Cryptocurrency Glossary

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.

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

Artificial Intelligence. As machines advance in intelligence, they are capable of learning from their environments and completing more complex tasks.

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

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

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

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. 

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."

A new version of the Bitcoin Protocol developed using the Javascript programming language.

A segment of data recorded on the blockchain that can contain transactions and other information.

A forum of myriad boards where enthusiasts and experts alike can go to discuss various cryptocurrency related topics.

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

The total number of blocks on a blockchain since the genesis block (first block) was mined.

Optimistic about the future of a cryptocurrency’s price.

A trader or speculator who believes cryptocurrency prices will rise.

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.

The time it takes to mine a new block.

A term used to describe cryptocurrency projects that facilitate programmable transactions rather than simply acting as methods to store and transfer value. Projects like Ethereum are known as Blockchain 2.0 contracts because they allow their users to create and execute smart contracts and develop decentralized apps.

Pessimistic about the future of a cryptocurrency’s price.

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

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.

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.

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

The unofficial website of Bitcoin Core.

The largest distributor of ASIC miners, run by Jihan Wu.

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

A short rise in a cryptocurrency’s price that makes investors think the price will continue to rise. Instead, the price falls significantly following the rise, fooling the “bulls.”  

An irreversible list of all transactions that have ever occurred on a platform.

A method of encoding inputs to create unique outputs, especially for creating digital fingerprints.

An asset, of any kind, that a lender will accept to secure a loan. If the borrower doesn't pay back the loan -- the lender keeps or sells the asset.

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.

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

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

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

Controlled by one group or within one certain area.

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

A digital wallet address is a combination of letters and numbers that pseudonymously represent an account number for digital holdings. 

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

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

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

Decentralized exchange. A platform (which isn't controlled by any single authority) that allows users to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

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

A group of businesses and organizations working together to build a globally-accepted identity verification system. The DIF uses blockchain technology to create a system that doesn't require a centralized authority for purposes of identification.

The act of selling 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 tax on cryptocurrency holdings that encourages spending coins because they are constantly being 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.

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

Distributed Apps. Applications without centralized control.

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."

An organization that operates to earn profits for its shareholders (coin holders) by creating value for the free market.

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.

An over/under guessing game that uses random number generators to output results, allowing individuals to bet using cryptocurrencies.

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

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

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

A third party used to facilitate transactions and increase security.

An extremely secure messaging functionality offered by QRL.

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

A change in the original code of a software.

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.

The analysis of the economic and political factors that affect the intrinsic value of an asset

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

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.

Financial technology (Fintech) is used to describe new technologies that seek to improve the use and delivery of financial services.

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

LTV stands for Loan-to-value. The ratio expresses the amount of a loan compared to the value of an asset. For example: taking a $1,000 loan and putting up $2,000 worth of Bitcoin as collateral = 50% LTV. The loan is worth 50% of the bitcoin collateral securing it.

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.

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.

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

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

The process of intermittently decreasing the block reward given to cryptocurrency miners by 50%.

A physical device that stores private keys.

The maximum amount of money a cryptocurrency’s founders will accept while raising money in exchange for early coins on their platform.

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”.

Created each time coins are sent to an address.

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

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.

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

A popular programming language.

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.

A limit order is an order where the price is determined by the trader. The trade is only executed if the market price reaches the trader's limit price or better.

Borrowed money used to trade assets.

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

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 cryptocurrency meme, short for Lamborghinis. When investors' coins' prices go to the Moon, they can buy Lambos.

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.

A sub-unit of Bitcoin: 1000 mBTC equal 1 BTC.

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

A cryptocurrency meme that refers to the skyrocketing of a coin's price. When Hodlers’ coins go to the Moon, they can all buy Lambos.

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

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.

A cryptocurrency exchange led by Mark Karpeles that allegedly lost millions of dollars in user funds.

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

A node (device running the full software of a cryptocurrency) that fulfills more purposes than regular nodes - such as increasing privacy, providing instant transactions, and participating in governance.

The total value of a cryptocurrency. Calculated by multiplying a coin’s price by its total supply.

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

A popular framework for JavaScript code to be written in. 

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

The initiator of communication on a cryptocurrency network.

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).

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.

Freedom from surveillance.

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.

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

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

A rapid rise in a cryptocurrency’s price.

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

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

Short for Price Down Limit. PDL is a price set by DeFi platforms. If the collateral crypto price decreases below the PDL set , customers' collaterals will be sold.

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

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

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

A process of storing information that cannot be changed or deleted.

A code containing information that can be read by a device with a camera.

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.

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

Transfer of currency across a large distance, usually across borders.

A plan that sets goals and deadlines for a project's future development.

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

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

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.

Self-custody means only you hold and have access to your digital assets. This means that you choose not to use a third party, and will manage your private key yourself.

A blockchain that runs separately from a cryptocurrency's main blockchain, using the native currency to carry out transactions. Subchains help scalability by reducing the amount of data stored on a cryptocurrency's main blockchain, often called the "parent chain."

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

A feature of the ARK cryptocurrency which allows separate blockchains to connect with each other and communicate.

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.

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

An individual that volunteers to lock some of their coins or tokens up to verify transactions on a blockchain in exchange for staking rewards.

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

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

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

An individual who predicts future prices of assets and makes bets based on their predictions.

Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol. A set of protocols that allow multiple computers to communicate.

TradFi is short for Traditional Finance. It refers to traditional retail, commercial, and investment banks, and FinTechs.

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.”

A measure of how frequently and how heavily a cryptocurrency is bought and/or sold during a given time period. 

In the cryptocurrency sphere a Tether is a type of coin. This coin is ‘tethered’ or paired 1-to-1 with the U.S. Dollar.

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

A cryptocurrency created using another platform (like Ethereum). Tokens operate by using the technology of the platform on which they were created.

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 measure that describes how many coins of a given cryptocurrency can exist (after all mining is completed, if applicable).

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

An individual who buys and sells cryptocurrency.

A unit of currency consumed in a process. For example, an arcade token that gets used when a game is played or a coin like BNB Binance token, which is used to pay exchange fees.

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.

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,

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

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

The filename which stores public and private keys for a full node.

An electronic transaction in which value is sent from one party to another.

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.

The native currency of Monero.

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

Even millions of dollars worth of security won't protect an individual if someone threatens to hit them with a $5 wrench unless they give up their passwords. The best defense is keeping quiet about your cryptocurrency holdings.

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