The ABCs of Crypto

An easy-to-understand dictionary that provides explanations of crypto-related and blockchain terms in plain language, empowering informed decision-making.

#A B C D E F G H I K L M N O P R S T U V W Y Z

51% Attack

A 51% attack is an attempt to bring down a blockchain network made possible by taking control of the majority of its mining hashrate or computing power. For instance, a 51% attack on a Bitcoin blockchain can see miners take control of the majority of...

0x Protocol

The 0x protocol is an open protocol that allows for the peer-to-peer exchange of tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. The open-source, decentralized exchange infrastructure uses smart contracts to enable the exchange of tokenized Ethereum-based assets....

Aeternity Blockchain

Aeternity blockchain is a decentralized, open-source protocol that supports smart contracts and can run decentralized applications (dApps). Its design features inbuilt fault tolerance mechanisms. The Aeternity protocol offers a highly scalable envi...

Airdrop

What Is a Crypto Airdrop? Airdrops are a distinctive marketing strategy designed to enhance engagement within the crypto community. These involve the distribution of free tokens directly to users' digital wallets, often to drive awareness or reward ...

AirGap

In the crypto world, AirGap is a self-custody wallet that lets you store and manage your digital assets. The crypto wallet leverages a unique two-device approach, which makes it more efficient than a conventional hardware wallet. AirGap Vault can b...

Airnode

Airnode is a Web 3.0 oracle solution that serves as a middleware to let blockchain-based smart contracts link to web APIs. API providers can use the oracle node and API blockchain gateway for supplying off-chain data feeds to blockchain-based decentr...

Algo Trading (Algorithmic Trading)

Algo trading, short for algorithmic trading, is a technique that uses automated pre-programmed trading instructions that are executed based on several factors, including time, asset price, and trading volume. The method is also known as automated tra...

Algorithmic Stablecoin

An algorithmic stablecoin is a price-stable cryptocurrency or digital asset that uses a second token to maintain its peg to a real-world asset, e.g., the US dollar. The price stability mechanism of an algorithmic stablecoin involves adjusting the cir...

All Time High (ATH)

An all-time high or ATH denotes the highest price and market capitalization that a particular cryptocurrency has hit in its entire period of existence. For instance, Bitcoin ATH will depict the highest price the leading cryptocurrency has ever traded...

All Time Low (ATL)

The all-time low, or ATL, represents the lowest price ever recorded for a cryptocurrency or any other financial asset. If we take Bitcoin as an example, Bitcoin’s ATL would be the lowest price it has ever traded since its launch in 2009. The ATL ca...

Altcoins

Altcoins, short for alternative coins, denote any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin and sometimes Ethereum. Altcoins serve similar purposes as BTC and ETH but may use different consensus mechanisms and technologies. Bitcoin and Ethereum may dominate ...

aNFT (Autonomous NFT)

An autonomous NFT (aNFT) is a non-fungible token that can proactively initiate transactions without prompting. aNFTs or autonomous NFTs offer a versatile way for Web3 users and network protocols to interact and conduct transactions. An aNFT is set ...

APR (Annual Percentage Rate)

The annual percentage rate (APR) in the world of crypto is how interest from investment products or loans in the market is calculated. An APR can denote the interest rate you pay when you invest your cryptocurrencies in liquidity pools, staking, yiel...

Arbitrage

Cryptocurrency arbitrage is a trading strategy used by crypto traders to make profits in the market. It involves buying a particular crypto asset on one exchange and then selling it quickly on another crypto exchange for a higher price. The simulta...

Arweave

Arweave is a company that offers decentralized web storage technology and supports permanent storage for data online. Community-owned, the company calls its solution a “collectively owned hard drive that never forgets.” Arweave network offers a per...

ASIC

ASIC, short for an application-specific integrated circuit, is a computing device that performs a single operation. In the crypto world, ASIC miners are computing devices that use their processing power and resources solely for mining cryptocurrencie...

Asset-backed Tokens

Asset-backed tokens, also known as security tokens, are digital assets designed and issued on a blockchain network and backed by real-world, physical assets. They are digitized representations of real-world assets on the blockchain. Asset-backed to...

Astroturfing

In the crypto world, astroturfing is a controversial marketing technique that involves talking up a crypto project or ICO by a community and making the hype around it look organic. Originating from the term Astroturf, a type of fake grass used on spo...

Atomic Swap

An atomic swap is a process of using smart contracts to automatically swap cryptocurrencies from different blockchain networks in a peer-to-peer, decentralized manner. It is one of the most effective peer-to-peer methods to trade crypto assets withou...

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented reality (AR) is one of the essential building blocks of the metaverse. This technology offers an immersive experience within the virtual world by infusing real-world elements into it that users can interact with virtually. AR technology all...

AUM (Assets Under Management)

Assets under management (AUM) in the crypto world refers to the amount of money (typically denoted in US dollars) invested in cryptocurrency funds and digital asset investment products. AUM measures how much cash an investment firm has invested in di...

Automated Market Maker

An automated market maker (AMM) is the underlying technology that makes decentralization possible in DEXs, eliminating the need for an intermediary to facilitate crypto trades. AMMs are autonomous trading mechanisms that provide the necessary liquidi...

Avalanche (AVAX)

Avalanche is a decentralized, open-source blockchain network that can support smart contracts and run decentralized applications. Founded by Dr. Emin Gun Sirer in 2019, the Avalanche blockchain differs from Ethereum as it offers higher energy efficie...

Axie Infinity (AXS)

Axie Infinity is a popular NFT-based online video game created by Sky Mavis and developed on the Ethereum blockchain. The game is said to be inspired by Pokemon and makes players purchase, raise, battle, and trade NFTs based on digital pets known as ...

Ask Price

The ask price is defined as the lowest price a seller is willing to accept when selling a crypto asset. Also known as offer price, it is the minimum amount acceptable among the bids the seller receives when they put up a digital asset for sale in the...

Ask Me Anything (AMA)

Ask Me Anything (AMA) is a popular format within the cryptocurrency community where an individual or a group, often experts or key figures from a blockchain project or crypto company, engage in an open and interactive session with the community. Duri...

Bait and Switch Scam

In the crypto world, a "bait and switch" scam is a fraudulent sales strategy used by a company to lure customers with the offer of low-priced products or services and then try to sell them higher-priced products instead. In the crypto market, such a ...

Baking

In crypto, baking is the process of verifying transactions and creating new blocks on the Tezos blockchain. Bakers on the proof-of-stake Tezos network perform the function of validating transactions and producing new blocks. Baking blocks involves ...

Bank Run

A crypto bank run occurs when many investors start withdrawing their cryptocurrency deposits from exchanges and other platforms. It could result from panic in anticipation of a possible crash or shutdown of the service shortly. A bank run could res...

Beacon Chain

The Beacon Chain was the original proof-of-stake blockchain launched in 2020 as part of Ethereum's transition from proof-of-work consensus to PoS. The Beacon Chain was launched in December 2020, where developers worked on and perfected the PoS consen...

BEP-2

BEP-2 is a token standard for issuing and implementing tokens on the Binance Chain. Apart from the BNB, the native token of the Binance Chain, all other tokens issued on the Binance Chain blockchain follow the BEP2 token standard. BEP2 functions on...

BEP-20

BEP-20 is a token standard followed by tokens issued on the BNB Chain (BSC). It extends the ERC-20 token standard from the Ethereum blockchain into the BSC ecosystem. In addition to being compatible with Ethereum's ERC-20 token standard, BEP-20 is ...

BEP-721

The BEP-721 token standard supports the creation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the BNB Chain. The BEP-721 token standard extends the ERC-721 token standard for Ethereum's NFTs. Unlike the BEP-20 token standard, BEP-721 tokens also support the to...

Beta Release

A beta release or a beta version is an early version of an application or software made available to a limited number of users. It is a pre-release stage where the developers have added all the major features and functions to the software but allow a...

Bid Price

In crypto trading, a bid price indicates the highest price a buyer is willing to pay for a specific digital asset or cryptocurrency. Traders or investors who wish to sell their assets quote an ask price and accept bid prices from other traders or inv...

Binance Launchpad

Binance Launchpad is a crowdfunding platform for blockchain and crypto startups backed by Binance, the world's leading cryptocurrency exchange. The platform supports startups in the industry by raising funds and spreading the word about their project...

Bitcoin (BTC)

Bitcoin is the world's first and most popularly used cryptocurrency. The decentralized digital currency came into existence in 2009 and is used to facilitate peer-to-peer transactions and money transfers without the need for intermediaries such as ba...

Bitcoin ATM

A Bitcoin ATM (automated teller machine) is a kiosk where users can buy Bitcoin, and sometimes even other cryptocurrencies, directly and automatically. They can convert their fiat currency into Bitcoin by inserting cash directly into the Bitcoin ATM ...

Bitcoin Cash (BCH)

Bitcoin Cash (BCH) is a cryptocurrency and payment network that originated from a hard fork from the original Bitcoin blockchain. Created in August 2017, its infrastructure employs a Proof of Work (PoW) consensus mechanism like Bitcoin. The BCH ne...

Bitcoin Halving

Bitcoin halving is one of the most significant events to monitor in the crypto market. It reduces the supply of Bitcoin coins in circulation even as the demand remains steady. For instance, in May 2020, the number of BTC entering circulation every 10...

Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)

A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) is a formal proposal for changing or upgrading the Bitcoin code. A BIP is implemented whenever the Bitcoin protocol undergoes large-scale changes that can significantly impact its blockchain and service. Program...

Bitcoiner

A Bitcoiner is a person who is a fan and believer of Bitcoin. The term is typically used to refer to early adopters of Bitcoin who have been HODLing their coins for several years and are avid followers of the crypto market. A Bitcoiner is optimisti...

Bits

A bit is a subdivision of a single Bitcoin. Each Bitcoin is made up of one million units, known as bits. Bits and Satoshis are both smaller denominations of Bitcoin; one Bitcoin (BTC) is equivalent to 1,000,000 bits or 100,000,000 Satoshis, so 1 bit ...

Black Hat Hacker

A black hat hacker exploits the vulnerability and launches hacking attacks with malicious intent. In crypto, black hat hackers exploit vulnerabilities in smart contracts to drain decentralized apps and steal cryptocurrencies from DeFi protocols and o...

Black Swan Event

In the crypto market, a black swan event signifies any event that has a significant and unexpected widespread impact on the entire market. The term originates from the Black Swan Theory developed by statistician and trader Nassim Nicholas Taleb; such...

Block

A block is a data structure that forms the blockchain and is used to record all transactions taking place in the network. Unlike a conventional centralized database, a blockchain is a distributed database made up of several blocks, each block contain...

Blockchain Explorer

A blockchain explorer, also known as a block explorer, is software that uses APIs and data from blockchain nodes to reveal details of all transactions on a particular blockchain network. A block explorer presents this data in a centralized, easy-to-u...

Bear Market

In global financial markets, a bear market is symbolized by an extended period of decline or weakness in the price of financial assets. When the market mood turns bearish, assets such as stocks, commodities, or even cryptocurrencies decline. Investor...

Bearwhale

A bearwhale is an investor who holds large amounts of a specific cryptocurrency, has a bearish outlook, and plans to sell their extensive holdings. By doing so, they can influence the price action in the particular crypto asset, causing steep decline...

Bitcoin Pizza Day

The crypto community celebrates May 22 as Bitcoin Pizza Day. This commemorates May 22, 2010, when an early Bitcoin miner and Florida-based programmer, Laszlo Hanyecz, bought two pizzas using 10,000 BTC. At the time, each BTC was valued at around 0...

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