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Glossary

Definitions of common blockchain and cryptocurrency-related terms used on CryptoSlate.

51% Attack

Refers a directed towards controlling share of the collective mining pool. If a malicious party were to control more than 51% of global hashing power, it would give them the potential to direct the chain and use their majority consensus to submit fake transactions that may allow for the double spending of funds.

Absolute Advantage

An economic term that refers to an actor’s direct advantage in efficiency due to having superior production capability.

Active Management

An investing strategy is used by fund managers who aim to outperform the index or market to generate profits.

Airdrop

A form of distribution that awards holders of particular existing cryptocurrencies

Algorithm

An unambiguous set of instructions used to solve a specified class of problems.

All or None Order (AON)

An order to buy or sell a stock that will execute only in its entirety. If not, the order won’t execute at all.

Allocation

Dividing the total token supply into segments and determining if they can be earned, reserved, or purchased.

Alpha

When used as an indication of active return on an investment, it measures the asset price against the overall market movement. The excess return of investment relative to the return of the market is the investment’s alpha. When used to indicate software status, it refers to the very first version or the basic software of […]

Altcoin

A general term used to describe any cryptocurrency alternative that is not Bitcoin.

Altcoin

Short for “Alternative Coin”, refers to all coins except Bitcoin.

AML

Short for “Anti Money Laundering.” A set of regulations determined by a nation to combat money laundering.

Angel Investor

Private investors who provide financial support to new startups in return for equity rights.

API

Short for “Application Programming Interface.” It is a piece of code that enables interaction between software to enable various tasks like obtaining real market data or execute trades

APU

Accelerated Processing Unit. A term coined by the semiconductor manufacturer AMD, it offers a CPU and GPU integrated onto a single die allowing for lower latency, greater power efficiency and a smaller overall footprint

Arbitrage

Taking advantage of variable prices across multiple exchanges in order to sell assets at a profit, despite little to no market movement.

Ascending triangle

An ascending triangle is generally considered to be a continuation pattern, meaning that the pattern is significant if it occurs within an uptrend or downtrend. Once the breakout from the triangle occurs, traders tend to aggressively buy or sell the asset depending on which direction the price broke out.

ASIC

Application Specific integrated circuits. Computing units designed for use on a single algorithm providing high performance and power efficiency

Ask Price

The lowest price sellers determine as willing to accept.

ATH

The All Time High price of a cryptocurrency.

Atomic Swaps

A medium to perform direct, peer to peer cross chain exchanges from one blockchain to another, without an intermediate trusted third party or escrow service.

Attack Surface

The entry points for unauthorized access into a system.

Bag Holder

Someone who has bought at a recent high and is left holding onto their asset, waiting to sell at the next point it breaks even.

BCF

Short for “Binance Blockchain Charity Foundation.” BCF is the world’s first decentralized charity platform. It was established to advocate the concept of blockchain for social good.

Bearish

A descriptive term borrowed from stock markets to describe a negative market outlook.

BEF

Short for “Binance Ecosystem Fund.” It is an initiative founded by Binance to establish collaborations within the blockchain and cryptocurrency ecosystem.

BEP-2

Short for “Binance Chain Evolution Proposal 2.” It defines a set of technical rules and specifications to create a new token on the Binance Chain.

BEP-20

It is a token standard to use when transferring crypto assets from other chains to the Binance Smart Chain. It is an extension of ERC-20, the most common Ethereum token standard. Due to this similarity, BEP-20 is compatible with ERC-20 and BEP-2.

BEP-721

The technical standard to create non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Binance Smart Chain. It is an extension of Ethereum ERC-721, the most commonly used NFT standard.

BEP-95

A Binance Evolution Proposal that introduces a real-time burning mechanism to Binance Smart Chain.

Beta

When used to indicate software status, it refers to an early test version of a program. Beta versions are released for users to test and for the team to get feedback. When used as an indication of market volatility, it measures the asset’s volatility in comparison to that of the market. If beta is less […]

Bid Price

The highest price a buyer is willing to pay for an asset.

Bid-Ask Spread

It is the difference between the highest bid price and the lowest ask price of an asset.

Black Swan Event

This term is used to refer to the most unexpected event that has the maximum possibility to occur in the market.

Block

Blocks are linearly arranged data structures that permanently record the transaction data on a blockchain.

Block Explorer

Similar to the File Explorer of a computer’s operating system. It allows users to browse blockchain data such as addresses, transactions, blocks tokens and Name Servers.

Block Header

The section exists in each block that contains the information hashed when the block is mined. It is used to identify the block.

Block Height

The number of blocks in the chain between the current block being minted and the genesis block.

Block Reward

A mechanism that awards miners with newly minted bitcoin, acting as an incentive for users to add hashing power to the network.

Block Time

The average time it takes for the network to find a solution to the block hash.

Blockchain

A system of recording information in chronological order on a decentralized distributed ledger.

Bollinger Bands

A technical analysis indicator measuring SMA20 and an upper and lower line.

BUIDL

Usage of the word “build” in the same fashion as “HODL”, refers to keeping your heads down and focusing on building a project.

Bull Market

Refers to having a positive trend in the prices of a market.

Bullish

A descriptive term borrowed from stock markets to describe a positive market outlook.

Burned

A process where Cryptocurrencies remove stored tokens from the circulating supply.

Buy Wall

Refers to a single huge buy order, or a composition of multiple large buy orders created at the same price.

Byzantine fault tolerance

A consensus mechanism that offers secure validation across a distributed set of data, stemming from information propagation theory labelled as the Byzantine Generals problem.

Candidate Block

A block that a miner is trying to mine when it’s not yet verified or added to the blockchain.

Candlestick

A representation of the price activity of an asset during a specific timeframe that displays four main price levels: open and close, and the highest and lowest.

Capitulation

Refers to losing hope in the asset and selling them at a loss to leave as quickly as possible.

Censorship-resistance

A characteristic of a cryptocurrency network that prevents any entity to control transactions on it.

CFTC

Short for “Commodity Futures Trading Commission,”  a US-based agency responsible for regulating the derivatives markets.

Cipher

An algorithm is used to encrypt and decrypt messages.

Circulating Supply

Refers to the total number of coins or tokens that are publicly available in the market and can be traded.

Coin

A cryptocurrency or digital cash that is operating on an independent blockchain and used as an exchange of value.

Cold Storage

A storage method that keeps the wallet off of the internet when it is not being actively used.

Collateral

Refers to the crypto asset that the borrower provides as a guarantee that the borrower will pay back.

Colocation

A separate space in a data center of stock exchanges that is shared with other entities such as high-frequency traders.

Confirmation Time

Refers to the time between the moment a transaction is submitted to the network and the moment it got recorded into a confirmed block.

Consensus algorithm

Ensures that all users taking part in the minting process maintain the same version the chain, whilst preventing any single party from using their power to derail or negatively direct the chain.

CPI

Short for “Consumer Price Index,”  which is a collection of assets whose price is tracked to gain market insight.

CPU

Central processing unit. A generalised processor used as the main ‘brains’ for a computer.

Crowdsale

The process where a blockchain offers investors newly minted tokens or coins, often at a discounted rate, in exchange for capital.

Cryptocurrency

Crypto is a form of medium of exchange that exists digitally or virtually and is secured by cryptography.

Cryptography

A science of using mathematical theories and computation to encrypt and decrypt information..

Custody

Refers to the holding of assets on behalf of a client.

DAC

Short for “Decentralized Autonomous Cooperative,” an organization that is controlled by its shareholders rather than a central authority.

DAG

Directed Acyclical Graph. A data structure that flows in one direct, it allows for chains to sprawl out into multi-threaded structures, increasing throughput whilst maintaining versioning and continuity.

DAO

Decentralised Autonomous Organization. A business model that operates on a series of set parameters, built into the company from inception allowing the company to operate with optional intervention from its creators, but is otherwise self-sufficient and revenue generating in its intended economic climate.

dApp

Stands for Decentralised Application. Where in part or all of the applications software stack is hosted, stored and processed on a network of systems where no single party has control or governance of the whole system.

DCA

Short for  “Dollar Cost Averaging”, refers to a strategy where an investor invests fixed dollar amounts over a regular time period instead of all at once.

DDoS

Distributed Denial of Service. A malicious attack that prevents users from communicating with the network by flooding the provider with requests in a way that block access to users.

Death Cross

A death cross appears on a chart when an asset’s short-term moving average crosses below the long-term moving average indicating the potential for a major selloff.

Decryption

Reverting the encrypted data back to its readable version.

DeFi

Short for decentralized finance. DeFi offers financial vehicles without relying on intermediaries such as brokerages, exchanges, or banks by using smart contracts on a blockchain. The most popular platform for DeFi applications is Ethereum.

Delegated Proof of Stake

Takes the fundamentals of proof of stake and adds a democratic element whereby the community elect Witness’ to secure the network and vote power is determined by the size of their staked assets.

Delisting

Removal of a coin or token from a cryptocurrency exchange.

Design Flaw Attack

An attack by creating either a smart contract, decentralized market or other software with knowledge of certain flaws to trick users who are interacting with a permissionless environment.

DEX

Decentralized Exchange. A cryptocurrency exchange platform that facilitates trading of assets on its own distributed ledger, removing the need for a centralized authority and potentially lowering trading costs

Difficulty Bomb

A term used specifically for Ethereum blockchain, referring to increasing mining difficulty due to its migration to proof of stake.

Digital Signature

A unique digital identifier that allows for a user to distinctly recognise and validate a file or transaction, usually through the use of a cryptographic hash similar to a public key.

Distributed Ledger

A digital record of transactions that is maintained by a group of clients where changes and additions are verified across all parties to ensure no tampering has taken place.

Double Spending

Implies that a crypto asset is spent twice. Usually occurs as a result of a 51% attack.

DYOR

Short for “Do Your Own Research”, used in crypto communities as a piece of advice before investing in any crypto asset.

Eclipse Attack

Occurs when the majority of nodes are malicious and collectively prevent specific nodes from receiving information from the honest nodes.

EEA

Short for “Enterprise Ethereum Alliance.” EEA is a member-led organization that aims at driving the use of the Ethereum blockchain as an open standard to empower enterprises.

ELI5

Explain it Like I’m 5. A borrowed abbreviation form reddit used ask for a concise, beginner level explanation.

Encryption

A technique to secure data into a code to prevent unauthorized access.

ENS

Similar to a DNS within internet infrastructure, it allows user to obtain a “custom domain” .eth address, instead of using regular hexadecimal hash.

ERC-721

An Ethereum-based non-fungible token.

ERC20

A protocol that outlines the specific functions and events that allow blockchains to interact with other via the Ethereum Blockchain. ERC20 tokens are currently the de facto token of choice for most ICO’s.

Escrow

A service that provides transaction security by acting as an impartial trusted third party, holding onto an asset until the terms of a contract have been fulfilled.

Ethereum

An open source blockchain that acts as a distributed computing platform and operating system, allowing decentralized applications and smart contracts be executed.

EVM

Ethereum Virtual Machine. An Ethereum runtime environment for smart contracts, Isolated from the rest of the networks, allowing new software to be tested in isolation whilst communicating with other contracts.

Exchange

A centralized or decentralized market used to buy or sell coins.

Fakeout

A term used in technical analysis to refer to a situation in which the investor enters into a position in anticipation of a future transaction, but the expected position never occurs.

Faucet

A site or application that will reward it’s users with a cryptocurrency for completing specified tasks and assignments.

Fiat

Currency that has no direct material backing, usually in reference to debt based markets such as USD.

Fiat

Fiat money refers to currencies issued and backed by governments.

Flappening

A scenario in which Litecoin (LTC) overtakes Bitcoin Cash (BCH) in terms of market capitalization.

Flippening

A scenario in where Ethereum overtakes Bitcoin as the dominant cryptocurrency.

FOK

Short for “Fill or Kill Order.”  Refers to a buy or sell order which will be canceled unless it is executed immediately and completely.

FOMO

Fear of Missing Out. Trades or Investment that is derived from an emotional reaction of wanting to take part in a popular trend.

Forex (FX)

A global market for trading fiat currencies. short for “Foreign Exchange Markets”

Formal Verification

Checking the correctness of a system using cryptographic algorithms and mechanisms.

Frontier AI

Frontier AI refers to extremely powerful foundation models that might have potentially dangerous capabilities that could seriously jeopardize public safety.

FUD

Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt that affects markets, usually in a negative fashion.

FUDster

Someone who uses an elevated media platform or social network to perpetuate Fear Uncertainty and Doubt through the investing community in order to effect prices.

Full Node

A computer that validates blocks and transactions by implementing all the rules of the chain. Unlike nodes, which download only key data and act as a redistribution point.

Fundamental Analysis

Trying to determine the real value of an asset using all publicly available information.

Futures Contract

An agreement that can be traded on exchanges that stipulates a buy or sell price of an asset at a specific price and time.

Gas

A measurement given to functions on the Ethereum blockchain to denote how computationally expensive they will be, this is offered to the miners who complete the process as a reward.

Gas Price

The maximum a user is willing to reward a miner in order to have their transaction processed, higher prices ensure faster transaction times.

General Public License

A type of license that allows users to copy and modify software.

Genesis Block

The first block of a blockchain, almost always hardcoded into the software clients — the only block in the chain that has no reference to a previous block.

GitHub

A website where teams can share their open-source codes.

GM

An abbreviation for good morning, which in crypto is a friendly and quick way of wishing your followers or community a joyous day. GM is often used both during day and night.

Golden Cross

A golden cross occurs when a short-term moving average crosses above a long-term moving average signaling a potential bullish breakout.

Gossip Protocol

A procedure for peer-to-peer communication where nodes share the “gossip” of a transaction to their connected nodes.

GPU

Graphics Processing Unit. A specialized electronic circuit that utilizes a highly parallelized structure and high speed memory to rapidly process rendering and manipulating graphical images, heavily employed in the gaming industry and scientific research for processing large datasets.

Gwei

The denomination in which gas prices are paid for on the Ethereum blockchain.

Halving

Refers to the process where the payout for reward mechanism for blockchain miners is halved when particular conditions are met.

Hard Cap

Refers to the maximum amount of tokens that can be generated.

Hard Fork

A software of protocol change that renders previous versions incompatible.

Hard Wallet

A wallet built upon a secure hardware platform that implement processes and platform specific software to provide greater security for their users.

Hash Rate

Refers to the required total computational speed of mining hardware to calculate new hashes.

Hashing

The process of transforming data using a mathematical function into a value or key that is reprehensive of the original data set. Used in lookup tables or Dictionaries, it adds a level of obfuscation, security and verification where the end user cannot access the original dataset without reversing or decoding the original process.

HD Wallets

Hierarchical Deterministic Wallet. Uses a 12 word mnemonic phrase or ‘seed’ to generate a Hierarchical tree like structure of keys, allowing the user to use multiple addresses in a single wallet.

HFT

Short for “High Frequency Trading.” An algorithmic trading method that involves the execution of a large number of small amount orders within seconds.

HODL

A meme in the crypto community that is a purposeful misspelling of the word “hold.” Another interpretation for HODL is an acronym meaning, “hold on for dear life.”

HTLC

Short for “Hashed TimeLock Contract.” A type of smart contract that reduces risk by creating a time-based escrow that unlocks with a cryptographic passphrase.

Iceberg Order

A trading method in which a large buy or sell order is divided into several small ones.

Index fund

A passively managed fund, where investors are buying into a portfolio that a particular segment of the market, called an index. Examples include the S&P 500 & Vanguard 500.

Initial coin offering

Similar to Crowdsale, provides blockchain with a one-time event allowing investors to buy tokens at a discounted rate and provide the chain with start-up capital, similar to an IPO in the stock market.

Initial Exchange Offering (IEO)

A fundraising method through which coins are sold through a trusted exchange market.

Initial Public Offering (IPO)

A fundraising method where tokens are sold through a trusted private company.

Interoperobility

Refers to the ability of different blockchains to be compatible with each other, transfer data from one another and build upon each others’ features.

IoT

Internet of Things. Used to describe one of landmark stages of the internet in where non-human web traffic, in the form of internet connected devices account for the majority of network usage.

IPFS

Short for “InterPlanetary File System,” an open-source, distributed peer-to-peer network to store and share data.

Isolated Margin

A margin balance is allocated to an individual position. It restricts the amount of margin allocated to each position and thereby reduces risks.

Keccak

A family of cryptographic hashing functions which utilize sponge construction in order to provide wider random permutation, leading to greater flexibility in its use cases.

KYC

Know Your Customer. A process used as an anti-money laundering countermeasure that involves investors providing exchanges and banks with verifiable means of identification such as a Government issued Passport or Driver’s License.

Lambo

A meme referring to the luxury vehicle investors will buy with their new found crypto wealth.

Latency

The time delay between submitting a transaction to a network and the first confirmation of the transaction.

Law of Demand

Refers to the readiness of consumers to buy a certain amount of assets from a certain price.

Layer 0

The first layer of a blockchain which includes the necessary elements to build the chain itself, such as hardware for mining and an internet connection.

Layer 1

Refers to an operating blockchain.

Layer 2

Refers to a solution protocol built on the layer 1 blockchain. Layer 2 solutions usually aim at providing scalability and speed to the layer 1 blockchain.

Ledger

A record-keeping system where the monetary and identity details of transactions are recorded anonymously.

Lightning Network

A blockchain scalability model that greatly expands throughput, speed, cost effectiveness and compatibility.

Liquidity

Refers to the ease of buying or selling an asset without causing significant price fluctuations.

Listing

Addition of an asset to an exchange market.

Mainchain

Referring to processes or transactions that occur on the most currently released version of a particular blockchain.

Mainnet Swap

Refers to the migration of an asset from one blockchain network to another.

Margin Trading

A high-risk trading behavior where the investor uses borrowed funds.

Market Capitalization

A measurement of the market valuation for outstanding tokens. Calculated by taking the price of a single token and multiplying it by the amount of tokens not outstanding.

Market Momentum

Refers to a continuous increase or decrease in market price within a certain timeframe.

Masternode

Nodes that verify new blocks and carry-out special governing roles, unlike regular nodes that add new transaction blocks to the blockchain.

Maximum Supply

Indicates the maximum number of tokens that will be created.

MD5

A hashing function developed in 1992 due to known vulnerabilities predominately used for checksums and data validity.

Mempool

A node’s mechanism for storing unconfirmed transactions.

Merged Mining

Mining more than one cryptocurrency at the same time without sacrificing hash rate.

Merkel Tree

Also known as a Hash Tree, is a data structure where every child node contains a hashing label of the node that exists above it in the tree.

Metadata

A data type that includes basic information about other data, such as its features or a transaction.

Metaverse

A virtual world where, one day, we will all interact, create, work, and live our lives. Crypto will play a pivotal in the metaverse as a digital universe will require digital money.

MEW

My Ether Wallet. A free open source tool to create ERC-20 compatible Ethereum wallets, currently the industry standard.

Mining

A process where algorithms use mathematical function to guess the hash of a block. This acts as collection, validation.

Mining Farm

Collection of multiple miners, or a large data center devoted to crypto mining.

Mooning

The process where market value of an asset skyrockets, exceeding investor’s expectations, often used as a meme.

Moores law

An observational rule of thumb credited to Gordon Moore in 1965 stating that the density of integrated circuits will double every approximately two years.

Moving Average Convergence Divergence

A technical analysis tool used to forecast future prices by indicating the relationship between two moving averages to provide a metric for price momentum.

Mt Gox

A Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that in 2013 accounted for over 70% of all bitcoin transactions, hacked in 2014 and filing for bankruptcy, its influence is still being felt today.

MultiSig

A digital signature scheme which allows multiple user to sign a contract or wallet.

NFT

An abbreviation for non-fungible token. Unlike most cryptocurrencies, which are fungible, NFT’s defining characteristic is that they cannot be divided or split into multiple parts. NFTs can represent many things on the blockchain, such as digital art, music, memberships, real estate deeds, and more.

NGMI

An abbreviation for not going to make it. i.e., “Dave sold all his Bitcoin at the bottom. He’s NGMI!”

Node

A point of conversion in the network that acts as a redistribution or end point.

Nonce

A random arbitrary number used to timestamp or otherwise ensure the order of a transaction in order to prevent against a replay attack.

OCO

Short for “one cancels the other order.” Refers to a pair of contradicting orders created together where only one of them can be executed.

Off-chain

A transaction or process that occurs outside the main blockchain.

Open source

Originating from the software industry, it is a program whose source code is made freely available to anybody, allowing them to study, change and distribute the software to anyone for any purpose.

Oracles

A third party data feed used by smart contracts to trigger events.

Orphan Block

Refers to a block that has been created but was not accepted by the network to be added to the main blockchain.

P2P

Stands for Peer to Peer. Denoting the ability for two computers to communicate across a network without a server or central authority.

Paper Bitcoin

Paper Bitcoin is the term for Bitcoin derivatives that don’t require direct cryptocurrency ownership.

Paper Wallet

An offline wallet that is simply the private key and address printed on paper, usually alongside a QR code, one of the safest ways of storing cryptocurrencies.

Peer-to-Peer (P2P)

A type of decentralized communication model created by two or more nodes who come together to share the workload and communicate.

Pegged Currency

Refers to the currencies which are linked to a specific (usually government-backed) asset in terms of their price. For example, USDT is pegged to the USD and is always valued at $1.

Phishing

A phishing attack happens when the attacker attempts to acquire the credentials of users to gain access to their wallets.

Polkadot Crowdloan

Projects who compete to reserve a spot on the Polkadot chain ask their supporters to stake Polkadots (DOT) to support their projects. This process of collecting staked DOTs is referred to as Polkadot Crowdloan.

Ponzi Scheme

An investment fraud in which the attacker collects funds from investors with promises of high returns, and uses the collected funds to pay certain previous investors back to validate his claims. After collecting enough, the scammer disappears with the funds.

Pre-sale

A token event sale that operates before an ICO campaign, often with lower targets.

Price wall

An accumulation of buy or sell orders at a specific price.

Private Key

Operates in tandem with a Public key as part of common asymmetric cryptography standards, this key should never be shared.

Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP)

A protocol that uses blockchain technology to create badges or collectibles to mark the attendance at an event.

Proof of Authority

A centralised validation method that gives the right to validate to only to eligible parties that have been approved by an authority.

Proof of Capacity

Also known as proof of space. This validation method is similar to PoW, but requires miners to pre-mine unique hashes, relying more on large amounts of storage than vast amounts of computing power.

Proof of Stake

A power efficient transaction validation system in where users must ‘stake’ their coins in order to mint new blocks, minting of fraudulent transactions will cause staked coins to be lost.

Proof of Work

A transaction validation system that requires the use of a computationally intensive process within the network that acts as a deterrent to prevent denial of Service or like-wise spam attacks.

Pseudorandom

A function that can produce an outcome that can pass statistical randomness tests.

Pump and dump

The process of buying a large amount of tokens at once, usually as a co-ordinated group, in order to artificially inflate or ‘pump’ the price causing a market reaction as outsiders attempt to ride the upward trend, then selling or ‘dumping’ at the highest point.

QR code

Quick response code. A type of two dimensional barcode with greater storage and faster readability than regular barcodes, its square structure also provides easy readability regardless of the axis.

Race Attack

Refers to two transactions that are created simultaneously with the purpose of spending the same funds twice.

Raiden Network

An ERC-20 compatible token designed to leverage secure payment channels in order to create an off-chain scaling solution for the Ethereum Blockchain.

Ransomware

A type of virus that threatens to destroy or publish private data unless a ransom is paid.

Rekt

Synonym for liquidated.

Rekt

Used as a synonym for “liquidated.”

Ring signature

A digital signature topology developed in 2001 leveraged in security focused cryptocurrencies, as a mechanism to anonymise transactions.

ROI

Short for “Return of Investment.” Calculated via the ratio between net profit and net cost, it is used as a measure for evaluating the success of an investment.

Routing Attack

An internet service provider level attack to manipulate the participation in an online system. Used on blockchains to manipulate nodes and mining.

RSI

Relative Strength Index. A common trading metric that provides a visual indicator of general market trends.

Rug Pull

A scam where a project team unexpectedly abandons the project and sells all its liquidity.

Satoshi

The smallest quantifiable amount of Bitcoin, one-billionth of a single Bitcoin or 0.000000001 BTC.

Satoshi Nakamoto

The pseudonymous name used by the original inventor of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency.

Scrypt

A power efficient hashing algorithm that is more RAM intensive than SHA-256, it saw its debut in the cryptocurrency market as the algorithm of choice for the Litecoin blockchain.

SEC

Short for “Securities and Exchange Commission.” It is a US government agency responsible for regulating the securities markets.

Seed phrase

Used as a point of origin for certain wallets, it uses a mnemonic phrase to generate a wallet ID which can then be used to regenerate the wallet in the case it gets erased or misplaced.

SegWit

Short for “Segregated Witness.” This refers to separating transaction signatures from Bitcoin transactions to increase the number of transactions recorded in one block.

Selfish Mining

Refers to when a miner strategically withholds or releases new blocks to the blockchain to create a competitive advantage for himself.

Sell Wall

Happens when an accumulation of sell orders at a certain price level reaches a very large amount.

SHA

Stands for Secure Hashing Algorithm: a standard of hashing algorithm developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the latest iteration being labeled SHA-3.

Sharding

A scalability solution for the Ethereum blockchain that validates the blockchain in a parallelised manner.

Sharpe Ratio

A measurement created in 1966 and used by investors to evaluate the return on investment.

Sidechain

A separate blockchain, attached to a parent blockchain that allows assets to be interchangeable, in turn increasing the scope, throughput and availability of their parent chains.

Skein

One of the five finalists of the NIST hash function competition, based on the Threefish tweakable block cypher. Skein allows for a modular package size and can operate as drop in replacement for the SHA family of hash functions.

Smart Contracts

A digital protocol used to facilitate and enforce the negotiation of a contract without use of a third party.

Soft fork

A change to the software or protocol that allows for backwards compatible with previous versions.

Soft wallet

A software based wallet that is able to be hosted as a desktop, mobile or web application, many providing cross-platform integration with all three.

Solidity

A programming language based around EMCA Script and by extension JavaScript, created specifically for writing Smart contracts.

Stablecoin

A type of cryptocurrency that is backed by reserve assets and therefore can offer price stability.

Staking

A way of earning passive income from cryptocurrencies. When investors stake their coins, they don’t sell them and can’t trade them. In return, the staked coins generate rewards (similar to earning interest from a deposit account).

Staking Pool

Staking pools are created by miners to increase their chance of successfully validating a new block.

Tangle

IOTA’s DAG based alternative to the blockchain data structure, aimed predominantly at the IoT sector. It provides high throughput and instantaneous, feeless transactions. Each network participant also functions as a node in the Tangle network, with all users confirming transactions in order to send transactions themselves.

Tanking

A term used in traditional financial markets to refer to a strong downwards trend in the price history of a certain asset.

TestNet

An alternative blockchain running separate to the main chain used for developers to prototype software and updates to ensure stability before launch.

Ticker

A combination of letters used to represent a cryptocurrency on trading platforms. (Example: BTC, ETH, USDT etc.)

Token

A type of cryptocurrency issued on a blockchain. Unlike coins, tokens can represent an asset and be redeemed for them, or hold value on their own.

Token Lockup

A pre-planned lock-up or vesting period where tokens or coins are not allowed to be traded or liquidated. Usually set following a token sale to avoid liquidity problems.

Token Sale

Selling tokens in return for cryptocurrencies. Same as Initial Coin Offering.

TOR

The Onion Router. An anonymous communications network that encrypts data with multiple layers of security as it passes through nodes, bouncing traffic randomly through relays so that only the entry and exit relays view the full message.

Total Supply

Shows the number of assets that currently are in circulation or locked.

TPS

Short for “Transaction per Second.” Shows the number of transactions a blockchain is able to issue per second.

Transaction ID (TXID)

A set of characters unique to each verified transaction on the blockchain.

Turing Complete

A system that can be used to solve any possible computational problem.

TVL

An abbreviation for total value locked. TVL refers to the total value of crypto assets locked in protocols. For example, Aave has over $20 billion in TVL.

UTXO

Unspent transaction output.

Vapourware

When a heavily advertised or promised product never materialises.

Vladimir Club

Refers to someone who holds 0.01% of the maximum supply of a cryptocurrenncy.

Volatility

A measure of how quickly the price of an asset changes.

WAGMI

Abbreviation for “we’re all going to make it,” i.e. “All my friends bought Ethereum in 2017 and we held. WAGMI!”

Wallet

A software program that stores public and private keys, allowing the user to interact and perform transactions on blockchain.

Wallet Address

Similar to an email address, a wallet address acts as a destination for crypto to be sent to or received.

Weak Subjectivity

Concept created by Vitalik Buterin to refer to a requirement of PoS blockchains where certain nodes have to rely on other ones when determining the state of the blockchain.

Web 1.0

The first version of the web consists of read-only pages connected via hyperlinks.

Web 2.0

The version of the web where participants can create content for an audience.

Web 3.0

The version of the web built on the ideas of decentralization, openness, and privacy.

Wei

The smallest denomination of ETH. One ETH is equal to 1018 wei.

Whale

A cryptocurrency investor with enough resources to move the market price significantly with large buy or sell orders.

Whiskers

(A.k.a. Wick or shadow) Vertical lines extend from the candle charts that show the highest and lowest points of a trading pair.

Whitelist

A spam filtering mechanism where only users registered to the list will be granted communications or access.

Wrapped Token

Wrapped tokens represent the original token at a 1:1 ratio and allow users to trade from the main chain to ERC-20 tokens.

Zero-Knowledge Proof

Method of verifying transaction without revealing any information about them.