Crypto Glossary

51% Attack A 51% attack is when a single party gains majority control of a network's mining or…

Address A crypto address is a string of characters, derived from your public key, that others use… Airdrop An airdrop is a free distribution of tokens to users, often to reward early adopters, decentralise… Altcoin "Altcoin" means any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin — short for "alternative coin." The term spans thousands… AML AML (anti-money-laundering) refers to the laws and procedures that stop criminals disguising illicit funds. Regulated crypto… AMM An AMM (automated market maker) is the algorithm behind most DEXs, pricing trades against a liquidity… APY APY (annual percentage yield) is the real rate of return over a year, including the effect… Arbitrage Arbitrage is profiting from the same asset's price difference across markets — buying where it is… ATH ATH stands for all-time high — the highest price an asset has ever reached. Traders watch…

Bear Market A bear market is a prolonged period of falling prices and pessimism, often defined as a… Bitcoin Bitcoin (BTC) is the first and largest cryptocurrency, created in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.… Block A block is a batch of transactions bundled together and added to the chain. Each block… Block Reward The block reward is the new coins plus fees paid to whoever adds the next block.… Blockchain A blockchain is a shared, append-only digital ledger duplicated across thousands of computers, or nodes. Transactions… Bull Market A bull market is a sustained period of rising prices and optimism. In crypto these moves… Burn To burn tokens is to permanently remove them from circulation by sending them to an unspendable…

Cap A cap is a hard limit on how many units of a cryptocurrency can ever exist.… Cold Wallet A cold wallet keeps crypto private keys completely offline — typically on a dedicated hardware device… Confirmation A confirmation happens each time a new block is added on top of the block containing… Consensus Consensus is how a decentralised network agrees on the state of its ledger without a central… Custodial A custodial service holds your private keys for you, as most exchanges do. It is convenient… Custody Custody refers to who controls the private keys to crypto assets. Self-custody means you hold your…

DAO A DAO (decentralised autonomous organisation) is a community-run entity governed by rules written in smart contracts… DApp A dApp (decentralised application) runs on a blockchain via smart contracts rather than a company's servers,… Decentralization Decentralization is the distribution of control across many independent participants rather than a single authority. In… DeFi DeFi (decentralised finance) recreates financial services — lending, borrowing, trading and earning yield — using smart… DEX A DEX (decentralised exchange) lets users trade crypto directly from their wallets via smart contracts, with… Diamond Hands Diamond hands is slang for holding an asset firmly through volatility without selling. It is the… Difficulty Difficulty is how hard it is to mine a new block. Proof-of-work networks adjust it automatically… Dominance Dominance is one coin's share of the total crypto market cap. Bitcoin dominance is watched as… Double Spend A double-spend is the attempt to spend the same coins twice. Preventing it without a central…

ERC-20 ERC-20 is the technical standard for fungible tokens on Ethereum. Because most tokens follow it, they… ETF An ETF (exchange-traded fund) is a regulated investment vehicle that trades on a stock exchange. A… Ethereum Ethereum (ETH) is the leading smart-contract platform, launched in 2015. It lets developers build decentralised apps,… Exchange A crypto exchange is a marketplace for buying, selling and trading digital assets. Centralised exchanges hold…

FDV FDV (fully diluted valuation) estimates a token's market cap if its entire maximum supply were already… Fiat Fiat is government-issued currency such as the US dollar or euro, not backed by a commodity.… FOMO FOMO (fear of missing out) is the urge to buy an asset because its price is… Fork A fork is a change to a blockchain's rules. A soft fork is backward-compatible; a hard… FUD FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) describes negative sentiment, sometimes spread deliberately, that pressures prices down. Its…

Gas Gas is the fee paid to process a transaction on a blockchain such as Ethereum, compensating… Genesis Block The genesis block is the very first block of a blockchain. Bitcoin's genesis block, mined in… Governance Token A governance token grants holders the right to vote on a protocol's decisions, such as fee… Gwei Gwei is the unit commonly used to price Ethereum gas fees; one gwei equals one billion…

Halving The halving is a scheduled event, roughly every four years, when the block reward for mining… Hash A hash is a fixed-length fingerprint produced by running data through a one-way function. Blockchains link… Hash Rate Hash rate measures the total computing power securing a proof-of-work network like Bitcoin. A higher hash… HODL HODL is crypto slang for holding an asset for the long term rather than selling. It… Hot Wallet A hot wallet is a crypto wallet connected to the internet, making it convenient for frequent…

Immutable Immutable means unchangeable. Once data is confirmed on a blockchain it cannot practically be altered or…

KYC KYC (know your customer) is the process by which exchanges verify a user's identity before allowing…

Layer 1 A layer-1 is a base blockchain such as Bitcoin or Ethereum that processes and finalises its… Layer 2 A layer-2 is a network built on top of a base blockchain to make transactions faster… Ledger A record of transactions. A blockchain is a distributed ledger shared across many nodes. Lightning Network The Lightning Network is a layer-2 payment system built on top of Bitcoin that settles transactions… Liquidity Liquidity describes how easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price. Deep… Liquidity Pool A liquidity pool is a crowdsourced pot of tokens locked in a smart contract that powers… Long To go long is to buy an asset expecting its price to rise. It is the…

Mainnet Mainnet is a blockchain's live, production network where real transactions and value move, as opposed to… Market Cap Market capitalisation is a cryptocurrency live price multiplied by its circulating supply. It is the standard… Market Order A market order buys or sells immediately at the best available price, prioritising speed over precision.… Maximalist A maximalist believes one cryptocurrency — most often Bitcoin — is superior and will ultimately dominate,… Mempool The mempool is the waiting room for unconfirmed transactions before they are added to a block.… Metaverse The metaverse refers to immersive, persistent virtual worlds where users interact, often using crypto and NFTs… Mining Mining is the process that secures proof-of-work blockchains like Bitcoin. Miners compete to solve a hard… Mint To mint is to create a new token or NFT and record it on the blockchain.…

NFT An NFT (non-fungible token) is a unique, blockchain-based token that proves ownership of a specific digital… Node A node is a computer running a blockchain's software, storing and validating the shared ledger. A… Nonce A nonce — short for number used once — is a value that is used a…

On-Chain On-chain describes any data or activity recorded directly on a blockchain, where it is public and… Oracle An oracle is a service that feeds real-world data, such as prices, into a blockchain so…

Paper Hands Paper hands is slang for an investor who sells quickly at the first sign of trouble.… Peg A peg is a fixed exchange rate that an asset aims to hold, such as a… Permissionless Permissionless means anyone can use or build on a network without approval from a gatekeeper. It… Private Key A private key is the secret cryptographic code that proves ownership of crypto and authorises transactions… Proof of Stake Proof-of-stake (PoS) secures a blockchain by having validators lock up, or stake, the network token as… Proof of Work Proof-of-work (PoW) is the consensus mechanism that secures Bitcoin. Miners expend computing power to solve puzzles… Public Key A public key is the cryptographic counterpart to your private key. It is used to derive… Pump and Dump A pump-and-dump is a scheme where promoters inflate a token's price with coordinated hype, then sell…

Rug Pull A rug pull is a scam where a project's creators abruptly abandon it and run off…

Satoshi A satoshi is the smallest unit of Bitcoin — one hundred-millionth of a BTC. It is… Seed Phrase A seed phrase, or recovery phrase, is a list of 12 or 24 words that backs… Sharding Sharding splits a blockchain into smaller parallel pieces, called shards, that process transactions simultaneously to boost… Short To short is to bet that a price will fall: a trader borrows an asset, sells… Slippage Slippage is the gap between the price you expect on a trade and the price you… Smart Contract A smart contract is self-executing code stored on a blockchain that runs automatically when its conditions… Stablecoin A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, usually pegged one-to-one to a… Staking Staking means locking up cryptocurrency to help secure a proof-of-stake blockchain and, in return, earning rewards.… Supply Supply describes how many coins exist. Circulating supply is what is tradable now; max supply is…

Testnet A testnet is a sandbox version of a blockchain where developers trial code using valueless test… Token A token is a crypto asset issued on an existing blockchain, such as Ethereum, rather than… Tokenomics Tokenomics — token economics — describes how a crypto token is designed: its total and circulating… TPS TPS (transactions per second) measures how many transactions a blockchain can process. Higher TPS means more… TVL TVL (total value locked) is the combined worth of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol. It…

Volatility Volatility measures how sharply a price swings over time. Crypto is highly volatile, offering large potential…

Wallet A crypto wallet stores the private keys that control your coins — it does not hold… Web3 Web3 is the vision of a user-owned internet built on blockchains, where people control their own… Wei Wei is the smallest unit of Ethereum's currency, ETH; one ETH equals a billion billion wei.… Whale A whale is an individual or entity holding a very large amount of a cryptocurrency —… Whitepaper A whitepaper is the founding document of a crypto project, setting out its purpose, technology and…

Yield Farming Yield farming means moving crypto between DeFi protocols to maximise returns from interest, fees and token…