Crypto Glossary
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- 2FA
The Two-Factor Authentication is an extra layer of protection used to ensure the security of online accounts beyond just a…
- 51% attack
An attack on a cryptocurrency blockchain by a group of miners who control more than 50% of the network's mining…
A
- Airdrop
A promotional activity that distributes free crypto tokens
- Altcoin
Altcoins are all alternative cryptocurrencies to Bitcoin.
- AML
Anti-Money Laundering
- AMM
Automated Market Maker
- APR
Annual Percentage Rate
- APY
Annual Percentage Yield
- AR
Augmented Reality
- ATH
Аll-time high
- ATL
All-time Low
- AUM
Assets under management
B
- BaaS
Blockchain-as-a-Service
- Bear Market
A market phase in which prices are falling
- BIP
Bitcoin Improvement Proposal
- Block Time
The average time required for mining a new block on the blockchain
- Blockchain
In its simplest form, blockchain is literally a chain of blocks, but not in the traditional sense. Blocks in this…
- Blockchain Trilemma
It refers to the idea that it's hard for blockchains to achieve optimal levels of all three blockchain properties simultaneously…
- Bull Market
A market phase in which prices are rising
C
- Call option
Financial contracts that give the option buyer the right but not the obligation to buy a cryptocurrency (or other assets)…
- CBDC
Central bank digital currency
- CEX
Centralized Exchange
- CFTC
Commodity Futures Trading Commission
- Cold Storage
Offline storage of cryptocurrency
- Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is a new form of digital assets and medium of exchange that is based on blockchain technology and is…
- Cryptojacking
A cybercrime where bad actors hijack someone else’s computing resources to mine crypto
D
- DAO
Decentralized Autonomous Organization
- dAPI
Decentralized API (application programming interface)
- dApp
Decentralized Application
- DeFi
Decentralized Finance, a collective term for all finance-based dApps created on public blockchains.
- DEX
Decentralized Exchange
- Digital currency
A term for any money that exists purely in digital form and is sent electronically over the internet.
- DLT
Distributed Ledger Technology
- DoS Attack
Denial of Service is an attack meant to shut down a machine or network, making it inaccessible to its intended…
- Double Spend Attack
This happens when the same unit of a digital currency is fraudulently spent more than once.
E
- EIP
Ethereum Improvement Proposal
- EMA
Exponential Moving Average
- ETF
Exchange-traded Fund
- EVM
Ethereum Virtual Machine - a software that executes smart contracts and computes the state of the Ethereum network after each…
- Exit Scam
A trick where an established (usually illegal) project stops working while continuing to receive payments because of its previously good…
F
- Fiat
Government-issued currency such as the US dollar, euro, etc.
- Fibonacci retracement
Trend lines drawn between two significant points, usually between absolute lows and absolute highs, plotted on a char and are…
- Flash Loan Attack
A flash loan attack is an exploitation of a platform's smart contract security in which an attacker borrows large sums…
- Flippening
A hypothetical moment of Ethereum (ETH) overtaking Bitcoin (BTC) as the biggest cryptocurrency.
- FOMO
Fear of missing out
- Fork
A radical change to a network's protocol that makes previously invalid blocks and transactions valid, or vice-versa.
- FUD
Fear Uncertainty Doubt
- Futures
A type of derivative contract agreement to buy or sell a specific asset at a set future date for a…
G
- Gas
A gas fee is a blockchain transaction fee, paid (in ETH) to network validators for their services to the blockchain.
- Genesis Block
The name which is given to the very first block a cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, ever mined.
- Governance Token
A type of cryptocurrency that allows token holders to vote on the direction of a blockchain project.
- Gwei
H
- Halving
An event in which the mining reward on the Bitcoin network is halved every 210,000 blocks or roughly 4 years.
- Hashrate
A measure of the computational power of a blockchain network that is determined by how many guesses are made per…
- HODL
“Hold on to dear life” is a crypto slang term meaning to buy-and-hold indefinitely.
- Hot Storage
Online storage of cryptocurrency
I
K
- KYC
Know Your Customer - a mandatory process of identifying and verifying the client's identity.
L
- L2
A collective term to describe a specific set of Ethereum scaling solutions. A layer 2 protocol is a separate blockchain…
- Leverage
The use of debt (borrowed capital) in order to undertake an investment or project in order to multiply the potential…
- Liquidity
The ease with which a digital currency or token can be converted to another digital asset or cash without impacting…
- Long Position
A long position is one that bets on the price of an asset going up.
M
- MA
Moving Average
- MACD
Moving average convergence/divergence
- Market Cap
The total value of a project, company or other entity. For crypto, market cap is calculated by taking the current…
- Market Maker
Those who provide two-sided markets.
- Market Taker
Takers are those trading the prices set by market makers.
- Mining rig
A computer that is customized for cryptocurrency mining.
N
O
- Off-chain
Transactions occurring on a cryptocurrency network that move the value outside of the blockchain.
- On-chain
Transactions that are recorded and verified on the blockchain.
- On-ramp
An on-ramp is any platform that facilitates users to acquire crypto assets or enter their markets.
- Optimistim Rollup
An optimistic rollup is an approach to scaling Ethereum that involves moving computation and state storage off-chain.
- OTC
Over-the-counter is trading assets through a broker instead of a centralized exchange.
P
- P2E
Play to Earn
- P2P
Peer-to-Peer
- Phishing
A scam that attempts to lure you into giving up your username, password, or other sensitive information by masquerading as…
- Private Key
A code that proves a person’s ownership of a crypto wallet and allows the person to access the funds inside.
- Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
The Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus algorithm was created as an alternative to Proof-of-Work to address its inherent problems. The purpose of…
- Proof-of-Work (PoW)
Proof-of-Work (PoW) describes a system that requires significant effort in an attempt to prevent frivolous and malicious abuses of computing…
- Public Key
A code used to create an address so a crypto wallet can receive transactions.
- Public Ledger
A transparent, distributed digital record of transactions that can be downloaded by anyone around the world.
- Pump and dump
A scheme in which fraudsters typically spread false or misleading information to create a buying frenzy that will “pump” up…
R
- Ransomware
A type of malware which prevents you from accessing your device and the data stored on it, usually by encrypting…
- ROI
Return on Investment
- RSI
Relative Strenght Index
S
- Sats
Satoshis a denomination of BTC (1 sat = 0.00000001 BTC)
- Security token
A token that represents rights of ownership, transfer of value, or promise of returns that are tokenized on a blockchain.
- Self Custody
It signifies that only you have possession of your digital money or other digital assets because you control the private…
- Sharding
Splitting and distributing one logical data set across multiple databases that share nothing and can be deployed across multiple servers.
- Shilling
Convincing other people to buy something.
- Short Position
A short position is one that bets on the price of an asset going down.
- Short squeeze
When a cryptocurrency (or any other asset) moves higher and short sellers decide to cover their short positions or are…
- Sidechain
Separate blockchain that runs independently of Ethereum and is connected to the Ethereum Mainnet by a two-way bridge.
- Sideways trading
This occurs when the price of a security trades within a fairly stable range without forming any distinct trends over…
- SMA
Simple Moving Average
- Smart contracts
A smart contract is a computer protocol that allows the function of a simple contract to be digitally secured, verified,…
- SPAC
Special Purpose Acquisition Company
- Staking
Staking is the process of actively participating in the validation of transactions (similar to mining) on a PoS-based blockchain. In…
- STO
Security Token Offering
T
- TVL
Total Value Locked
U
- Utility token
A cryptocurrency on a smart contract blockchain that serves a specific function in a crypto project's ecosystem.
- UTXO
Unspent transaction output is the amount of digital currency someone has left remaining after executing a transaction.
V
- Volatility
A term used to describe how much the price of a crypto token deviates from the average over a given…
W
- Wallet
Hardware or software that stores a user’s private and public key pair and interfaces with a blockchain network.
- Wash trade
An illegal activity in which a single trader buys and sells the same security in order to generate misleading market…
- Web3
An idea for a new iteration of the World Wide Web which incorporates concepts such as decentralization, blockchain technologies, and…
- wei
The smallest denomination of ETH (1 ETH = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 wei)
- Whale
Investors who hold large amounts of specific cryptocurrencies.
Y
- Yield farming
The act of lending or staking your cryptocurrency into a liquidity pool, through DeFi (Decentralized Finance) to receive rewards such…
- YTD
Year-to-Date