Crypto Glossary

This is your go-to zone for all crypto jargons. Find out the meanings of different words in Web 3, Blockchain, Cryptocurrency investing and more!

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Whenever a single miner or a group of miners have access to the majority of the mining power of the hash power of a blockchain, it allows them to get control over the entire network.

A

A set of a unique string of characters representing the crypto wallet where the assets can be sent to or received from is called the crypto address. 

Airdrop in crypto refers to a marketing activity undertaken by the project creators which involves sending tokens or NFTs to numerous wallet addresses to create awareness around the new token or NFT.

The highest price achieved by an asset since its inception is called the all-time high of the asset. All-time high price of an asset can also be seen as the highest price paid by a trader for the asset regardless of the quantity of the asset they bought.

There are more than ten thousand crypto assets floating in the crypto market at present. All the other crypto assets apart from Bitcoin are known as altcoins. Bitcoin was one of the first attempts to create a decentralized digital currency.

The yearly interest generated on a sum that is paid to investors or borrowers is called the Annual Percentage Rate (APR). 

Annual Percentage Yield (APY) refers to the returns compounded per year in percentage figures. Just as traditional assets have an annual percentage rate (APR), APY is a more common terminology in crypto.

The code allowing two applications to share information is called an application programming interface (API). Various multimillion giants like Amazon, Facebook, and others have their established APIs.

Smart contract systems allow users to swap their crypto assets known as atomic swaps. Assets present on two different blockchains can interchange without the requirement of a third party with the help of these smart contracts

In layman’s terms, an automated market maker (AMM) is a type of decentralized exchange (DEX) wherein the fundamental difference lies in the use of mathematical formulas by the automated market makers (AMM) to calculate the rate as compared to the order books on traditional crypto exchanges.

B

Every crypto enthusiast has come across the fact that Ethereum is transitioning from its proof of work consensus mechanism to proof of stake. 

BEP-2 stands for Binance Chain Evolution Proposal 2. It is a technical standard used for the creation and usage of new tokens on the Binance Chain. 

Smart contracts on every blockchain platform have their own set of rules to be followed. Just as Ethereum has its own set of standards called ERC-20, which must be followed by every Ethereum token

Binance Labs is an investment project for crypto projects aiding in the development and growth of blockchain technology.

Binance is one of the world’s leading and largest crypto exchanges. It is known for providing some of the highest liquidity and lowest transaction fees among the other leading crypto exchanges.

The software that allows the users to interact and connect with the Bitcoin network is called Bitcoin Core. The founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, founded Bitcoin Core in 2009.

Bitcoin dominance or BTC dominance refers to the ratio of the market cap of Bitcoin to the remaining crypto assets in the crypto space.

Anyone who ideologically supports the concept of Bitcoin and believes that the project shall be a success is called a Bitcoiner.

Bitcointalk is a popular online forum created in 2011 for several Bitcoin enthusiasts to discuss the evolving technology. Bitcointalk has served an important role throughout the early adoption of bitcoin.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb, a risk manager, and a financial analyst coined the expression “Black Swan event”, which is basically an event that is unpredictable since it has not taken place in the past.

The details of a block on a blockchain can be viewed using an application called a block explorer. It directly connects the desired blockchain to the user to view and verify individual blocks.

A financial amount won by a crypto miner during the addition of a block of transactions to a blockchain network is referred to as a block reward. 

A type of distributed ledger used for storing information and data electronically or digitally within a computer network is called a blockchain.

BNB

The utility token launched by the centralized exchange Binance in 2017 is called the Binance Coin or BNB. This token is predominantly used for paying the trading fees charged by the platform.

The relationship between the supply of an asset with its price can be expressed with the help of a mathematical concept known as the Bonding Curve.

Break-even point is a financial term used to express a condition where the total revenue generated is equal to the total cost. 

Crypto bubbles indicate the rise in prices of a cryptocurrency over time without any fundamental reason. 

BUIDL is a crypto slang like DYOR or HODL and is a misspelling for the word “build”. 

A Bull trap is the phenomenon when the price of the coin starts to move high but suddenly declines and reverses. 

Wondering what is meant by burning in crypto space? Burning in the crypto industry is the process by which users remove the tokens from circulation thereby reducing the total number of coins being used.

Buy the f******* dip or BTFD is a crypto slang that suggests the investor purchase a particular crypto asset when the price of the asset sees a sharp fall or there is a dip in price.

Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) refers to the capability of a distributed network to operate and attain a neutral agreement (consensus), considering that a few participants might act maliciously or fail.

C

Candlestick chart refers to a type of crypto candle chart pattern representing positive and negative price changes. 

Loss of faith in a particular crypto asset is called capitulation where the investors give away their positions in the market which leads to an enormous sell order.

The central bank digital currency (CBDC) is like a digital version of the government-backed fiat currency. Such a currency is often introduced by the central bank of a nation.

CPU or the Central Processing Unit is the brain of the computer which performs several processing and computational functions for the device. CPUs are vital for the functioning of computers.

The private corporations that facilitate the trading of crypto assets are called centralized crypto exchanges (CEX). 

Circulating supply of a crypto asset represents the approximate number of tokens circulating in the open market. 

If you are into crypto assets you must have come across crypto coins and crypto tokens. However, what is a coin? and how is it different from a crypto token? 

The underlying concept on which the blockchain protocol operates is known as the consensus mechanism or the consensus protocol of the network. 

Whenever a contractor receives a contract, a separate account is created to bring together every cost related to a particular contract. 

A market correction is basically referred to as that time in the market where the asset takes a quick dip in its price by at least 10% from its recent high. 

Cross-chain in cryptocurrency is referred to the interoperability between independent blockchain networks. 

Cryptocurrency or crypto asset has the same definition in terms of finance. A crypto asset is a part of the digital assets or currencies that are intangible e-money.

D

Have you ever come across a crypto asset whose price came down abruptly? The fall in price is sharp and a sustainable decline was observed. In the crypto space, this is known as dead cat bounce.

Decentralized applications (dApps) are applications running on distributed networks such as a blockchain-like system. 

The decentralization of the existing traditional financial model is referred to as decentralized finance (DeFi). This decentralization is achieved with the help of blockchain technology.

The blockchain based social media platforms that use blockchain technology to power themselves are called decentralized social media.

The popular consensus mechanism of proof-of-stake evolved into delegated proof of stake (DPoS). 

There are two types of crypto exchanges that help investors invest money in crypto assets, namely centralized crypto exchange and decentralized crypto exchange.

Dip

A sudden decline in the price of a crypto asset is referred to as the dip suffered by that asset. Dips on price charts can be visually identified as a sharp V or a valley.

A distributed network constitutes two or more computers connected together, sharing data and resources as well as facilitating communication among them. 

If you have ever watched a crypto-related video or read a few articles you most likely have come across the phrase “Do Your Own Research” or DYOR.

E

An economics concept in which one party has a direct advantage in efficiency in producing/providing a specific good or service over another party.

ERC-20 is an Ethereum standard set that must be followed by every token being built on the Ethereum network. 

Similar to ERC-20, ERC-721 (Ethereum Request for Comments 721) is another Ethereum standard used for representing the ownership of Non-Fungible 

Blockchain technology is in its evolving stage. If you are a blockchain developer, you’ve most likely come across the term “Ethereum Virtual Machine” in the blockchain space.

F

Fakeout is also known as fake breakout, which misleads the investors and can even result in huge losses. 

Fiat money or fiat currency is referred to as the legal tender issued by the various central governments within their jurisdiction. It is backed by a physical commodity like gold and silver.

A theoretical event where Bitcoin is supposed to lose its dominance over the crypto market is known as flippening. 

Whenever a leverage position of a trader is forcefully closed by an exchange due to partial or complete loss in the initial margin of the trader, it is known as forced liquidation. 

The property of fungibility is refered to the ability of getting replaced by an identical asset. It is the ability of the asset to maintain its standard value.

G

Gas

The fees paid on the Ethereum network to use the computational power of the platform are known as gas fees. 

If you are into the crypto space, either as a developer or an investor, you must have come across the term “Genesis Block”. 

A gold-backed cryptocurrency is a token whose value is pegged to the value of gold. In simple terms, these tokens are backed by actual physical gold and derive their value from gold.

A Golden Cross is a technical indicator visible when the 200-day moving average is eclipsed by the 50-day moving average for a particular asset.

A governance token is referred to as that token on the blockchain network that provides its holders with the right to participate in various voting decisions that have the potential to influence the ecosystem.

The transaction fees on the Ethereum network are denoted using Gwei. The value of one Gwei is equivalent to 0.000000001 ETH. Gwei is the short form for the term gigaWei. 

H

A popular interent meme that surfaced in the 2020 which depicts an young man yelling at an elderly person from the Federal Reserve to print money in order to fight the economic downturn seen during the covid crisis.

An investing strategy employed by fund managers aiming to outperform an index or market in order to generate profits.

The maximum supply limit imposed on a crypto asset is known as its hard cap. Bitcoin has a hard cap of 21 million coins. 

The exchange rate policy where a fixed rate of one currency is set against another is known as the hard peg. 

If you are deep into crypto you must have stumbled upon the word hash, hash rate, or hash power. But what is the meaning of hash in blockchain? And how is it useful for any transaction conducted on a blockchain?

The unit of measurement of the computing power of a blockchain network is known as its hash power or hash rate. 

HODL was derived when a drunk crypto investor misspelled the word “hold.” It’s a common crypto slang that means to hold onto crypto assets even when the market is volatile and going down.

Honeyminer is a crypto asset mining app that can be used on several devices. It utilizes a GPU as well as a CPU to mine profitable crypto assets. This app has the capability to switch from one coin to another within ten-minute intervals.

I

The core of blockchain technology is defined by its immutable nature. The term immutable is defined as something that cannot be modified or changed once created.

The temporary loss of funds experienced by the liquidity providers occasionally due to the volatility of the market is known as impermanent loss. 

Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is a type of crowd sale or crowdfunding using crypto assets to raise capital to launch crypto projects. 

An initial DEX offering (IDO) is a new way of raising funds in the crypto space. It is a decentralized as well as permissionless crowdfunding method that is illuminating new ways to conduct fundraising in the crypto sector.

A crowdfunding platform in the crypto space that allows crypto projects to raise funds directly on exchanges is referred to as an Initial Exchange Offering (IEO). 

The process of offering shares for purchase on the stock market for the very first time by an organization is known as its initial public offering (IPO). 

The process of mining a large portion of the total mineable tokens or coins within a short timeframe right after the launch of the crypto project is known as instamine. 

A peer-to-peer decentralized data sharing system developed in order to change the way information is distributed across the internet is called the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS).

IOU

A semi-formal document indicating a debt relationship between two parties is called an IOU. It stands for “I owe you” and might not contain detailed guidelines on the terms and conditions of the debt owed between the people.

The profit and loss of a position during a historical transaction are found with the help of an Isolated Margin position.

K

Know Your Customer (KYC)

Know your customer or KYC is a financial security protocol existing in the processes related to crypto assets. This process is used to verify the credibility of a customer and avoid any fraudulent or illegal activity.

L

Layer 2

Layer 2 is referred to as an overlying network that is built over an underlying layer 1 blockchain system. Layer 1 blockchains is the underlying blockchain infrastructure in the blockchain ecosystem.

Lightning Network

Lightning network is a collection of nodes that build the layer 2 payment channel on crypto projects like Bitcoin or Litecoin in order to make payments faster before letting them settle on the blockchain.

Liquidity

Liquidity is the measure of how easily a crypto asset can be bought and sold without impacting the price of the market. Bitcoin, the world’s largest crypto asset by market cap, is believed to be the most liquid digital asset.

Liquidity pools are collection of crypto assets present on the decentralized exchanges to facilitate trading. 

With the rise in decentralized finance or the DeFi market, the role played by liquidity providers has also started to expand. 

Liquidity Provider (LP) tokens are a novel technology used by crypto adopters to earn passive crypto earnings. Rewards are just one aspect of liquidity provider tokens. 

Listing is one of the most important steps of launching a crypto project on an exchange. 

M

Once a blockchain project is completely ready and deployed by its developers; it is called the mainnet. In layman’s terms, the mainnet in blockchain and crypto space refers to the completely developed blockchain protocol which can be utilized to send and receive crypto assets or any other type of information.

Margin Call

Taking out loans in the crypto space is gaining more popularity with time. The borrowers do not need credit checks, nothing goes down in their credit history, and neither do they have to sell the crypto.

Market Capitalization

In the crypto space, market capitalization is an important factor that determines the price action of any asset. However, what is a market cap in cryptocurrency? Market Capitalization or commonly known as market cap is the total value of the crypto asset in US dollars.

Masternode

A master node is a type of server present on the decentralized network and can be considered the warehouse of the blockchain, storing the whole of the blockchain.

Maximum Supply

The total amount of cryptocurrency that shall ever be in circulation is known as the Maximum Supply. The max supply of Bitcoin is programmed to be 21 million and its supply is hard capped at this number.

Megahashes Per Second

In simple words, a megahash is the unit of measurement of the hash power or the computational speed of the crypto miner. The number of megahashes that can be processed per second is called megahash per second (MH/s).

Mempool

When a node collects all the unconfirmed transactions that it has seen, it is called a mempool. Mempools are basically waiting rooms for all the transactions that are yet to be included in the block.

Merged Mining

The protocol that lets two different blockchains share the same consensus mechanism as well as hash functions to mine together, is called merged mining.

Merkle Tree

Merkel Tree is a tree data structure in cryptography where every leaf node is labeled with the data block’s hash and every non-leaf node is labeled with its child node’s hash. 

MetaMask

MetaMask is a crypto wallet allowing users to store and access their crypto assets without depending on a centralized party or centralized exchange. 

Mining

The process of creating individual blocks and adding them to a blockchain running on the proof of work consensus mechanism is called crypto mining. 

Mining Farm

Mining is one of the most common ways to accumulate crypto assets. A mining farm comprises a group of miners mining together for various reasons such as energy use. A mining farm is a dedicated warehouse or a room for mining crypto assets.

Minting

The process of generating new tokens by authenticating data, recording information, and creating new blocks on the blockchain with the help of proof of stake consensus mechanism is called token minting in the crypto space

Mnemonic Phrase

Mnemonic phrases play an important role in securing the crypto assets of users kept in crypto wallets. Mnemonic phrases, also known as seed phrases or mnemonic words or seeds, are a group of words generated during the creation of a new crypto wallet.

Multi-Coin Wallet

As the name suggests, a multicoin wallet is a crypto wallet that supports more than one crypto asset. A multicoin wallets makes it easier for an investor to trade their coins or tokens on decentralized exchanges since all the tokens are present in one wallet.

N

Non-fungible Token (NFT)

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital asset that represents real-world objects such as music, art, in-game items, etc., that can be bought and sold online with the use of a crypto asset.

Nonce in blockchain terminology stands for “Number used only once”. It is a four-bit number that gets added to encrypted or hashed data in a blockchain, which, when rehashed, reaches the difficulty restriction levels.

O

Coupled pairs of orders called “One Cancels the Other Orders” or OCOs are placed on crypto assets that self-execute once the conditions are fulfilled.

The open and close time period of a crypto asset is referred to as Open/Close- the time period at which the crypto asset opens or the time period at which it closes, say, the end of the day.

OpenSea is the world’s largest decentralized non-fungible marketplace where users can easily buy, sell and trade non-fungible tokens or NFTs. 

Order book in the crypto space is an electronic or digital list containing buy and sell orders for a particular security or financial instrument organized according to their price levels.

P

A paper wallet is a physical piece of paper that contains public keys well as private keys. 

A physical token having an intricate design along with a public and a private key is known as a physical Bitcoin. Since the inception of crypto assets, the idea to create a physical form of Bitcoin has been quite prevalent.

The change in the price of the cryptocurrency within a certain time interval is referred to as price action. These actions involve the increasing and decreasing prices of the asset. 

Price impact is the difference between the estimated price and the market price of trade due to differences in trade size. 

Private key is like a password that lets the crypto traders and investors get access to their funds. 

Proof of attendance protocol (POAP) is a protocol that lets two or more parties transmit data in a secure and verifiable fashion. 

Proof of stake is a consensus mechanism used by the blockchain networks to achieve transaction confirmation. It was developed as an alternative to the proof of work used by the Bitcoin blockchain network.

Proof-of-burn is a consensus mechanism that attempts in creating a system that can prevent fraudulent transactions on the blockchain network to improve the overall efficiency and the functioning of the blockchain.

The method of incorporating time in the blockchain itself in order to reduce the load on the nodes of the network while processing the block is called Proof of History. 

R

REKT is another crypto slang that stands for wrecked. REKT’s meaning is severely destroyed or brutally damaged. The precise meaning depends highly on the context.

Rug pull is a malicious activity in the crypto industry where the developers of certain crypto projects are often seen abandoning a project and scamming the investors with their funds. 

S

Crypto assets just like traditional assets can be divided into smaller units. The smallest unit of Bitcoin, the first and the largest crypto asset by market cap is called Satoshi or SATS. 

The pseudonym for the creator or group of creators of Bitcoin is Satoshi Nakamoto. This person or group of individuals wrote the whitepaper of Bitcoin, which acts as the blueprint for the world’s largest crypto asset by market cap.

Scamcoin is a digital token created on the blockchain to take out money from the pockets of investors in a dishonest way. The primary goal of this digital token is to scam people of their money.

Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) refers to the emergency fund that is held in reserve to protect the assets of the investors on the Binance crypto exchange.

America’s Stock Market regulator formed after the 1929 crash of wall street is called the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). 

A seed phrase, often known as the recovery phrase, is a series of words generated by the crypto wallet which gives the user access to their crypto kept in that wallet.

The large blocks of sell orders at a particular price give rise to what is called a sell wall in the crypto space. 

The integrity of information is validated on Bitcoin and other crypto assets by an algorithm known as the Secure Hash Algorithm (SHA). 

A sidechain is a separate blockchain that is tied to its parent blockchain with the help of a two-way peg. Critical issues such as speed are resolved for a blockchain network using its sidechain. 

Price movements can cause the traders to settle for another price than what was initially requested by them. Such situations are called slippages. 

Smart contracts are lines of code specifying a certain set of rules or conditions that a blockchain protocol must follow. 

The minimum amount of funding required to launch a new crypto project is called the soft cap of the project. 

The changes implemented on a blockchain network to modify or add new features without causing any fundamental changes to the structure of the network are known as a soft fork. 

An account where all the stakes are gathered together is called a staking pool. Coins of several investors are collected together, allowing investors to participate in staking even with lesser amounts to spare.

A stop loss is a type of order that behaves as a limiter to loss trading due to the closure of a position when a certain required value has been reached. 

Every crypto is a store of value, while a few are better than the others depending upon their token economics. 

The equivalent of derivatives from the traditional market in the crypto space is synthetic assets. Similar to how a derivative derives its value from the underlying asset or index, synthetic assets represent some other assets using DeFi blockchain networks to establish the relationships.  

T

As the name suggests, Testnet is a separate blockchain for developers to test their new features at their own pace without hampering the actual network. 

One would often find people using two different terms in the crypto market, namely crypto tokens and coins. 

The method of exchanging one crypto asset with the other is called token swap. One token can be used to buy another token in exchange. Depending on the type of platform being used, there are different types of token swaps.

The total supply metric of a crypto asset indicates the total number of coins or tokens of the project that will ever exist. 

The total value of all the staked or locked assets in a decentralized protocol is computed with the help of a formula called the Total Value Locked or TVL. 

Whenever you make a transactions on your mobile payment applications, they generate a transaction ID. But what is a transaction ID in the crypto space? A transaction ID (TXID) is a unique code that is used to recognize a particular crypto transaction. 

The number of transactions processed by a blockchain network within a second is called Transactions Per Second (TPS). 

TRC-10 is the native token of the Tron blockchain network. This token is used for basic token production. 

Based on the implementation of smart contracts, TRC-20 is a standard for the Tron Network, similar to the ERC-20 standard for Ethereum. 

The ability of a computer to solve complex computational problems or run any algorithm, given it is provided with necessary conditions, memory, and time is called Turing Complete.

U

Unit of account is an economic term used to refer to a property that is used as a standard unit of measurement. It is a financial instrument.

Unrealized profit and loss takes place when a trader has his position open in a security that has either depreciated or appreciated in value. 

In the crypto space, Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO) is referred to an output produced during the blockchain transaction that has not yet been used as an input to the new transaction. 

Unstoppable Domains (UD) is an organization selling blockchain-based domain names. Instead of having long crypto addresses or numerous accounts, users can just have a unique domain name. 

The time on which the crypto world runs is the UTC time. Cryptocurrencies operate 24/7, unlike the traditional markets.  

V

Based on the concept of automated market makers (AMMs), virtual automated market makers are used to swap virtual, synthetic assets such as derivatives contracts. 

If you are into the crypto space, you must have heard about Ethereum or the Ether token (ETH). Vitalik Buterin, a Russian-Canadian developer was one of the co-founders of this amazing blockchain network called Ethereum.

Trading volume in cryptocurrency is the amount of activity surrounding the token or the coin. 

W

The large market players in crypto are often called crypto whales in colloquial terms. This term is derived from the analogy where the crypto market is considered an ocean and the big market players manipulating the space, whales or sharks.

Every car enthusiast knows that Lambo is shorthand for the car brand, Lamborghini- a luxurious brand of sports cars. 

A common phrase as well as a meme within the crypto community, signifying an appreciation of the value of a crypto asset, is known as When Moon. 

In the crypto industry, a whitelist is the word associated with the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) events as well as withdrawal addresses present on the exchanges.

A white paper on a crypto project acts like the backbone of the entire system where the technical details of the project are jotted down for the general public to understand in detail. 

The line of the candlestick chart indicating the price fluctuation of the asset with respect to its opening and closing prices is called a wick.    

The tokenized version of Ether is called Wrapped Ether or WETH. Ether is the native token of the Ethereum blockchain system and is the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap. 

Z

A rollup is a block that is constructed out of a set of transactions that must be valid and present in the same post state. 

Zk-SNARK stands for Zero Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge. ZK proofs allow a party called prover to prove its possession of certain information to another party known as verifier without revealing the actual information.