Canonical ID
A canonical ID is a single, standardized identifier that uniquely represents an asset across all exchanges and data sources. It solves the problem of different platforms using different symbols for the same asset.
Understanding the Concept
The crypto industry has a symbol chaos problem. Bitcoin trades as BTC on most exchanges, but some use XBT. Ethereum might be ETH, XETH, or ETH2 depending on where you look. Wrapped tokens and forks make it worse.
A canonical ID cuts through this mess. Instead of tracking BTCUSDT on Binance, BTC-USDT on Coinbase, and XBT/USDT on Kraken separately, you get one ID that maps to all of them.
This isn't just convenient—it's essential for building reliable trading systems. Without canonical IDs, you'd need custom logic for every exchange, every symbol variation, every rebrand. That's a maintenance nightmare.
Real-World Example
You're building a portfolio tracker that pulls data from 5 exchanges. Without canonical IDs, you'd need to manually map BTC (Binance) = XBT (Kraken) = BTC (Coinbase) = XXBTZUSD (Kraken spot). With PRISM's canonical ID "bitcoin", one query returns unified data from all sources.
How PRISM Handles This
PRISM assigns every asset a human-readable canonical ID like "bitcoin" or "ethereum". Our asset resolution endpoint maps any symbol from any exchange back to this canonical ID. You send "BTCUSDT" or "XBT/USD"—we return "bitcoin". Simple.
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