NOANE Glossary.

Definitions

Terms and meanings.

Authentication

Verification of what an asset is or whether it appears genuine. See Authentication vs Ownership.

Tracking

Observation of where an asset is or where it has moved.

Custody

The active control state that determines who holds an asset and who can transfer it.

Ownership

The state produced by verified custody and recorded as the current owner or authorized holder.

Cryptographic custody

A custody model where control and transfer are verified using cryptographic proofs instead of paperwork or human attestation. See Protocol Security.

Agentic commerce

Commerce in which AI agents can browse, negotiate, initiate, or execute transactions on behalf of people, companies, or systems. See Agentic Commerce and Physical Goods.

Physical-device authentication

A verification signal produced by a chip, device, or hardware credential associated with a physical asset.

Dual-key transfer

A transfer flow requiring both asset-side proof and owner-side authorization before the custody or ownership record advances. See Ownership-State Advancement.

Ownership-state advancement

The progression of a custody or ownership record from one authorized state to another after required verification conditions are met.

Tamper-evident ownership record

A record designed to make unauthorized changes detectable through cryptographic or ledger-based verification.

NFC

Near-field communication, a short-range wireless technology often used to read data from physical tags or chips.

RFID

Radio-frequency identification, a wireless identification technology used to identify and track physical objects.

Secure chip

A hardware component designed to protect credentials, keys, or authentication signals from ordinary extraction or tampering.

Digital Product Passport

A digital record of product attributes, lifecycle data, materials, compliance information, or sustainability data. See Digital Product Passports.

Chain of custody

The sequence of custody events that shows how control of an asset moved from one party to another.

Verified transfer

A transfer that satisfies the required proof conditions before the custody or ownership record advances.

Ownership credential

A credential used to authorize or verify control associated with a custody or ownership record.

Distributed ledger

A shared record system where transactions or state changes are recorded across distributed infrastructure.

Custodian key

A key or credential associated with the party authorized to control or transfer an asset.

Asset key

A key or credential associated with the physical asset or the device attached to it.

Physical-goods assurance layer

The verification layer that determines whether a custody or ownership change for a physical asset should be allowed to advance, distinct from tracking layers that only record events. See Supply Chain Assurance.

Object-bound verification

Authentication that requires a cryptographic response from the genuine physical object or its secure element, not just a lookup against a printed label, scanned identifier, or database record.

Supply-chain assurance

The discipline of verifying that custody or ownership state should be permitted to advance across supply-chain participants, as opposed to tracking, which records observed events after they occur.

Anti-counterfeit ownership infrastructure

Infrastructure that combines object-bound verification, authorized key possession, and a tamper-evident ownership record so substituted or cloned items cannot complete a valid transfer. See Anti-Counterfeit Ownership Infrastructure.