A term used to describe coins that do not require expensive equipment for mining. If a coin is ASIC-resistant, its mining is thought to be more fair and decentralized than coins that are not ASIC-resistant.

Alternative Coin. Bitcoin is known as the first and foremost cryptocurrency, so any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin is an altcoin.

An investor who has a net worth of over $1 million and/or an annual salary over $200,000-300,000.

A unique, alphanumeric identifier used as destination for transferring cryptocurrencies. 

Anti-Money Laundering. AML laws and restrictions require exchanges to obtain personal information about their customers and their activities.

All-Time Low. The lowest price a cryptocurrency has ever reached.

Highly specialized computing machines that are far more efficient for mining than CPUs and GPUs. Jihan Wu (a Chinese businessman) is responsible for creating and selling many ASIC Miners.

The practice of buying and selling the same coins on different exchanges at the same time to take advantage of price differences.

A mechanism that destroys an amount of coins or tokens, thereby decreasing the total coin supply of a cryptocurrency. 

A short drop in a cryptocurrency’s price that makes investors think the price will continue falling. Instead, the price rises significantly following the drop, fooling the “bears.”  

Websites (available for most cryptocurrencies) that allow users to search an address or transaction ID to view its details.

The original Bitcoin wallet, considered to be among the safest wallets available.

A trader or speculator who believes cryptocurrency prices will fall.

The first successful hard fork of Bitcoin that allows the protocol to grow and scale by removing its block size limit.

A market in which most (or all) prices are falling.

1 Bit is equal to 1/1,000,000 of a Bitcoin. Not to be confused with the computer science definition in which 1 bit equals 0.125 bytes.

The first blockchain-based cryptocurrency, launched in 2009. Bitcoin remains the most influential and widely recognized coin. All other cryptocurrencies are known as "altcoins," simply because they are not Bitcoin.

The unofficial website of Bitcoin Core.

A blockchain scaling solution in which every user account has its own blockchain. Block lattices reduce blockchain bloat by storing transaction data separately from a cryptocurrency's main blockchain.

The time it takes to mine a new block.

Komodo's Decentralized Exchange which connects all of its independent blockchains and allows atomic swaps.

A free, open-source web browser that aims to provide its users the best possible user experience by blocking trackers, hiding advertisements, respecting user privacy, and even offering a built in tipping mechanism that allows users to reward content creators.

A company led by cypherpunk Adam Back that promotes second layer scaling solutions for Bitcoin.

BNB (Binance Coin) is an ERC20 token that lives on the Ethereum blockchain. The token has multiple forms of utility, essentially being the underlying gas that powers the Binance Ecosystem. Most important, it can be used to pay for trading fees on the exchange, obtaining the equivalent of a 50% discount on trades during the first year, 25% during the second year and so on.

The payment given to a miner for securing a blockchain that uses POW (Proof-of-Work) consensus

A transaction that combines multiple transactions into one for increased efficiency and decreased fees.

Optimistic about the future of a cryptocurrency’s price.

The first blockchain-based peer-to-peer protocol that allows its users to store and transfer wealth.

A trader or speculator who believes cryptocurrency prices will rise.

The amount of money one has available to him/her.

Advocates of using strong encryption to evade government spying. Cypherpunks were heavily involved in the early development of Bitcoin.

Free movement of coins between individuals.

No longer in production, these were physical coins created by Mike Caldwell that have private Bitcoin keys.

Addresses created to hold the remaining balance when users spend less than a full input. Mostly used in hierarchical deterministic wallets that can create an unlimited number of addresses.

The volume of coins being held and spent at a given time for a given cryptocurrency.

Digital currency that uses cryptography. Bitcoin & Altcoins are all types of cryptocurrency. 

In the cryptocurrency sphere this term refers to storing cryptocurrency in a location that is offline and thus inaccessible by anyone on the internet.

An aspect of the Bitcoin Core wallet that allows users to specify which coins they wish to spend and which Change Addresses any remaining balance will be sent to.

A trade on a popular cryptocurrency exchange.

A cryptocurrency that relies solely on its own technology to function.

A general agreement among participants using and mining a cryptocurrency.

A metric for measuring bitcoin inactivity. Each day a Bitcoin remains unspent is another day added to its total number of Days Destroyed.

A network that requires special software (like TOR) to access. Websites on the Darknet are much more difficult to shut down than normal websites. The Darknet was one of the first communities to use cryptocurrencies for transactions.

Distributed Apps. Applications without centralized control.

Any non-physical object of value, like a document, an audio file, or a logo, that can be owned and controlled.

Distributed Denial of Service. A means by which a malicious individual shuts down another individual's internet connection by overloading it with requests.

Uses nodes spread out across many different locations to achieve decentralization.

Delayed Proof of Work, the consensus mechanism used by Komodo. dPoW allows one blockchain to take advantage of the security and hashing power of a second blockchain (Bitcoin, in Komodo's case). 

Parts of the Internet that are not accessible through ordinary means, like search engines.

Distributed amongst its users rather than controlled by one group or within one certain area.

Delegated Proof of Stake. A consensus mechanism that has a blockchain's nodes vote on the correct version of the blockchain. 

Decentralized Autonomous Organization. An organization governed by smart contracts founded to allocate funds to cryptocurrency projects.

A cryptocurrency that uses the “Doge” meme with a cult-like following.

A consensus mechanism that uses professional nodes to broadcast a version of the blockchain. If two thirds or more of the nodes agree, that block is written onto the chain. 

A feature which allows KyberNetwork to maintain high levels of liquidity. The DRP keeps reserves of cryptocurrencies and establishes rates of exchange between them, allowing any user to easily trade one crypto for another.

Software that allows its users the ability to store cryptocurrency on their personal computer.

Software for storing cryptocurrency that offers decreased risk of losing funds because of its ability to generate unlimited addresses from a single starting point, or "seed."

Transfers of value that are too small to be sent due to the proportionately high fee incurred. 

Ethereum Virtual Machine. A testing environment on the Ethereum network for executing smart contracts and promoting security.

Transforming data into unrecognizable code that can only be decoded with the exact decryption key.

An extremely secure messaging functionality offered by QRL.

The predominant standard for creating smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. Others may include ERC 721, ERC888, and more

The native tokens of the Ethereum platform. Required in order to send transactions or execute smart contracts.

Paper money issued by governments as default currency. The US Dollar, Japenese Yen, Chinese Yuan, and Euro are all fiat currencies.

An amount of coins paid to users for participating in PoS consensus.

A term used to describe the way that cryptocurrencies remove many of the inefficiencies and hassles inherent in alternative methods of transferring payment.

Fear Uncertainty and Doubt. The emotional (rather than logical) belief that cryptocurrency prices will fall.

A percentage of block reward that is paid to the founders of a cryptocurrency rather than to its miners. Zcash is a cryptocurrency with a Founders’ Reward.

A change in a cryptocurrency’s software that makes it incompatible with the original version. For example, any block size increase in the Bitcoin protocol constitutes a hard fork.

A website that sends users small amounts of cryptocurrency intermittently and make money by advertising other services.

Graphics Processing Unit. Hardware that can be used for mining some cryptocurrencies.

The first block mined on a blockchain.

Someone who does not sell, but holds on to his coins. "HODL"  was originally a typo but it gained the status of a funny backronym: “Hold on for dear life”.

A programming language used to develop several cryptocurrencies (including Cardano and Nanocoin).

A consensus mechanism that employs both Proof of Stake and Proof of Work algorithms.

The power of a mining rig. Similar in concept to the Horse Power of a vehicle.

Output emitted from an algorithm for maintaining consensus on a blockchain.

The number of hashes a miner performs over a given period of time.

An online wallet for storying cryptocurrencies. Considered less secure than cold wallets.

Internet of Things. The system that will digitally connect physical objects, making them identifiable and trackable online.

When an asset (i.e. coin) cannot be easily bought or sold due to a lack of buyers or sellers in a market. If there are only a handful of buyers or sellers the price may be substantially higher (due to few sellers charging a premium) or substantially lower (due to a few buyers demanding discounts).

The term used to refer to blockchains to describe the way in which blocks cannot be changed after they are recorded.  

Internet Protocol Address. A series of numbers and periods used to identify computers communicating through a network.

The process of increasing a cryptocurrency's supply, which usually drives its price down.

CEO of Bitmain, the largest distributor of cryptocurrency mining machines.

A popular programming language.

Know Your Customer. Information gathered by cryptocurrency exchanges in compliance with AML (Anti Money Laundering) laws.

Cryptocurrency that has had its origins intentionally obscured to hide evidence of illegal activities.

A cryptocurrency forked from Bitcoin known primarily for its decreased block time, which (theoretically) allows for faster transactions.

The measure of how quickly an asset can be exchanged for usable currency.

A type of exchange used to make it easier for individuals to exchange assets for usable currency.

John McAfee (the creator of McAfee antivirus) is a cybersecurity mogul who is known for promoting cryptocurrency and speculating about altcoins.

A third party that enables anonymous transactions by grouping payments together, obscuring their sources.

A series of words that can be used to recover an account or wallet.

A fee paid to voluntary participants for using their computing power to verify transactions. When a miner mines a block they get a block reward as well as all the transaction fees in it.

The ability of machines and computers to integrate data and learn from it without being programmed to do so.

A feature that requires several keys to authorize a single transaction, especially for dividing responsibility among separate parties.

When a blockchain features several levels for scalability and encryption purposes, it can be said to be "Multi-Layered."

A feature that requires several keys to authorize a single transaction, especially for dividing responsibility among separate parties.

A group of people online who agree to combine their mining rigs into one for more collective mining power. They split rewards evenly based on each person's mining power.

Metamask is a Chrome extension which allows users to store and transact Ethereum and other ERC-20 tokens.

A pre-planned trade set to execute if a cryptocurrency reaches a certain price.

The process of allowing two different cryptocurrencies using the same consensus algorithm to be mined simultaneously. 

A very small payment made possible with digital currencies.

A mining rig is a computer used for mining cryptocurrencies. The rig might be a dedicated computer or it could be a computer that fills other needs too.

A mathematical problem that is solved by participants of a blockchain to verify transactions in exchange for block rewards.

An agreement that allows individuals to sell their computing power for the purposes of verifying transactions on a blockchain.

Digital agreements between users on NEO's platform that are carried out automatically when their terms are met.

Near-Field Communication. Enables devices located close to each other to transmit data without the need for internet connection.

A computer that runs a cryptocurrency’s software and validates transactions.

A popular framework for JavaScript code to be written in. 

Operations Security. Refers to how well assets are protected.

Transfer of value that takes place outside of a blockchain for reduced fees and quicker transaction time.

A block that is no longer a part of the original blockchain because it was not verified by the majority of miners.

A grouping of addresses that receive coins in a cryptocurrency transaction.

Proof-of-Importance is a consensus algorithm similar to PoS. Nodes "vest" currency to participate in the creation of blocks. Unlike PoS, Proof-of-Importance quantifies a person’s support of the network. NEM is using Proof-of-Importance.

A situation that occurs when an asset's market value is far higher than it's actual worth, making a sharp drop in price imminent.

A consensus mechanism for verifying a blockchain in which miners send coins to an unspendable address

PoI stands for Proof-of-Importance. It is a new consensus algorithm that requires users to stake currency to participate in the consensus. Compared to PoS, it adds importance to staking. Thus, it takes into account one’s involvement in the network. PoI was introduced by NEM.

Proof of Work. A consensus mechanism for verifying transactions with computing power that creates new coins in the process.

An address that individuals share with others to receive cryptocurrency.  

A physical piece of paper containing a private key, a public key, and often corresponding QR codes.

Peer-to-Peer. Refers to networks in which individuals connect to each other rather than a central authority.

Similar to a password but often longer. Where a password is generally a single word -- a passphrase can be a combination of words.

If you are running a full node, a “peer” is some else also running a full node.

Proof of Stake and Trust. A consensus mechanism used by Waltonchain that relies on token holders (nodes) to verify transactions while retaining information about nodes' past performance to give higher rewards to the most reliable nodes.

a fraudulent type of operation where a company attracts investors to send money, with expected profits in return. The company pays back investor profits using later investors’ money. Once the company can no longer attract new investors, then payments cannot be made to clients, the company collapses and investors lose money.

A portion of the total supply of a cryptocurrency reserved for its founders. These funds are often marked as funds to pay developers or fund future ventures, but cryptocurencies with premines are generally viewed as less legitimate and fair those without premines.

A public or private offering of tokens to interested investors, generally offering a cheaper price than the coin’s ICO price. Pre-sales are commonly seen as marketing gimmicks.

Private keys are used to spend cryptocurrencies.

A permissioned system is a private and closed system. Not anyone can join the network freely.

A cryptocurrency's main blockchain which connects its sidechains or subchains.

An advanced form of computing that allows extremely complex problems to be solved very quickly. For cryptocurrency, quantum computing is important because once it is advanced enough, it may be capable of hacking private keys.

A method of increasing monetary supply (and lowering interest rates) by introducing new money to the market from a central authority.

Often referred to as Bitcoin Jesus, he was the first major Bitcoin and cryptocurrency investor.

A platform that connects banks, payment providers, and digital asset exchanges to provide frictionless transactions.

An individual that contributes their tokens to Kyber Network's Dynamic Reserve Pool to improve the platform's liquidity.

A fraudulent endeavor. In the cryptocurrency world, this often refers to the practice of fooling investors in some way.

An altcoin that is marketed as technology with potential, but is really just sold to make money with no promise of a future use case.

The process by which a full database is split into smaller databases called shards. Sharding helps with the scalability of cryptocurrencies.

A computer that is far more powerful than an ordianry computer due to its superior performance.

A financial instrument (stock, bond, etc) that has monetary value and can be bought, sold, and traded.

Typically a person posing as a legitimate user of a product but who is, in fact, being paid or otherwise compensated to promote said product.

Simplified Payment Verification. Allows wallets to function by letting them connect to local nodes that have full copies of the blockchain rather than requiring download of the full blockchain (like Bitcoin Core).

An alternative to mining rewards. Staking rewards are earned by putting a certain amount of your cryptocurrency up as a 'stake' to confirm transactions. Rewards are given for doing this.

A memory-intensive hash function designed discourage hacking attempts by requiring large amounts of RAM. It is used by Litecoin, as an alternative to SHA-256.

A popular exchange service created by Eric Voorhees that allows individuals to trade most altcoins anonymously for a small fee.

A measure of how easily a cryptocurrency will be able to handle more users and increased transactions.

A derogatory term used to describe altcoins that are based on faulty technology or have little promise for the future.

A feature of PIVX that allows users to complete transactions instantly without needing to wait for confirmations.

Smart Contract. An agreement between two parties that carries itself out once its terms are met.

A block that has been worked on by a miner but is not included in the blockchain because another miner successfully completes another block first.

A platform that functions alongside an existing blockchain protocol, allowing transactions to occur off of the main blockchain. Sidechains can be customized to allow features like faster transaction time and increased anonymity.

The pseudonym of the original creator(s) of Bitcoin. Also the smallest sub-unit Bitcoin can be divided into: 1 Satoshi = 1/100,000,000 of a Bitcoin.

A mathematical mechanism for combining a public address with a private address to ensure authenticity and prevent forging.

The act of locking up one's coins or tokens to help verify transactions for cryptocurrencies with Proof of Stake consensus mechanisms. Stakers earn staking rewards for providing this service.

Any cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset for the purpose of reducing price volatility.

A sequence of numbers used to identify the moment in time that a transaction occurred.

Commonly known as 2FA. A measure of security used for protecting accounts. 2FA requires users to have not only a username and a password to login, but an extra piece of information, as well.

An individual who buys and sells cryptocurrency.

An identical version of a protocol that uses fake money to discover bugs without the consequences such bugs would have on a Mainnet protocol.

The first hardware wallet, created by a Bitcoiner called “Slush.”

A feature of cryptocurrency exchanges that makes it easy for individuals to buy one cryptocurrency with a different cryptocurrency. For example, a BTC/DASH trading pair allows an individual to buy DASH with BTC or vice versa.

A consensus method that allows users to transact anonymously and requires relatively little electricity. An alternative to PoW (Proof of Work) and PoS (Proof of Stake). 

A computing system that can perform a whole set of computational functions is considered “Turing Complete.”

The practice of creating digital assets that represent real-world physical assets.

Transaction.

The acronym for stable coins issued by Tether Limited: U.S. Dollar Tether.

User-Issued Assets, Tokens that can be created on the BitShares network.

Unspent transaction output. For example, if an individual receives 1 BTC and holds it, they possess a UTXO.

A measure used to describe the rate at which currency is exchanged from transaction to transaction.

An individual that invests in an emerging project with the hopes of earning a large return on their investment when the project succeeds.

Coins which haven’t ever been spent. Virgin coins were mined and left alone.

Software or devices that contain public and private keys for storing cryptocurrencies

A very wealthy individual capable of making large trades.

A list of registered and approved participants in an ICO. Whitelists are used to exclude non-accredited investors in order to better comply with regulations.

eXtensive Business Reporting Language. A language for defining and exchanging financial data that makes extracting useful data from a large body of data easier.

Ticker for Bitcoin used on Kraken and some other exchanges. Same as BTC.

Two Factor Authentication. A protective measure that uses one-time passwords to prevent keyloggers from gaining unauthorized access to accounts.

A formula that uses data to make predictions about how financially secure businesses are.

Payment that has been broadcast but is still pending inclusion on a blockchain.