You may encounter the term “whitelist” in a variety of contexts. Check out the explanation below to understand what it means in the crypto space!
What Is A Whitelist?
When someone in the crypto community uses the word “whitelist”, they usually mean the list of people approved to attend a particular event, like an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) or an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO).
However, the whitelist definition may also refer to withdrawal addresses. In this context, it describes a list of cryptocurrency addresses that are considered trustworthy.
What You Need To Know About Whitelists
Let’s take a look at the purpose of whitelists using ICOs as an example. The main reason for hosting such events is to raise capital for an emerging asset. To pick out the investors willing to participate in the public sale of their tokens, crypto project owners often launch a whitelisting phase.
Before being put on the whitelist, the investors are asked to provide their personal details through a KYC process. This way, the organizers can verify their identities and compliance with the token sale terms.
Projects often have a set of criteria in place, which the investors have to fulfill to be put on a whitelist and participate in the ICO. The required qualifications may include being ready to invest a specific amount of funds, possessing an account in good standing, or having a referral code or invitation.
If the set criteria are met and a user ends up on a whitelist, they get access to special prices and possibly higher allocations. Thus, the whitelisting procedure can be compared to pre-registering for a product launch where consumers get access to beneficial early bird offers.
As for the withdrawal address whitelist, it is a security feature that allows users to withdraw funds from an exchange exclusively to verified addresses. This mechanism helps crypto holders to keep their assets protected from cyber attacks.