Crypto Terminology

0-9
51% Attack
A form of network attack where a group of miners controls 50% of the computing power
A
AML (Anti Money Laundering)
A framework that includes legal procedures, laws and regulations to minimize and limit the flow of funds generated from illegal activities.
AMM (Automated Market Maker)
The tool brings automatic liquidity to the exchange.
APR
Or the annual percentage rate is the amount of interest you will pay on an outstanding debt each year.
APY
Used for annual percentage yield, which is the rate earned on an investment over one year, taking into account the effects of compound interest.
ASIC
Application Specific Integrated Circuit, only specialized IC circuits in electronics. ASIC miner refers to a computerized device or hardware that uses an ASIC for the sole purpose of mining cryptocurrency.
ATH (All-Time-High)
ATH stands for All-Time-High which is the highest price of a cryptocurrency
ATL (All-Time-Low)
Lowest point (in price, market capitalization) that a cryptocurrency has ever had in history.
Account
Accounts you register on exchanges, or social network accounts so you can track the financial performance of specific asset types.
Address
Where cryptocurrency can be sent to and from, as a string of letters and numbers.
Airdrop
Airdrop is a project reward distributed to users
Allocation
The allocation of tokens or equity through earned, purchased or dedicated to investors, groups or organizations. These distributions may be paid all at once on a certain date or in stages according to a predetermined schedule.
Altcoins
Altcoins are a collection of cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.
Angel Investor
An individual who provides capital for a new business venture or start-up company.
Auction
A live event at which customers offer competitive prices for assets and services. The asset or service will be sold to the person offering the highest price
Audit
The job of checking the security vulnerabilities of the crypto project is through examining the code in the project's products.
B
BEP-2
A token standard on Binance Chain.
BEP-20
A token standard on Binance Smart Chain.
BEP-721
A technical standard that defines a set of rules for issuing NFTs in the Binance Smart Chain ecosystem.
BEP-95
A real-time BNB burn on Binance Smart Chain.
Bags
One's cryptocurrency portfolio holdings.
Bear Market
Bear market, in which the prices of cryptocurrencies fall suddenly and continuously.
Bitcoin Dominance
Bitcoin's market capitalization ratio compared to other cryptocurrencies
Bollinger Bands
The technical analysis indicator is composed of two moving averages to measure market volatility.
Breakout
Price action breaking out of the pattern or resistance
Bull Market
The market increased, in which the prices of cryptocurrencies increased sharply and continuously.
C
CEX (Centralized Exchange)
Centralized trading platform. An intermediary venue that facilitates cryptocurrency transactions between buyers and sellers.
Call option
Buy option. A type of option that increases in value as a stock increases in price. They are the most well-known type of option and allow the holder to lock in a price to buy a specific stock on a specific date.
Candlestick
A candlestick chart is used by traders to determine possible price movements based on historical patterns.
Capital
Defined as the large amount of money you will use to invest.
Cloud Mining
A simple way to earn cryptocurrency by renting computing power from third-party sources.
Coin
A cryptocurrency built on the foundation of its own Blockchain, operating independently of each other, anyone can participate in its network.
Cold wallet
Cold wallet. This is a cryptocurrency wallet that is not connected to the internet or any other unsecured network when not in use.
Contract
In cryptocurrency, smart contracts execute functions on the blockchain.
Cross-chain
The solution enables two separate blockchain networks to communicate with each other. In other words, it allows assets to be transferred from one blockchain to another.
Crowdloan
The implementation of new projects to raise funds through DOT or KSM for positions on the Kusama or Polkadot network.
Crypto Debit Card
A type of debit card that allows its holder to pay for goods and services with cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETH).
Whale
Organizations or individuals holding a large amount of assets such as BTC, ETH...
D
DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)
A system of encrypted rules for decentralized organization.
DApp (Decentralized Application)
Applications run on a peer-to-peer network instead of a central computer. This allows software to run on the internet without being controlled by a single entity.
DCA (Dollar Cost Averaging)
A strategy of dividing money into fixed and regular investments regardless of the asset's price.
DEX (Decentralized Exchange)
A decentralized exchange. Users can trade directly from their wallets without having to deposit funds into the exchange
DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
An ecosystem consisting of decentralized applications developed on different blockchain networks.
Double Spending
A certain cryptocurrency can be spent twice. Usually a result of a 51% attack or race attack.
Downtrend
Shows a bearish market price trend that can be short-term or long-term.
AND
E-Signature
Electronic signature is a broad term for any type of signature in an electronic format. Refers to data in electronic form that is attached to other data in electronic form and used by the signer to sign, used in electronic transactions.
EMA (Exponential Moving Average)
A type of moving average that gives more weight to recent prices in the calculation. This makes it more responsive to recent price changes.
ERC-20
A token standard on the Ethereum network was first proposed in November 2015.
ERC-721
A technical standard that defines a set of rules for issuing NFTs in the Ethereum ecosystem.
EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)
The Ethereum virtual machine, like a processor or computer, lends its accumulated computing power to developers. Developers use this resource to create smart contracts and dApps.
Elliott Waves
A technical analysis indicator, a reliable tool for various portfolio managers and suggests that cryptocurrency price movements can be reasonably predicted by studying price history when markets move in wave-like patterns driven by investor psychology.
Exchange
The venue allows customers to trade cryptocurrency for fiat or other cryptocurrencies.
F
FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)
FOMO stands for Fear Of Missing Out and is a psychological effect of fear of missing out on something.
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt)
A propaganda strategy in marketing used to spread fear and insecurity to customers and investors
Fakeout
A price action that breaks out of a pattern, resistance, or support then quickly reverses without continuing the previous breakout trend.
Fan Token
A cryptocurrency issued by a specific sports club and allowing its holder to participate in management activities and gain exclusive rewards & discounts.
Fiat
Fiat are currencies issued by central banks.
Flash Loan (Fast loan)
A transaction in which a specific amount of liquidity is borrowed and repaid in the same transaction or block.
Flash Loan Attack
Attacks take advantage of flash loans and protocol vulnerabilities for personal gain.
Fork (Blockchain)
Chain forks, or splits, create an alternate version of the blockchain, so that two blockchains run concurrently.
Futures Contract
An agreement between the buyer and seller regarding the future price of a specific asset.
G
GameFi
Combination of DeFi, NFTs and blockchain-based online games.
Gas
Pricing mechanism used on the Ethereum blockchain to calculate the cost of smart contract operations and transaction fees.
Gems
A term for relatively little-known low-cap coins that have enormous potential or are severely undervalued.
Genesis Block
The first block is recorded on the blockchain network.
Golden Cross
A bullish signal occurs when the short-term moving average (MA50) crosses above the long-term moving average (MA200).
Google Authenticator
The software-based verification system generates a unique one-time code based on the time spent on your mobile phone.
Governance Token
A token that can be used to vote on decisions that affect the ecosystem.
Web
The smallest unit of Ether. It is often used to measure the amount of gas used when trading. 1,000,000,000 wei = 1 Giga wei (Gwei)
H
HODL
An act of holding crypto assets without selling. This is a misspelling of the word “HOLD” originating from Bitcointalk. Many people also believe that HODL stands for Hold On for Dear Life.
Halving
Block reward reduction event by 1/2. This is a mechanism to reduce the rate of new coin issuance
Hard Cap
The maximum amount a project intends to raise during ICO, IEO, etc.
Hash Rate
A unit of measurement for the speed at which computers or mining hardware can calculate new hashes
Hot Wallet
A cryptocurrency wallet is connected to the internet to store cryptocurrencies, as opposed to an offline cold wallet.
I
ICO (Initial Coin Offering)
A form of capital raising for crypto projects. The project will sell their cryptocurrency to investors
IEO (Initial Exchange Offering)
A form of capital raising for cryptocurrency projects guaranteed by the exchange
IPFS (InterPlanetary File System)
A protocol for storing and accessing distributed content.
IPO (Initial Public Offering)
The activities of companies opening their shares to the public for the first time
Impermanent Loss
The term refers to when a liquidity provider temporarily loses funds due to volatility in a trading pair.
Internet of Things (IoT)
A global network of interconnected devices, sensors and software can collect and exchange data with each other in real time over the Internet.
Invest
Refers to the act of putting money into a financial plan with the intention of making a profit.
Isolated Margin
Margin balance is allocated to a position.
J
Jager
The smallest unit of BNB. 1 Jager = 0.00000001 BNB

Jomo
The joy of ignoring what other people do that 'seems fun', focusing on what makes you truly happy. JOMO is the opposite of FOMO.
K
KYC (Know Your Customer)
A standard process in the financial industry that allows companies to identify their customers and comply with AML.
Keylogger
A function that records or keystrokes on a computer. In the hands of cybercriminals, a keylogger is a tool to steal your information.
L
Large Cap
Established projects and organizations have a market capitalization of $10 billion or more
Layer 0
Also known as the Data Transfer Layer, it is the bottom layer of the OSI model and is mainly concerned with the integration between blockchain and traditional networks.
Layer 2
A framework or protocol built on top of an existing blockchain to provide scalability
Layer-1 Blockchain
A set of solutions that improve the underlying protocol itself.
Lightning Network
A layer 2 operates on top of the existing blockchain, allowing for increased transaction speeds between participating nodes.
Limit Order/Limit Buy/Limit Sell
The tools allow traders to automatically buy or sell cryptocurrencies on the trading platform when a certain price target is reached.
Limit order
An order type to buy or sell a cryptocurrency at a specific price or a better price.
Liquidation
Liquidation refers to the conversion of an asset or cryptocurrency for fiat or its equivalent such as Tether (USDT) and other stablecoins. In the cryptocurrency industry, Forced Liquidation occurs with margin trading where a trader's position is automatically closed when they fail to maintain the need for a leveraged position.
Liquidity
The ability to sell or buy any given asset without causing a significant fluctuation in the market price of that asset.
Liquidity Bootstrapping Pool (LBP)
A Smart Pool with the function of changing the proportion of tokens in the Pool over a predetermined time.
Liquidity Mining
A mechanism or process in which participants provide cryptocurrency into liquidity pools and are rewarded with fees and tokens based on their share.
Liquidity Pool
Crypto assets are held to facilitate the trading of trading pairs on decentralized exchanges.
Liquidity Provider
Decentralized exchange users fund the liquidity pool with tokens they own.
Long
A situation in which you buy cryptocurrency with the expectation of selling it at a higher price for a profit later.
Low Cap
Established projects and organizations have a market capitalization of less than $50 million.
M
Mainnet
A complete blockchain is launched after the testnet phase.
Margin Trading
A form of trading with borrowed capital, also known as margin trading.
Market
An area or arena, online or offline, in which commercial transactions are conducted.
Market Maker
Traders place limit orders on the market. Market Maker provides liquidity and depth to the market and profits from price differences in making purchases.
Market Taker
Market participants in trading seek immediate liquidity to execute their trades and positions. That is, the person who matches orders from the order book created by Market Maker.
Market cap (Market Capitalization)
Total trading value of a given cryptocurrency – calculated as: supply of that coin * current price.
Masternode
Nodes on the network often require staking a minimum amount of a certain coin to receive staking rewards.
Max Supply
The maximum number of coins a project can issue.
Maximum Supply
The maximum number of coins or tokens that will be created for a given cryptocurrency.
Memecoin
A cryptocurrency that originated from an Internet meme or has some other humorous characteristics.
Metaverse
A digital universe that contains all aspects of the real world.
Mid Cap
Established projects and organizations have market capitalizations ranging from $1 billion to $10 billion.
Miner
Contributors to a blockchain participate in the mining process.
Mining
Is the process of verifying transactions on the blockchain network.
Mining Pool
An arrangement in which several miners pool their resources to increase their chances of finding the next block.
Mining Reward
The income miners receive after finding and validating a block.
Money Flow Index (MFI)
The money flow index is a technical indicator that measures the buying or selling pressure of an asset through price and volume.
Moon
A word that describes an upward trend in the price of a cryptocurrency or other asset class.
Moving Average (MA)
A moving average (MA) is a technical indicator that reacts to financial market trends and is used by market experts to predict the trend direction of an asset.
Multi-chain
Refers to multi-chain or multi-platform. If a project is deployed on multichain, it means the project is deployed on two or more Ethereum, BSC, or other blockchains.
Multisignature
An additional layer of security by requiring more than one key to authorize a transaction.
N
NFT (Non-fungible Token)
A type of token that represents a digital or real-world asset. This token is unique and non-interchangeable.
Node
A participant on the blockchain network communicates with other participants to ensure the security and integrity of the system.
Non-Custodial
Usually refers to key storage. It is related to the wallet or exchange. This is a setup where the private key is directly held by the user. No one, including the wallet provider, has the right to access, freeze or trade the wallet owner's assets.
O
OTC
Trading is done outside the exchange, usually peer-to-peer through private exchanges.
Off-chain
Transactions that occur off a given blockchain network can later be reported or grouped together before being sent to the main chain.
On-chain
Transactions are recorded on the blockchain itself and are visible to all nodes on the blockchain network.
Open-source
Mention that participants in the information are released for free so that users can modify or add some updates or other superior features to pursue the greater common good.
Opensea
A decentralized P2P platform for NFT trading.
Options Market
A public market for options, which gives buyers the option to buy or sell cryptocurrency at a specific strike price, on or before a specific date.
Oracle
Third-party data sources or data feeds are used to determine outcomes for smart contracts.
Order book
Electronic list of outstanding buy and sell orders for a specific asset on an exchange or market.
Oversold
Refers to a cryptocurrency that is sold by investors more and more over time, with its price decreasing over a long period of time.
P
Pair
Trade one cryptocurrency against another, such as the BTC/ETH trading pair.
Parachain
Application-specific data structures run side by side in Polkadot.
Peer-to-Peer (P2P)
Information technology infrastructure allows two or more computer systems to connect and share resources without requiring a server or, more generally, a third party to intervene.
Permissionless
Often used to describe blockchains, a system is said to be permissionless when there is no entity that can regulate who can use it and how it can be used.
Perpetual Contract
A derivative product but different from futures contract because it does not have an expiration date.
Platform
In the cryptocurrency and blockchain space, the term refers to the parent blockchain of the tokens or it can refer to an exchange where you can trade cryptocurrencies.
Play-to-Earn (P2E)
An open economy and financial rewards to players who bring value to its metaverse.
Ponzi Scheme
A fraudulent investment involves the purported payment of profits to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors.
Portfolio
A collection or portfolio of cryptocurrencies or crypto-assets held by an investment company, hedge fund, financial institution or individual.
Pre-IDO
Refers to the token offering before the actual initial DEX offering (IDO) takes place.
Pre-Sale
The sale of cryptocurrency, before it becomes public, to specific investors.
Private Key
Often referred to with cryptocurrency wallets, a string format to connect to an account, quite similar to a bank account password. To be able to use the money in this wallet, the code must match the public key.
Proof-of-Stake (PoS)
A consensus protocol or set of rules used to validate cryptocurrency transactions through staking.
Proof-of-Work (PoW)
The first consensus algorithm created in Blockchain. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin are using PoW to confirm transactions and create new blocks to be added to the chain.
Protocol
The set of rules that define interactions on the network, typically related to consensus, transaction validation, and network participation on a blockchain.
Public Key
A series of random numbers and can be used to encrypt a message, which only the intended recipient can decrypt and read using the associated private key.
Public Sale
The period of time when an asset or service is released to the market and made available to all customers for purchase. Usually conducted on exchange platforms and websites such as DEX and CEX exchanges in the form of ICO, IDO, IEO for cryptocurrencies.
Pump
In crypto, it is used to refer to the act of buying a large number of coins/tokens to drive up demand and prices.
Q
QR Code
A form of information encoded for display so that it can be read by a machine.
R
DIRECT
A loss or divided account of a trader, it is also used to joke about a newly purchased coin having a very deep price drop and many other cases.
ROI
Ratio between net profit and investment costs.
RSI (Relative Strength Index)
Relative strength index. This is a momentum oscillator that measures the magnitude of price movements as well as the speed of these movements. It is also an important technical analysis indicator.
Rank
The position of a cryptocurrency ranked by market capitalization.
Ransomware
A type of malware used by hackers to steal or encrypt victims' files in order to extort them for ransom in exchange for decrypting or recovering the files.
Replay chain
The central chain used by the Polkadot network.
Resistance
Resist. The highest point on the chart that when the price moves to that level, the market will have difficulty breaking it.
Roadmap
A visual brief helps outline the vision and direction of a particular product.
Rug Pull
A type of scam in which developers abandon a project and take their investors' money.
S
SEC
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is an independent government agency responsible for regulating the securities market.
SHO (Strong Holder Offering)
Fundraising mechanisms that qualify investors are selected based on on-chain activities and other data sets.
Satoshi (SATS)
The smallest unit of bitcoin is 0.00000001 BTC.
Satoshi Nakamoto
The individual or group of individuals who created Bitcoin.
Scam
The scheme was designed to defraud users to extort people's cryptocurrency.
Scamcoin
The coins are created as “get-rich-quick or pump-up schemes” by their developers.
Scammer
Participants in the scam scheme.
Scholarship / Scholar
Popularly used in Axie Infinity, the process of managers lending their free Axie to “Scholars” who are new to the game and don't have enough money to form a team of three NFT monsters required to play the game.
Security Token
A digital form of traditional stocks. Security Token holders can receive many of the same benefits as stocks and other securities.
Seed Phrase
Also known as recovery phrase, fallback phrase or mnemonic phrase. It refers to a generated list of 12 to 24 words, in a specific order, used by cryptocurrency wallet users to regain access and control of their funds on-chain.
Sell Wall
A situation where a large limit order has been placed to sell when the cryptocurrency reaches a certain value.
Sharding
A scaling approach allows dividing blockchain states into partitions containing states and transaction history. Each segment can be processed in parallel.
Shitcoin
A coin has no value or potential use without clear information.
Smart contract
An agreement between two people or entities in the form of computer code programmed to execute automatically. Smart contracts are implemented on the blockchain, which means the terms are stored in a distributed database and cannot be changed.
Snapshot
Refers to the ability to record the state of something at a specific time. In blockchain, Snapshot refers to the act of recording the state of a blockchain at a specific block height.
Stablecoins
A cryptocurrency is designed to maintain a stable value, rather than experiencing significant changes in price.
Support
Support. In contrast to Resistance, support is the lowest point on the chart that when the price moves to that level, the market will have difficulty breaking it.
Symbol
Code of a cryptocurrency; for example, Bitcoin's symbol is BTC.
Synthetic Asset
Synthetic assets, sometimes called synths, are a combination of cryptocurrencies and traditional derivatives.
T
Taproot
An upgrade to Bitcoin aimed at improving its privacy and network efficiency.
Technical Analysis (TA)
A method called a tool used to predict possible future price fluctuations of cryptocurrencies, stocks, etc. based on market data.
Technical Indicator
A calculation based on the price, volume or open interest of a security or contract, used by technical traders.
Testnet
A term referring to the mechanism for testing blockchains. Through this network, developers can perform experiments without the risk of affecting the correct functioning of the main network.
Token
A type of digital asset created on Blockchain is already available.
Token Generation Event (TGE)
When the token is issued.
Token Sale
Refers to the initial offering of a cryptocurrency token to a group of private investors before it is officially sold on the market.
Token Standard
A set of standards by which tokens are developed on a certain blockchain platform. For example, ERC-20 is the most popular standard for tokens operating on the Ethereum blockchain.
Tokenomics
Demonstrates the nature of the economic model of crypto assets. It consists of a set of rules that regulate the issuance and supply of cryptocurrencies.
Total Supply
Total number of coins/tokens available, minus any amount that has been burned.
Total Value Locked (TVL)
An index representing the total value of all assets deposited into decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols to earn rewards, interest, new tokens, etc.
Trade volume
Cryptocurrency volume traded in the last 24 hours.
Trading bot
A program designed to automate trading of crypto assets on behalf of the trader.
Transaction (TX)
Cryptocurrency exchange action on the blockchain.
Transaction Fee
A payment for using blockchain for transactions.
Two-Factor Authentication (2FA)
Two-factor authentication (2FA) is an access method that requires two different forms of authentication.
IN
Uptrend
Shows an upward trend in market prices that can be short-term or long-term.
Utility token
Tokens are specifically designed to help people use something.
IN
Validator
A participant in the blockchain has a Poof of Stake consensus mechanism. They participate in validating blocks to receive rewards.
Venture Capital
A form of private equity offered to finance small, early-stage businesses that are considered to have high growth potential.
Virtual Automated Market Makers (vAMMs)
A system that provides synthetic (or virtual) liquidity, allowing traders to buy and sell derivatives entirely on the blockchain.
Virtual Reality (VR)
The use of computer technology to create a simulated environment that can be explored in a 360-degree perspective.
Vitalik Buterin
One of the creators of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.
Volume
The volume of cryptocurrencies that have been traded in a given period, such as the last 24 hours.
IN
Wallet
A place where cryptocurrency users can store, send and receive assets.
Watchlist
A feature of the website where users can create their own list of cryptocurrencies to follow.
Weak Hand
Mentions that traders tend to panic and sell at the first sign of a cryptocurrency price drop.
Web 1.0
A term often used to describe the first version of the Internet.
Web 2.0
Describes the current state of the web, with support for more user-generated content and more stability for general users compared to Web 1.0
Web 3.0
The new generation of the internet.
Web3 Foundation
Established to promote new technologies and applications in the field of decentralized web software protocols.
Wei
The smallest fraction of Ether, with each Ether being 1000000000000000000 Wei.
Whitepaper
A document released by a crypto project that provides investors with technical information about the project's concept and a roadmap documenting the project's development plans.
AND
YTD
From the beginning of the year until now.
Yield Farming
Refers to earning interest by investing cryptocurrencies in decentralized financial markets.
WITH
Zero Confirmation Transaction
Alternative phrase for an unconfirmed transaction.
Zero-Knowledge Proof
Allows a party to provide evidence that a transaction or event occurred without revealing private details of that transaction or event.
Zk-SNARK
Proof allows a party to prove it possesses certain information without disclosing that information.