Definition
Real-World Assets (RWA)
Physical or off-chain assets represented as tokens on a blockchain. Dan argues this is the obvious first step — the interesting question is what becomes an asset that wasn't one before.
From the episode “The Real IP Is How You Think”Hear it on the podcast1 episode
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Related terms in Finance & Markets
Provisional Patent ApplicationA low-cost, informal filing at the USPTO that establishes a priority date without requiring formal claims, patent figures, or legal formatting. Filing fee as low as $65 for micro-entities (individual inventors meeting USPTO criteria). Grants 12 months of patent-pending status during which the inventor can disclose the idea, fundraise, and build without losing patent rights. Must be converted to a full non-provisional application within 12 months to mature into a granted patent. Ophir cites provisionals as the most criminally underused tool in the founder's legal stack: only ~170,000 filed per year in the US versus ~700,000 non-provisional applications, despite the expected ratio being the inverse.Purchase Order (PO)A formal document issued by a buyer to a vendor authorizing a specific purchase at agreed terms. The PO creates a contractual obligation and is used to validate incoming invoices.Quote-to-cashThe full business process from quoting a client to receiving payment.Rare earthsA group of 17 elements essential for magnets in EVs, drones, and weapons systems; China controls roughly 91% of separation and refining.Regulatory captureShaping regulation so it protects incumbents from competitors, a tactic Eric says is genuinely in play in AI policy.ReinsuranceInsurance for insurers. Reinsurers backstop the capacity that lets an MGA write meaningful limits.ReshoringMoving manufacturing back to the home country from overseas.Rev RecRevenue recognition — the accounting process of formally recording when and how revenue is counted on the books, which becomes significantly more complex with usage-based or incremental billing models. Mitchell Jones flags rev rec as a structural challenge for agentic payment infrastructure: when revenue is generated in micro-increments across thousands of agent calls per hour, the accounting system must decide how to aggregate, batch, and recognize those transactions in a way that satisfies audit standards. The mismatch between real-time usage events and traditional billing cycles is one of the underappreciated infrastructure problems in the agentic economy.