Crypto Dictionary
Web3, blockchain, and cryptocurrency terms.
HODL
A misspelling of "hold" that became a mantra for holding onto cryptocurrency rather than selling, regardless of market volatility.
FOMO
Fear Of Missing Out. The feeling of anxiety that an exciting or interesting event may currently be happening elsewhere, often aroused by posts seen on social media.
FUD
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. A strategy to influence perception of certain cryptocurrencies or the cryptocurrency market in general by spreading negative, misleading or false information.
Whale
An individual or entity that holds a large amount of cryptocurrency, enough to influence market prices.
Bagholder
An investor who holds onto a cryptocurrency that has decreased in value to the point where it is worthless.
Mooning
A situation where the price of a cryptocurrency is increasing rapidly.
Pump and Dump
A scheme that attempts to boost the price of a stock or security through fake recommendations.
Rekt
Slang for "wrecked." Used to describe a severe financial loss.
ATH
All-Time High. The highest price a cryptocurrency has ever reached.
ATL
All-Time Low. The lowest price a cryptocurrency has ever reached.
Altcoin
Alternative Coin. Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin.
DeFi
Decentralized Finance. Financial services built on top of public blockchains.
DApp
Decentralized Application. An application that runs on a blockchain or peer-to-peer network of computers instead of a single computer.
Smart Contract
Self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code.
Gas
A fee paid to process transactions or execute smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.
Mining
The process of verifying transactions and adding them to the public ledger (blockchain).
Staking
The process of participating in a proof-of-stake (PoS) system to validate transactions and earn rewards.
Yield Farming
A way to earn rewards with cryptocurrency holdings by locking them up in a liquidity pool.
Liquidity Pool
A collection of funds locked in a smart contract.
NFT
Non-Fungible Token. A unique digital asset that represents ownership of real-world items like art, video clips, music, and more.
Blockchain
A distributed database that is shared among the nodes of a computer network.
Wallet
A digital wallet that allows users to store and manage their cryptocurrency holdings.
Private Key
A secret number that allows a user to access their cryptocurrency.
Public Key
A cryptographic code that allows a user to receive cryptocurrency.
Seed Phrase
A list of words that store all the information needed to recover a cryptocurrency wallet.
Cold Storage
Storing cryptocurrency offline to protect it from hacking.
Hot Wallet
A cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet.
Exchange
A marketplace where cryptocurrencies can be bought and sold.
Fiat
Government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver.
Market Cap
The total value of a cryptocurrency, calculated by multiplying the current price by the total number of coins in circulation.
Volume
The amount of cryptocurrency that has been traded over a specific period.
Bear Market
A market condition where prices are falling or are expected to fall.
Bull Market
A market condition where prices are rising or are expected to rise.
Correction
A decline of 10% or more in the price of a security, asset, or financial market.
Dip
A short-term drop in the price of a cryptocurrency.
ICO
Initial Coin Offering. A type of funding using cryptocurrencies.
IEO
Initial Exchange Offering. A token sale conducted on the platform of a cryptocurrency exchange.
IDO
Initial DEX Offering. A token sale conducted on a decentralized exchange.
Whitepaper
A document that outlines the problem a project is trying to solve and the solution it proposes.
Roadmap
A plan that outlines the goals and milestones of a project.
Fork
A change to the protocol of a blockchain network.
Hard Fork
A radical change to a network's protocol that makes previously valid blocks/transactions invalid (or vice-versa).
Soft Fork
A change to the software protocol where only previously valid transaction blocks are made invalid.
Halving
An event where the reward for mining new blocks is halved, meaning miners receive 50% fewer coins for verifying transactions.
Satoshi
The smallest unit of Bitcoin, equal to 0.00000001 BTC.
Gwei
A denomination of Ether, used to measure gas prices.
Tokenomics
The economics of a token, including its supply, distribution, and utility.
Burn
The process of permanently removing tokens from circulation.
Airdrop
A marketing strategy where tokens are sent to wallet addresses for free.
KYC
Know Your Customer. A process used by financial institutions to verify the identity of their clients.
AML
Anti-Money Laundering. Laws, regulations, and procedures intended to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income.
Shilling
The act of promoting a cryptocurrency for personal gain.
Vaporware
Software or hardware that has been advertised but is not yet available to buy, either because it is only a concept or because it is still being written or designed.
Rug Pull
A malicious maneuver in the cryptocurrency industry where crypto developers abandon a project and run away with investors' funds.
Stablecoin
A cryptocurrency designed to minimize volatility by pegging its value to a stable asset like the US dollar.
Algorithmic Stablecoin
A stablecoin that uses algorithms to maintain its peg to a stable asset.
CBDC
Central Bank Digital Currency. A digital form of central bank money.
Layer 1
The underlying main blockchain architecture.
Layer 2
A secondary framework or protocol that is built on top of an existing blockchain system.
Sidechain
A separate blockchain that is attached to its parent blockchain using a two-way peg.
Bridge
A connection that allows the transfer of tokens or data between two different blockchains.
Oracle
A third-party service that provides smart contracts with external information.
DAO
Decentralized Autonomous Organization. An organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members and not influenced by a central government.
Governance Token
A token that gives holders the right to vote on decisions influencing the protocol.
Utility Token
A token that provides users with access to a product or service.
Security Token
A token that represents ownership of an asset, such as a stock or real estate.
Non-Custodial
A type of wallet or exchange where the user retains full control of their private keys.
Custodial
A type of wallet or exchange where a third party holds the user's private keys.
Peer-to-Peer
A decentralized network model where participants interact directly with each other without an intermediary.
Hash Rate
The measure of the processing power of the Bitcoin network.
Difficulty
A measure of how difficult it is to find a new block.
Block Reward
The amount of cryptocurrency that a miner receives for successfully mining a block.
Confirmation
The act of verifying a transaction and adding it to the blockchain.
Mempool
A holding area for transactions that have been broadcast to the network but have not yet been included in a block.
Node
A computer that participates in the blockchain network.
Full Node
A node that stores the entire blockchain history.
Light Node
A node that only stores a portion of the blockchain history.
Miner
A person or computer that participates in the mining process.
Validator
A participant in a proof-of-stake network who is responsible for verifying transactions.
Proof of Work
A consensus mechanism that requires miners to solve complex mathematical problems to validate transactions.
Proof of Stake
A consensus mechanism that selects validators based on the amount of cryptocurrency they hold.
Delegated Proof of Stake
A consensus mechanism where token holders vote for delegates to validate transactions.
Mainnet
The primary blockchain network where actual transactions take place.
Testnet
A separate blockchain network used for testing purposes.
Faucet
A website or app that gives away small amounts of cryptocurrency for completing simple tasks.
Address
A string of characters that represents a destination for a cryptocurrency payment.
Transaction Fee
A fee paid to process a transaction on the blockchain.
Slippage
The difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is executed.
Limit Order
An order to buy or sell a cryptocurrency at a specific price or better.
Market Order
An order to buy or sell a cryptocurrency immediately at the best available price.