Cryptocurrency Glossary

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

All-Time High. The highest 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.

An event in which individuals that hold existing cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin and Ethereum) are given tokens of a new cryptocurrency.

Application Programmer Interface. A type of toolkit provided for developers for creating applications.

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.

A famous advocate of Bitcoin who has given speeches and presentations about Bitcoin all over the world.

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

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

The amount of data that can be stored in one block of a given blockchain. For example, the Block Size limit of Bitcoin is 1MB. Larger block size allows for more transactions per block. Thus, it’s not that transactions are “faster” or “slower”. It’s that transactions may be seemingly faster because the network is handling more transactions at a time.

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.

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

A regretful investor who bought a crypto (or cryptos) believing they would appreciate in value. Instead, the crypto decreased in value and the investor is left "holding bags."

Optimistic about the future of a cryptocurrency’s price.

Bitcoin’s ticker symbol.

A trader or speculator who believes cryptocurrency prices will rise.

Bitcoin Improvement Protocol. New feature proposed for Bitcoin are BIPs.

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

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

Pessimistic about the future of a cryptocurrency’s price.

A trader or speculator who believes cryptocurrency prices will fall.

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.

Someone who uses Bitcoin regularly or is heavily involved in its technology.

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.

a high-yield ponzi scheme in the cryptocurrency market, guarantee profits to investors. Customer losses are estimated to have exceeded $1 billion and was shut down in January 2018.

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.

A Bitcoin wallet that gives its users an aesthetically pleasing interface while still employing the core Bitcoin protocol.

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.

The first exchange that allowed individuals to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

A trade on a popular cryptocurrency exchange.

Verifications of consensus by miners and/or nodes. After an individual sends payment on a blockchain, confirmations are required before the recipient can accept payment. 

A general agreement among participants using and mining a cryptocurrency.

The shorthand form of Cryptocurrency. 

A paper written by Eric Huges that outlines Cypherpunks’ philosophy and vision. This Manifesto was a big influence on many early cryptocurrency enthusiasts.

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

Controlled by one group or within one certain area.

The usage of remote servers (rather than personal computers) to store, manage, and process data.

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

An aspect of the Darkcoin crpytocurrency that allows users to make anonymous transactions.

DAA. A collection or portfolio of assorted cryptocurrencies. For example, one Digital Asset Array could contain BTC, ETH, and DASH.

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

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

The limiting or decreasing of a cryptocurrency's supply, which usually drives its price up.

A famous problem that occurs when cryptocurrency is spent more than once. Miners and transaction finality ensure that double-spend cannot occur.

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

A tax on cryptocurrency holdings that encourages spending coins because they are constantly being destroyed.

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

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."

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

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

A measure of how much hashing power (computing power) is required to find the next block on a blockchain. Difficulty increases over time on blockchains.

Distributed Apps. Applications without centralized control.

A set of data used to represent an entity on a network or on the Internet.

Directed Acyclic Graphs. Also referred to as “Tangle.” DAG is an alternative to the “chain of blocks” architecture used in many crypto projects.

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

An extremely secure messaging functionality offered by QRL.

A cryptocurrency created by Vitalik Buterin that runs on Ether (ETH). Ethereum was the first blockchain-based technology to make smart contracts and decentralized applications possible.

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

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

Exchange Traded Fund. A group of assets that can be bought or sold as a single asset.

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

The idea that all units in a money supply are exactly equal. Fungibility is considered to be an essential aspect of effective currencies by many economists.

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.

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

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

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

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

A CNBC show on which cryptocurrencies are frequently discussed.  

An open-source database for developers to create and share computer coding with a large community.

APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate. It's the interest rate charged during a whole year. For example: borrow $1,000 at 10% APR means at the end of the year you'll pay back $1,100. The extra $100 may be split into 12 payments, once per month, if that is how the creditor asks for them.

DeFi stands for Decentralized Finance. DeFi is a new financial system based on the use of decentralized blockchains and smart contracts to create new types of financial products.

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

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”.

The act of protecting an asset from risk. A hedge can protect against losses or even offset against gains.

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

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

First made popular in a post by a drunken Bitcoiner who advocated buying but not selling Bitcoin, it is now a meme to intentionally misspell “hold.” Hodlers see huge potential in the future of a cryptocurrency and don’t plan on selling anytime soon.

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

Internal Revenue Service. A US tax collection agency that demands information from cryptocurrency exchanges for various reasons.

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).

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

Invisible Internet Project. A network layer that facilitates anonymous, censorship-resistant communication between users.

A request for communication from one node to another node.

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

A feature of Komodo that offers its users private payments. Jumblr works by exchanging the cryptocurrency being used for payment and mixing it among other cryptos prior to the making an anonymous transaction.

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.

Purchasing a coin with the expectation to sell it at a higher price sometime in the future for a profit. Basically profiting from the rising price of an asset.

A network layer that functions on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and allows for a huge number of low-fee microtransactions.

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

A cryptocurrency that is very popular on the Darknet because it is considered to be more anonymous than Bitcoin and similar coins.

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.

The process by which new coins are created as transactions on a network are verified.

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.

The practice of borrowing money to buy and sell assets.

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

Software that allows individuals to store their cryptocurrencies on handheld devices.

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

A method of intentionally obscuring the source of illegally-obtained funds.

A very small payment made possible with digital currencies.

The version of a protocol that uses real money. A cryptocurrency is generally considered to be “live” after the first Mainnet block (the genesis block) is mined.

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

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

The process by which users on a PoS blockchain verify transactions and receive new coins for their participation.

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.

A popular framework for JavaScript code to be written in. 

A cryptocurrency that allows data (and transactions) to be written onto its blockchain.

The quality by which cryptocurrencies become more useful as more people use them.

An arbitrary number that is used only once in cryptography to make replay attacks impossible.

A term used to describe software that is made available online so that any individual can view its code and submit improvements.

Cardano's Proof-of-stake algorithm. It is used to randomly pick the next node to produce a block in. Ouroboros divides physical time into epochs, and then slots. Slot leaders have the sole right to produce one block and are chosen from the group of stakeholders.

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

Operations Security. Refers to how well assets are protected.

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.

Pseudonymity is an almost anonymous state in which users have a unique identifier that is different from their real name.

A social attack in which a malicious individual masquerades as a trustworthy person in an attempt to fool the victim into giving up personal information (like passwords).

PoP for short. A consensus mechanism used by DigixDAO to track the movements of physical assets, identify their ownership, and ensure their security.

Outputs of an algorithm that can be examined and verified. This term is commonly used in cryptocurrency gambling.

PoS. A method of minting new coins and securing a platform by allowing users to stake their coins and receive more coins as a reward. Introduced as an energy efficient alternative to PoW (Proof of Work).

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.

Proof of Stake. A consensus mechanism in which individuals use their holdings of a cryptocurrency to secure the platform in exchange for rewards.

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

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

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.

A scalability solution for Ethereum that allows more transactions per second by introducing additional blockchains to the main Ethereum blockchain. 

A cryptocurrency that uses both PoW and PoS in its consensus mechanism to offer increased security.

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 rapid rise in a cryptocurrency’s price.

Occurs when a cryptocurrency’s price shoots up and then quickly crashes. Pump and dumps are often coordinated manipulations of the market by groups of individuals for profit.

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

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.

RNG refers to 'Random Number Generator," which is the technological device responsible for producing random results, based on a game's established Return to Player (RTP) percentage. It is designed to avoid bias.

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 site that aggregates a nearly endless range of topics. Subreddits exist within Reddit to focus on specific topics.

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).

Selling, before buying, and intending to repurchase the stock at a lower price to realize the profit from a coin/asset decreasing in value. Basically profiting from the falling price of an asset.

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

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

A digital asset on the Steem blockchain that can be launched by any user for the purpose of monetizing online content and encouraging positive user participation.

Price-stable cryptocurrencies that achieve stability through pegging their value to another asset, like the US dollar.

Secure Hash Algorithm 256. An algorithm used by some Proof of Work consensus mechanisms (most notably, Bitcoin's).

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 programming language used to create smart contracts.

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.

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

The anonymous person or group that created Bitcoin.

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

The Securities and Exchange Commision. A regulatory US agency responsible for the investigation and shut down of several cryptocurrency-related projects.

Segregated Witnesses. A protocol implemented by Bitcoin to increase transaction speed. SegWit allows more transactions to be written into a single block on a blockchain.

An individual who believes that the blocks in Bitcoin should be kept small so that anyone can run a full node.  

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

All processes involved in delivering products and services from their providers to their customers.

Software preprogrammed to buy, sell, short, long or execute other trading strategies and commands when the owner is absent. Trading while asleep or away from the keyboard.

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.

Transactions per second. A measure which describes how fast a cryptocurrency can handle its users' transactions.

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

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

Transaction.

An amount of value that must be paid to transfer value on a blockchain.

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.

A measure that describes the strength of association between an address and earlier transaction addresses.

Test

Software that changes an environment irreversibly after its release. For example, once Bitcoin’s code was launched and distributed amongst many machines, it virtually could not be stopped.

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

An adult person without an account at a bank or other financial institution. 

A measure that describes how rapidly an asset tends to fluctuate in price.

Addresses that hold cryptocurrency. Instead of random alphanumeric strings, however, users with vanity addresses can choose specific words and phrases for their addresses, similar to vanity license plates,

A highly respected programmer responsible for writing Ethereum's white paper and co-creating Ethereum's technology.

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.

Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge. Zk-SNARKs is a technology which allows cryptocurrencies to shield transaction information from uninvolved parties.

A cryptocurrency that uses the Bitcoin protocol but offers increased anonymity in transactions.

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