On-Ramp Terms: A Working Glossary

Terms used in fiat to crypto services, defined as providers actually use them.

On-ramp. A service converting ordinary money into crypto. The term covers both consumer apps and business gateways.

Spread. The difference between the price a provider sources at and the price it quotes you. Embedded in the rate rather than shown as a fee, and typically the largest single cost.

All-in cost. How much fiat leaves your account against how much crypto arrives at an address you control, expressed as a percentage against the market rate. The only directly comparable figure between providers.

Cut-off time. The hour after which a payment instruction is processed on the next business day. Every institution has one, typically mid-afternoon, and it is rarely published prominently.

Tier. A verification level gating transaction limits. Commonly: email only, identity verified, address verified, source of funds verified.

Source of funds. Documentary evidence of where money originated. A statement showing a balance does not satisfy it; a statement showing money arriving from an identifiable payer does.

Source of wealth. Distinct from source of funds. Evidence of how overall wealth was accumulated, requested at higher thresholds and for enhanced review.

Cumulative limit. A ceiling applied to totals over a period rather than to individual transactions. The most common cause of an unexpected hold.

Rolling limit. A limit calculated over a trailing period rather than resetting on a calendar date.

Beneficial owner. A natural person ultimately owning or controlling an entity, commonly above a twenty-five percent threshold. Establishing this is the bulk of corporate onboarding.

Third party payment. A payment from an account whose holder differs from the verified account holder. Routinely rejected, and the most common reason a first corporate transfer fails.

Open banking payment. A payment initiated directly from your bank account through an authorised provider. Settles at card speed at transfer cost, where supported.

Cash advance. A classification some card issuers apply to crypto purchases, attracting a separate fee and immediate interest with no grace period. Charged by your own bank and invisible to the provider.

Network fee. The cost of recording a transaction on a blockchain. Distinct from a provider’s withdrawal fee, which may be a flat charge set well above it.

Allowlist. A list of pre-registered withdrawal destinations. Adding one typically requires approval and a delay before use.

Where these terms appear

Most of them appear together on a provider’s own pricing and limits pages, which is the fastest way to see how a particular firm uses them. A regulated fiat to crypto gateway publishes the spread, the tier ceilings and the settlement terms in one place, which makes the vocabulary concrete rather than abstract.

For the corporate equivalents, the same terms appear in an onboarding pack. A provider supporting corporate accounts will state the document list and the resulting limits before an application begins.

The one term worth checking on a public register rather than on any provider’s site is the authorisation itself, which is verifiable in five minutes and determines what happens to a balance if the provider fails.