ASIC stands for application-specific integrated circuit — a device utilized for mining cryptocurrencies.
Address
An address or a wallet address, is a combination of letters and numbers that works as an account number for crypto transactions
Air Gap
It is a network security measure put in place to ensure a secure network is isolated from the unsecured networks.
Airdrop
A campaign run by companies to distribute free cryptocurrency or tokens to audience to create buzz about their project
Algo-Trading
An automated trading system where buy and sell orders are placed according to the rules of a computer program is called Algorithmic Trading
Altcoin
Any coin other than the first cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is termed as Altcoin, which stands for “alternative coins.”
All-Time-High (ATH)
The highest price that an asset has achieved in terms of market capitalization is called ATH.
All-Time-Low (ATL)
The lowest price that an asset has achieved in terms of market capitalization is called ATL.
Annual Percentage Rate (APR)
It is the annual rate of interest a borrower must pay each year. It is the interest paid on investments without accounting for the commpounding of interest within that year.
Annual Percentage Yield (APY)
Annual percentage yield (APY) is the rate of return earned over a period of one year on a investment taking into account the compounding interest.
Arbitrage
Taking advantage of a difference in price of the same asset on two different exchanges. For example, buying Bitcoin from one exchange for $10,000 and selling it in a few minutes on another exchange for $10,200 is an Arbitrage.
Automated Market Maker (AMM)
AMMs provide liquidity to the exchange and allow digital assets to be traded automatically by using liquidity pools.
BEP-2
It is a set of rules that tokens should follow to function in the Binance Chain ecosystem.
BEP-20
BEP-20 is a Binance Smart Chain token standard created with the intention of extending the most common token standard, ERC-20.
Bear
A person who is of the firm belief that prices in a given market will decline over an extended period.
Bear Trap
A bear trap occurs from a group of traders with significant size of holdings attempt to manipulate the price of a specific cryptocurrency
Bearish and Bullish
A bear market is when the price trend of the market or specific coin/token stagnant downwards. A bull market is when the price trend is upward. Those terms are used in traditional financial markets and in crypto markets
Block
Blocks are files where information pertaining to the Bitcoin network on transactions completed during a specific period are permanently recorded.
Block Explorer
An online tool for exploring the blockchain of a cryptocurrency, where you can watch and follow all the transactions happening on the blockchain.
Block Reward
The reward that miners or a group of miners receive on successfully solving a cryptographic problem and mining a block of currency on a given blockchain.
Blockchain
A digital ledger of transactions that is duplicated and distributed and stored on a public database on the blockchain is called Blockchain.
Circulating Supply
The total number of coins or tokens that are in the publicly tradable space is considered the circulating supply. Some coins and tokens can be locked, reserved or burned, therefore unavailable to public trading.
Consensus
When a transaction is made, all nodes on the network verify that it is valid on the blockchain, and if so, they have a consensus. The consensus process refers to those nodes that are responsible for maintaining the blockchain ledger so that a consensus can be reached when a transaction is made.
Cold wallet
The cold wallet refers to the cryptocurrency wallets that are offline. Generally, cold storage is more secure, but are limited to a selection of coins and tokens you can store.
Cryptography
‘Crypt’ means “hidden” and ‘graphy’ stands for “writing”, which is a method of protecting information and communications with the use of codes so that only those for whom the information is intended can access it.
Difficulty
Difficulty refers to the mining of cryptocurrencies in a certain moment in time. The more transactions that are trying to be confirmed by the node (miners), divided by the total power of the nodes on the network at that time, defines the difficulty.
DDoS Attack
A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack takes place when a group works together to overload a system by either flooding requests for information or corrupt data
DeFi
DeFi, short for Decentralized Finance is a form of finance that does not rely on traditional central financial intermediaries such as brokers, banks or exchanges that are controlled by a single, central source. Instead, it utilizes blockchains such as Ethereum and it’s trusted Smart Contracts to carry agreements and transactions via dAPPs (Decentralized Applications).
Decentralized exchanges
DEX, short for Decentralized exchanges was designed to tackle trust issues with centralized crypto exchanges. They operate without an intermediary organization for clearing transactions, relying instead on self-executed smart contracts to facilitate trading.
Distributed Ledger
Distributed ledger technology known as (DLT) is a system that duplicates, secures, and shares data on a decentralized or centralized network.
DYOR
Do Your Own Research. Learning from crypto influencers or browsing on the internet is typically the first step to be introduced to a coin or a token. The 2nd step is to do your own research.
Ethereum 2.0
Ethereum 2.0, also called Eth2 or ‘Serenity’, is the next upgrade to the Ethereum blockchain.
ERC-20
The standard to which each Ethereum token follows. They comply to a set of standards and the way that each token behaves so that transactions are predictable.
Exchange
Cryptocurrency exchanges are websites or apps that operate on the basis of trading cryptocurrencies with other assets. Like a traditional financial exchange, the cryptocurrency exchange’s core operation is to allow for the buying and selling of these coins or tokens.
Exchange Wallets
Exchange wallets access blockchain through a browser interface without having to download or install any software.
Fiat Money
Tangible paper money or coins that is considered a legal tender by a government declaration. In the U.S., dollars are fiat money and, in the UK its pounds.
FOMO
The term “FOMO” is an acronym for “fear of missing out.” This occurs when investors start buying up a particular asset based on their expectations that it will rise in value or even buying blindly sometimes based on gut feeling.
Fork
When a new version of a blockchain is created or a radical change to a network’s protocol results in two versions of the blockchain running side-by-side, it is termed a Fork.
FUD
An acronym for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt". Refers to a current sentiment of pessimism for an asset or a market trend.
Futures Contract
This is a pre-approved agreement between two entities to complete a transaction when the price of a certain cryptocurrency hits a certain price. It’s different from a limit order in that the buyer and seller are already nominated and bound. A future contract becomes relevant when a buyer wants to go short and a seller wants to go long on the asset.
Gas
Also known as Gwei, it is a measurement of how much processing is required by the Ethereum network to process a transaction. Simple transactions, like sending ether to another address, typically do not require much gas. More complex transactions, like deploying a smart contract, require more gas.
HODL
Cryptocurrency investors developed the term “HODL,” which stands for “hold on for dear life.”
Hot wallet
The hot wallets are connected to the internet which makes transfers of coins and tokens faster but are also prone to viruses and hackers.
Halving
Many cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, have a limited supply, which makes them a scarce digital commodity. The total amount of Bitcoin that will ever be issued is 21 million. The number of bitcoins generated per block decreases 50% every four years. This is called “halving.”
IEO
IEO is short for “Initial Exchange Offerings” it is an initial investment collection event administered by a cryptocurrency exchange.
ICO
Initial Coin Offering is an offering where startups issue their own token in exchange for fiat, bitcoin or ether. This is essentially a type of crowdfunding to allow businesses to raise funds and reach a financial goal that permits them to develop a product or service.
JOMO
“JOMO” is an acronym for “joy of missing out” this occurs when an investor celebrates the fact he missed out on an opportunity to invest in asset that turns out to be somehow a gradually failing concept.
Know Your Customer (KYC)
A compliance process instituted by regulators for businesses to verify the identity and level of risk of their customers, either before or during the time that they start doing business with you.
Limit Order
Limit Order traders give the order to the crypto-exchange to buy an X number of coins for price X. When ‘filling’ the order, the price cannot differ with the order you gave. The number of coins can however differ, but never more than the order
Market Cap
The total value held in a cryptocurrency. It is calculated by multiplying the total supply of coins by the current price of an individual unit.
Market Order
With a ‘Market-order’ traders give the order to buy or sell a coin or token at the best price at that moment. The chance that an order will be executed is almost 100 percent because there are almost always buy or sell orders. This is recommended with the top 10 currencies with high volume.
Mining
Mining is the process for creating new units of a digital currency. For example, the bitcoin network releases new bitcoins every time a block is mined. In this instance, mining involves confirming transactions and combining them in to blocks.
Mobile/App Wallet
Mobile wallets are considered to be the most popular and commonly used type of wallets. They are apps installed on mobile devices and their main advantage is the swift accessibility to funds.
NFTs
The term NFT stands for Non-fungible Token. They are digital assets and can include a wide range of unique tangible and intangible items. The term non-fungible means something that can’t be replaced with something else.
Off-chain
Transactions occuring outside the blockchain and executed instantly are termed as off-chain.
Order Book
At an exchange, an electronic list of all buy and sell orders is termed as order book.
Over the counter
When cryptocurrencies trades are done directly between two parties without the involvment of an exchange, it is termed as OTCPaper Wallets
Used in the early 2010s, a paper wallet contains your wallet address, private keys and a QR code representing these keys, which facilitates the transfer and receiving of coins or tokens.
Private Key
A string of numbers and letters are used to access your wallet. While your wallet is represented by a public key, the private key is the password you should protect (never lose it, as you may lose your funds).
Pump and Dump
Is a type of investment strategy where several market participants work together to remove corruption so they can sell it when its value is contrivedly high.
QR Code
Short for Quick Response Code, it is a machine readable optical lable that store up to 3KB of data.
Referral Bonuses
To encourage more people to use their services, few cryptocurrency exchanges offer sign up and referral bonuses that you can keep track of.
Roadmap
A project’s roadmap is a plan that show what an organization wants to achieve and contains a strategic overview of the major elements. This usually contains the deliverables for a year or two.
Software Wallets
Software wallets, as the name suggests, are downloaded and installed on desktops and laptops. They reside on a desktop and can only be accessed on the device where they are installed.
Shard chains
Shard chains are a scalability mechanism which drastically improves the throughput of the Ethereum blockchain.
SHA-256
Stands for Secure Hash Algorithm 256-bit is like a signature or a fingerprint for a data set. The cryptographic hash function is used by bitcoin and by a number of altcoins too. Using an online tool, you can easily generate SHA256 hashes.
Smart contract
A computer protocol code that is deployed onto the Ethereum blockchain, often directly interacting with how money flows, business agreements, logistics and other contracts
Stable coin
A ‘Stable Coin’ is a coin with extremely low volatility and tries to peg to fiat money, such as the US dollar, or commodities like gold.
Staking
Staking is a mechanism where users lock their coins in a crypto wallet to help secure a blockchain in exchange for being rewarded in cryptocurrencies.
Testnet
A sandbox or testing environment for a blockchain network that’s typically available before a main net launch for development purposes.
Token Burn
The burning of tokens involves the permanent removal of existing cryptocurrency coins or tokens from circulation. The practice of burning is quite common in the industry and is quite simple.
Utility Token Utility Token:
Utility Token is a digital asset that is used to finance the network or platform by providing its buyers with a guarantee of being able to consume some of the platform’s services. Utility tokens don’t provide the rights of ownership over a part of a company.
Validator
The participant on a Proof Of Stake blockchain who has staked significant cryptos on the network
Wallet
A cryptocurrency wallet is a set of private and public keys that validates the ownership of a digital asset (e.g. Bitcoin) and allows the wallet owner to send and receive digital assets or even store them.
Whale
A person owning large quantities of cryptocurrencies and has the power to use them to drive the price down and make profit.
Whitepaper
A detailed explanation of a cryptocurrency, designed to offer satisfactory technical information, explain the purpose of the token or coin and set out a roadmap for how it plans to succeed. It’s designed to convince investors that it’s a good choice ahead of an ICO or IEO
Yield Farming
Yield farming involves locking up funds in a liquidity pool on a DeFi platform to earn interest.
Zero Confirmation Transaction
It is another term used to define unconfirmed transaction
Zero Knowledge Proof
In cryptography, zero knowledge proof is a method to verify a value between two parties without revealing what the value is.
