agreement, while control and economic benefit stay with the owner.
Registered agent
A registered agent is the licensed local representative every company must maintain in its jurisdiction of incorporation. The agent receives official mail and legal service, files statutory documents, and - in offshore centres like BVI or Panama - is the gatekeeper who runs KYC and maintains company registers.
Apostille
An apostille is an official certificate that authenticates a public document for use in another country under the 1961 Hague Convention. For company documents - certificates of incorporation, good standing, powers of attorney - an apostille is what makes them acceptable to foreign banks, registries, and notaries.
Economic substance
Economic substance rules require companies in zero- or low-tax jurisdictions - BVI, Cayman, Bermuda, and others - to demonstrate real local activity: adequate people, premises, expenditure, and local management, proportionate to the income they book there. Introduced from 2019 under EU and OECD pressure, they apply to specific 'relevant activities'.
Holding company
A holding company is an entity created to own assets - shares in operating companies, IP, real estate - rather than trade. Founders use holdings to separate risk from assets, optimise dividend and exit taxation, pool multiple ventures under one cap table, and give investors a clean single entry point.
Offshore company
An offshore company is an entity incorporated outside its owners' home country, typically in a jurisdiction with zero or low corporate tax, minimal reporting, and strong corporate privacy - BVI, Cayman, Panama, Seychelles. Used legitimately for international structuring, asset holding, and industries whose licenses live offshore.
Good standing
A certificate of good standing is an official document from a company registry confirming that a company exists, has paid its fees, and has filed what the law requires. Banks, payment processors, and counterparties request it - usually issued within days and expected to be less than 3–6 months old.
EIN
An EIN (Employer Identification Number) is the nine-digit federal tax ID the IRS assigns to a US company. Every Delaware C-Corp needs one to open a bank account, hire, file taxes, and use payment processors like Stripe. Foreign founders without an SSN can get one - but only through slower channels.
Crypto & Licensing
VASP
A VASP (Virtual Asset Service Provider) is any business that exchanges, transfers, or safekeeps crypto assets for customers - the FATF term that most licensing regimes are built on. If you touch customer crypto (exchange, custody, brokerage, some wallet models), you likely need a VASP registration or license somewhere.
CASP
A CASP (Crypto-Asset Service Provider) is a company authorised under the EU's MiCA regulation to provide crypto services - exchange, custody, trading platforms, advice - across all 27 EU member states with a single license. The CASP authorisation replaced national VASP registrations across the EU.
MiCA
MiCA (Markets in Crypto-Assets) is the EU regulation creating a single rulebook for crypto: authorisation of service providers (CASPs), rules for stablecoin issuers (EMTs and ARTs), and white-paper requirements for token offerings. Fully applicable since the end of 2024, it replaced the patchwork of national regimes.
SAFT
A SAFT (Simple Agreement for Future Tokens) is an investment contract in which investors fund a crypto project today in exchange for tokens delivered later - typically at network launch, at a discount to the public price. Modelled on the SAFE, it is the standard instrument for private token rounds.
Token issuance
Token issuance is the legal and technical process of creating and distributing a crypto token - choosing the issuing entity and jurisdiction, classifying the token, papering the sale, and executing the generation event. The structure behind the token determines its regulatory exposure, banking, and exchange-listing prospects.
Utility vs security token
A utility token gives access to a product, network, or service; a security token represents an investment - profit rights, equity-like claims, or reliance on a team's efforts for returns. The classification decides which laws apply to your sale: consumer and MiCA rules for utility, full securities regimes for securities.
Travel rule
The travel rule requires crypto service providers to collect and transmit originator and beneficiary information alongside transfers - the FATF standard applied to crypto. In the EU it applies via the Transfer of Funds Regulation with no minimum threshold for VASP-to-VASP transfers; compliance requires dedicated messaging solutions.
FIU registration
FIU registration means registering with a country's Financial Intelligence Unit - the authority receiving suspicious-activity reports - as an obliged AML entity. For crypto companies it was the entry-level compliance status in many countries (Estonia's FIU license being the best-known), now largely superseded in the EU by MiCA authorisation.
iGaming
Curaçao license
The Curaçao gaming license is the most common entry-level license for online casinos and sportsbooks - one license covering B2C gaming globally (where not locally prohibited), obtainable in roughly 4–8 weeks. The 2024 LOK reform replaced the old master-license/sublicense system with direct licensing under the new Curaçao Gaming Authority.
MGA license
The MGA license from the Malta Gaming Authority is the leading reputable European gaming license - a B2C or B2B authorisation that unlocks EU-facing operations, tier-one payment processing, and top game providers. Expect a 3–6 month process, real capital and substance requirements, and meaningful ongoing compliance.
Anjouan license
The Anjouan gaming license, issued by the autonomous island of Anjouan (Comoros), is the fastest and cheapest recognised route to launching an online casino or sportsbook - typically 2–5 weeks and a fraction of Curaçao's post-reform cost. It has become the default startup license as Curaçao's regime tightened.
White label
White label gaming means launching a casino or sportsbook on a provider's existing license, platform, and payment infrastructure - you bring the brand and marketing, they bring everything regulated. Live in weeks with minimal upfront cost, traded against revenue share, limited control, and no ownership of the license.
B2B vs B2C license
A B2C gaming license authorises operating games for players - casinos and sportsbooks facing the public. A B2B license authorises supplying the industry: platforms, game studios, aggregators. The split matters because obligations, costs, and market access differ sharply, and modern regimes license the two separately.
License costs
Online gaming license costs range from low five figures (Anjouan) through tens of thousands (Curaçao post-reform) to €200,000+ first-year all-in for an MGA setup - and the license fee itself is usually the smallest line. Company formation, substance, platform certification, and ongoing compliance drive the real budget.