A-Z GLOSSARY OF CRYPTOCURRENCY TERMS (CRYPTOCURRENCY DICTIONARY)

A

Address

An address is a short form of Cryptocurrency addresses used to send or receive transactions on the Blockchain network. An address usually presents itself as a string of alphanumeric characters.
Every cryptocurrency coin has a unique address that identifies where it sits on the blockchain. It’s this address, this location, at which the coin’s ownership data is stored and where any changes are registered when it is traded. These addresses differ in appearance between cryptocurrencies but are usually a string of more than 30 characters.
It is alsoan online location that is presented in a random string of numbers and letters where Bitcoin and other cryptos can be sent to and from.
It is a secure identifier marked by a unique string of characters that enables payments to an individual or entity via blockchain transactions. It usually requires a private key to exclusively access the funds. For example, Bitcoin addresses are alphanumeric strings that begin with a 1 or 3; Ethereum addresses begin with ‘0x’.
It is a code used to store/send/receive bitcoins and other cryptocurrency consisting of 26-35 alphanumeric characters. It is also the public key in the pair of keys used by bitcoin holders to digitally sign transactions.”

Ex Address: 34ZXX88VTAenQW37MsL5hxyoWSyQpTFF6U

Term (address) used in a sentence:

John: Tessy, what’s your address so I can send you some bitcoin to take care of the bills?

Tessy: It’s 56 Freeman Street, Ikoyi, Lagos

John: Hey Tessy! not your home address, I mean your bitcoin address! You remember I created a bitcoin wallet for you some time ago. Please make sure the address is correct otherwise, your coins will be lost.
Tessy: Oh yea, now I remember. It’s 34ZXX88VTAenQW37MsL5hxyoWSyQpTFF6U

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

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

Airdrop

The term airdrop is sometimes used to describe the process of distributing tokens to wallets. For example when the network of an ICO or fork goes live, the newly created token might be airdropped to wallets of existing coin holders.
An airdrop is an event in which individuals that hold existing cryptocurrencies (like Bitcoin and Ethereum) are given tokens of a new cryptocurrency.
It is a free token or coin distributed to the crypto community by a blockchain project. Airdrops are essentially giveaways used as a marketing tool with the purpose of gaining an early community of users, who are sometimes asked to perform little tasks like social media jobs (geared towards increasing the community/membership partipation). To be a recipient of a crypto airdrop, often the only requirement is that you have coins from the relevant blockchain stored in your wallet.
An Airdrop is an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) distribution method that occurs via a hard fork attempt, free of charge. Airdrops can come as a surprise or be announced beforehand.

Term (Airdrop) used in a sentence

I’d not have bought that cryptocurrency, it’s just worthless. I’d have rather gone for the airdrop instead of FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out).

Algorithm

This is a mathematic instructions coded into and implemented by computer software in order to produce a desired outcome.

All Time High (ATH)

ATH stands for “all-time high”, as in “all-time price high.” In the context of cryptocurrencies, it refers to the highest price milestone that any given coin or token has ever achieved.

All Time High is the highest price a given cryptocurrency has seen so far. Not the ideal place to buy an asset because in couple of minutes, hours, days or months the coin/token might see a dip/bear run.

A common fear in trading crypto is that FOMO will lead one to irrationally buy an asset at or near its ATH.

All-Time Low (ATL)

ATL is an acronym for all-time low, the lowest price that an asset has ever had. Traders often fear that emotional forces like FUD will lead them to sell off an asset at or near its ATL.

Alt-coin/Altcoin/Alt

This is said to be a cryptocurrency alternative (sometimes called an “alt”) to Bitcoin including Litecoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, XRP (commonly referred to as Ripple), and many more. It is a cryptocurrency or a category of cryptocurrencies that are an alternative to bitcoin.

Many altcoins project themselves are better alternatives to bitcoin in various ways (e.g. more efficient, less expensive, etc.). “Altcoin” is a term primarily used by Bitcoin maximalists, proponents of Bitcoin who think that it is superior to all other cryptocurrencies. They use this term to denote any and all cryptocurrencies that are not BTC.

Alt Season: The part of the overarching cryptocurrency market cycle where many altcoins “moon” (go up quickly in price) against the dollar and Bitcoin at once (for example, late December 2017 – early January 2018).

ANN

ANN is short for announcement and most commonly refer to announcements of a new ICO or a new product or service on the forum Bitcointalk.

Term used in a sentence: Did you see the ANN for that Russian ICO? Filled with typos and everything. I’m staying away from that.

Arbitrage

Arbitrage means taking advantage of a difference in price of the same commodity or instrument on two different exchanges. For instance, if a cryptocurrency is being sold for USD 10.00 at Exchange A, and being bought for USD 10.50 at Exchange B, the arbitrage opportunity would be to buy the cryptocurrency at Exchange A and then immediately sell it at Exchange B. The arbitrage profits would then be USD 0.50.

Hence, it said to be the taking advantage of a difference in price of the same commodity on two different exchanges. Often mentioned when it comes to comparing ETH prices on Korean exchanges against US exchanges.

Term (arbitrage) used in a sentence:

John: Tessy, I’d love to invest some money in crypto. Which coin or token do you recommend?

Tessy: Ubex got lots of prospects, maybe you consider it.

John: But am a bit confused on which exchange to buy from ‘cos UBEX price on Hotbit is quite different from that of Bilaxy. But you can utilize the arbitrage price.

ASIC

The acronym for Application Specific Integrated Circuit, which is a chip meant to do one thing. In Bitcoin’s case – they are used to process hashing problems to mine Bitcoins. Ask Price

The ask price for a given asset is the minimum price for which someone is willing to sell that asset. You can think of this as the “demand” side of “supply and demand.”

Ask Price

Ask Price is the price a seller is willing to accept for a cryptocurrency. Along with the price, the ask quote will generally also stipulate the number of units of such cryptocurrency willing to be sold at that price. When somebody matches the Ask Price, an order is made.

Term (ask price) used in a sentence

Your trading strategies are really weird my friend. Your ask price is completely unreasonable; nobody will buy it at that price.

ATH

Refer to All Time High (ATH).

Term (ATH) used in a sentence:

When Bitcoin was at its ATH, I was seriously checking out Lambos online. Found a really nice one in Germany that I was minutes from buying before people got gripped by FUD and it started losing its price.

Bart

This is a chart pattern that looks like the hair of a famous cartoon character.

BarterDEX

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

Bagholder

Bagholder means someone who is still holding an altcoin after a Pump and Dump crash. It can also just refer to someone holding a coin that is sinking in value with few future prospects.
It is an informal term for someone who holds an asset that continually decreases in value, to the point of being worthless. In the cryptocurrency space, this term is sometimes used pejoratively to refer to people who continue to hold onto an asset due to faith alone, long after all indicators point to the unlikelihood of its value ever increasing.
A person who buys and hold coins in large quantity hoping to make good profits in the future

Term (Bagholder) used in a sentence

Look at John; he refuses to accept that the crypto he invested in never will recover. He’s such a bagholder.

Bear

Meaning: A Bear is someone who thinks the market value will go down. A bear market is a prolonged period of falling prices. A bear market is when the price trend is stagnant or downward.

Term (Bear) used in a sentence:

– Bitcoin is going to hell! I promise you. A few weeks from now, it won’t even be worth a dollar.

– You’re such a bear, John…

Bearish

Meaning: When the market is bearish, market participants are expecting that the price will decrease/crash.

Term (bearish) used in a sentence:

– Do you think that now could be the right time to invest in cryptocurrencies?

– Not sure. The market is a bit bearish at the moment. I would probably wait a little bit longer.

– Don’t you think it’s better to buy when price is bearish as that is when the Whales get into the game rather than when FOMO is created and people are jumping in which can also be altered by a FUD at anytime.

Bear Trap

Is a situation where the price goes downward and then sharply back up “trapping” Bearish speculators who sold their positions.
A bear trap is the opposite of a bull trap: It’s a false signal that a cryptocurrency’s price is about to fall, when it is actually about to rise. It can trick bearish investors into shorting the cryptocurrency or selling off their position
This often happens when it appears as if a cryptocurrency is about to break through a particular support level, but the support level ends up holding instead.

Term used in a sentence: The prices of Dogecoin have been going down abnormally fast lately. Do you think it could be a bear trap?

Bear Trend

A bear trend is a long-term decline in the overall cryptocurrency market. “Long-term” usually means at least a few months (e.g., the bear trend beginning in mid-January of this year), and is represented by indicators like a negatively sloped MA.

Bid-Ask Spread

The bid-ask spread is the difference between the bid price and ask price for a given asset. This spread is the profit that market makers earn by buying and selling the asset on behalf of investors. As an asset’s liquidity increases, this spread decreases correspondingly.

Bid Price

Is the opposite of Ask Price. It is the price a buyer is willing to pay for a certain cryptocurrency and the number of units of such cryptocurrency to be bought at that price.
The bid price for a given asset is the maximum price that someone is willing to pay for that asset. You can think of this as the “demand” side of “supply and demand.”

The term used in a sentence: I don’t want to hustle with bid prices far from the ask price. When I want something, I buy it at the current market rate. Who knows, it might become even more expensive in the blink of an eye.

Bitcoin:

Bitcoin is decentralized and distributed software that allows for trustless peer-to-peer global financial transactions and record keeping. It can be described as a blockchain based smart contract system with a native cryptocurrency token.
A decentralized, peer-to-peer online currency with open source software.

Bitcoin is a digital currency, also called cryptocurrency, created in 2009, that is not backed by any country’s central bank or government. Bitcoins can be traded for goods or services with vendors who accept Bitcoins as payment. There are no physical bitcoins, only balances kept on a public ledger in the cloud, that – along with all Bitcoin transactions – is verified by a massive amount of computing power.

(BTC) – A type of cryptocurrencycreated by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. It was one of the first digital currencies that enabled instant P2P payments. Bitcoins are created through a process known as bitcoin mining that requires a massive amount of computing power. For more information, please see the Bitcoin whitepaper. Bitcoin (BTC), conceived in a white paper by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008, was the first modern cryptocurrency that paved the way for the larger cryptocurrency ecosystem. It is still the largest cryptocurrency by market cap. Its primary use cases are as a form of digital currency and as a digital store of value.

Bitcoin Address:

A Bitcoin address is said to be set of alpha-numeric used to send and receive Bitcoin transactions. The address is made up of sequence of letters (both upper and lower case) and numbers, but can also be represented as a QR Code.

BitcoinJS

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

Bitcoin Network

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

Bitcoin Protocol

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

BitcoinQT

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

Bitcoin ATM

like a regular ATM, Bitcoin ATMs provide people with Bitcoins after depositing regular currencies.

Block

1. The blockchain is made up of blocks. Each block holds a historical database of all cryptocurrency transactions made until the block is full. It’s a permanent record, like a bag of data that can be opened and viewed at any time.

Is a record of all or some of the most recent transactions in a certain cryptocurrency.
Refers to a collection of data related to transactions that are bundled together with a predetermized size and are processed for transaction verification and eventually becomes part of a blockchain.

Term used in a sentence:

– What is a block, John?

– It is a record of all or some of the most recent transactions in a certain cryptocurrency. Any further questions?

Blockchain

1. This is a list of every block that has been mined since Bitcoin began. All Bitcoin transactions are displayed within the Blockchain in order to provide transparency for the currency.

An online ledger containing records (also known as blocks) of every crypto transaction. The blockchain is public and decentralized, and is maintained by a peer-to-peer network of computers
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.
Blockchainis the classification of a technology. Blockchains are distributed ledgers, secured by cryptography. They are essentially public databases that everyone can access and read, but the data can only be updated by the data owners. Instead of the data residing on a single centralized server, the data is copied across thousands and thousands of computers worldwide.
A database protocol. In cryptocurrency, a blockchain is a distributed digital public ledger where transactions and balances of a given cryptocurrency are recorded. It is secured using cryptographic hashes. Not every cryptocurrency is blockchain-based. One should note that blockchains can do more than act as ledgers of transactions, they can store any sort of data in sequential blocks (their potential and the potential of other hash-based systems is endless as far as the potential of databases goes).

Term used in a sentence:

– How should I secure financing for my new cryptocurrency project, John?

– Just speak fast and say blockchain as often as you can and the Venture Capital firms will shower you with money.

Blockchain Bloat

A condition that affect cryptocurrencies when the data stored reaches very large sizes due to increasing numbers of users and transactions. When blockchain bloat gets severe, transaction speed suffers.

Block Explorer

Block explorer is an online tool to view all transactions, past and current, on the blockchain. They provide useful information such as network hash rate and transaction growth.

Block Height

The number of blocks connected on the blockchain.

Refers to the number of blocks connected in the blockchain. For example, Height 0 would be the very first block, which is also called the genesis block.

Block Lattice

A blockchain scaling solution in which every user account has its own blockchain. Block lattices reduce blockchain bloat by storing transaction data separately from a cryptocurrency’s main blockchain.

Block Reward

A form of incentive for the miner who successfully calculated the hash in a block during mining. Verification of transactions on the blockchain generates new coins in the process, and the miner is rewarded a portion of those.

Is a reward given to miners. It is “new cryptocurrency units” (not previously held by anyone but created for the purpose of the reward), provided each time a miner successfully publishes a block.

Term used in a sentence: I only use my super expensive mining rig for mining cryptocurrencies that have block rewards that are high enough. It’s just a waste of my time otherwise.

Block Size

Block size describes the amount of data that can be added to a given block on the blockchain. Bigger blocks allow for more transactions to be stored in blocks, but as a trade-off, more hash power is required to mine a block. This makes transactions faster, but one can argue centralizes mining. In crypto, almost everything is “a trade-off,” just like IRL (In Real Life).
Block Size

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.

Block time

The time it takes to mine a new block.

Bollinger Band

Bollinger Band (in short: BBands) means a margin around the price of a crypto that helps indicate when a coin is overbought or oversold. The Bollinger Bands, developed by legendary technical trader John Bollinger. The term has nothing to do with the classic champagne. More information available at: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bollingerbands.asp

Term used in a sentence: Looking at the Bollinger Bands, I’m quite sure that Monero is being overbought. My recommendation would be to apply caution.

Bollinger Bands

Bollinger Bands — named after their developer, trader John Bollinger — are the lines two standard deviations above and below an asset’s simple moving average. They’re commonly used as indicators in technical analysis:

When an asset is trading near its upper Bollinger Band, it’s considered overbought.
When an asset is trading near its lower Bollinger Band, it’s considered oversold.
When an asset’s Bollinger Bands are close together (a “squeeze”), it’s thought to be likely that the asset’s price will become more volatile in the future.
When an asset’s Bollinger Bands are far apart, it’s thought to be likely that the asset’s price will become less volatile in the future.

Bounty

Meaning: Bounty is a sum of money offered as a reward for completing a specific task. The reward is normally given to the first person to satisfactorily complete the relevant task. There are several different types of bounties. One usual type is the “bug bounty” given to a person finding a bug on a company’s website or in a company’s product etc.

Term used in a sentence: I found a bug on that new ICO’s website. It’s too bad that they don’t have any bug bounties.

Bots

Almost all exchanges let users program or use a pre-programmed software that can interact with crypto platforms via an API. One type of software, a type that can execute trades on exchanges, is called a “trading bot” (often referred to as simply a “bot”). It may seem like cheating, and in certain hands, it can sure feel like it, but bots are important in many ways too. They can help implement strategies like trailing stop losses for you, and they can help “make markets” (all those little buys and sells that prevent wide spreads in a given market are generally “market maker” / “accumulation” bots). Like people, bots aren’t good or bad, they are neutral and depend on the ethics of the user.

BPI

– the Bitcoin Price Index, showing the price of Bitcoin against a number of other crypto and fiat currencies.

Brain Wallet

Meaning: Brain Wallet refers to the concept of memorizing a passphrase. Such passphrase will be used to generate all your private keys and addresses. It should be noted that if you forget your passphrase then your cryptocurrencies are lost forever.

Term used in a sentence:

– How do you secure your cryptocurrencies? Are you using a hardware wallet?

– Nah man I’m using my brain wallet.

– John, you’ve been smoking so much weed that I really don’t think your brain wallet is that secure…

Bull

Meaning: Bull is the opposite of Bear. Bulls think the market value will go up. A bull market is a prolonged period of rising prices.

Term used in a sentence: I met a guy last night who said that Bitcoin would be worth USD 1 million in 1 year. What a bull…

Bullish
An expectation that price is going to increase.

Term used in a sentence:

– Have you seen the price changes on DASH today, John?

– Yes, most other cryptocurrencies are up today too. But I don’t think it will stop there. I’m bullish right now.

BTC

The shorthand name for Bitcoin, and also the unit for 1 Bitcoin.

BTFD

Acronym for “Buy The Fu*king Dip”

BTFD

Buy The Fucking Dip (an indication to buy a coin when it has dumped so hard)

Bull/Bullish

This is where the price of a cryptocurrency has a positive price movement.

Bullish

A bull market is when the price trend is upward. Those terms are used in different ways, but as a general rule: bull means “up,”and bear means “down.” A bull charges forward, a bear mauls your face, eats your picnic basket, and then hibernates in a cave for months.

Bull Trap

A bull trap is a false signal that a cryptocurrency’s price is about to rise, when it is actually about to fall. It gets its name from the fact that it ends up trapping bullish traders in bad trades.
A typical example of a bull trap is when a cryptocurrency looks like it is about to break through a certain resistance level but subsequently fails to do so.

Bull Trapis an upwards trend in price that invites bullish speculators to buy before reversing suddenly and “springing the trap”.

Term used in a sentence: Well, my suicide thoughts started back in December 2017. I mortgaged my house and spent all my savings on Bitcoin. I thought it would never stop increasing in value! Turns out it was just a bull trap. My wife left me after that as well. She took the kids too.

Bull Trend

A bull trend is a long-term, upward trend in the overall cryptocurrency market. How different people specifically define it varies, but it’s typically on the order of months or years rather than days or weeks, and it’s associated with indicators like a positively sloped moving average (MA).

Burned

If a coin in any particular cryptocurrency has been made unspendable, it is said to be burned.

Buy Low, Sell High / Buy High, Sell Low

To not lose money, you should aim to Buy Low, Sell High. Try not to Buy High, Sell Low. Remember to set stop losses and when all else fails, HODL.

Buying the Dip

If you are going to average into a coin, can’t do better than buying the dip (especially in a bull market, in a stagnant market, or at what you think might be the end of a bear market). This means buying when the price goes down. For building a long-term position, it works much better than buying when the price goes up. It also helps the market as you are part of the force stopping the dip instead of part of the force causing the run-up.

“Buy the dips” is a motto reflecting the philosophy that one should buy a cryptocurrency when its price has significantly dropped, with the expectation that it will bounce back eventually (especially if the cryptocurrency has compelling underlying value). It’s the second half of Warren Buffett’s timeless advice: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”

Buy the F$%king Dip

A less-than-savory phrase used when you’re (enthusiastically) telling someone a currency has dipped to a low value and should be bought.

Buy Wall

A buy wall is basically the opposite of a sell wall: a large number of buy orders, typically placed on the order book all at once. It looks like this:

Buy Wall

When a large limit order has been placed to buy when a cryptocurrency reaches a certain value, then that is a buy wall. This can prevent a cryptocurrency from falling below that value, as demand will likely outstrip supply when the order is executed.

Candlesticks

Candlesticks are a graphical representation of an asset’s trading history. They’re often used in technical analysis because the shapes of candles are thought to be useful indicators of where an asset’s price might be heading next. Different candlestick charts use candlesticks to represent different amounts of time. For instance, on a 1-hour candlestick chart, each candlestick represents a trading period of 1 hour, whereas the candlesticks on a 15-minute chart represent trading periods of 15 minutes.

The anatomy of a bullish and bearish candle. Source: Wikimedia

The color of a candle indicates whether the asset closed at a higher or lower price than its open price for the period of time that the candle represents: A “bullish” green candle indicates that the asset closed higher than it opened, and vice versa for “bearish” red candles. The top and bottom of a candle’s true body indicate the open and close prices of the asset. The top of a bullish candle is the price at which it closed the period, and its bottom is the price at which it opened the period; vice versa for bearish candles. A candle’s shadows — the lines protruding from the top and bottom of its true body — indicate the maximum and minimum price of the asset during the candle’s period.

Candle / Candlestick

Meaning: A Candle or a Candlestick is a form of price chart, showing the highest price, the lowest price and the opening and closing prices of a cryptocurrency during a certain period (normally a day). If the price is higher at the end of a trading day than the opening price such day, the candle will be green (or white) and if it is lower, the candle will be red (or black).

Term used in a sentence: I’m SO happy that I went short on Bitcoin last week, have you seen the candlesticks this week? Red as blood, all week.

Central Ledger

A ledger maintained by a central agency.
An irreversible list of all transactions that have ever occurred on a platform.
Circulation
Free movement of coins between individuals.
Cloud Computing
The usage of remote servers (rather than personal computers) to store, manage, and process data.

	Chain Linking
Each cryptocurrency has its own blockchain – the digital ledger that stores all transaction records. Chain linking is the process that occurs if you transfer one cryptocurrency to another. This requires the transaction to be lodged in two separate blockchains, so they must link together to achieve the goal.

Circulating supply

An approximation of the number of coins or tokens that are circulating in the public market. See also: total supply and maximum supply.

Client

Meaning: Client refers to the software application used to send and receive cryptocurrency transactions.

Term used in a sentence: I use the Bitcoin Core Client for my Bitcoin-transactions.

cold storage
The process of moving crypto-currency ‘offline’, as a way of safekeeping your crypto-currency from hacking. There are a variety of ways to do this, but some methods most commonly used:
—Printing out the QR code of a software wallet and storing it somewhere safe, such as a safety deposit box.
—Moving the files of a software wallet onto a USB drive and storing it somewhere safe.
—Using a hardware wallet.

Ethereum Specific Terms

Cold Storage

Cold Storage has nothing to do with temperature, but is the process of moving cryptocurrency ‘offline’, as a way of safekeeping your crypto-currency from hacking. There is a variety of ways to do this, but some methods most commonly used include: (i) Printing out the QR code of a software wallet and storing it somewhere safe, such as a safety deposit box, (ii) Moving the files of a software wallet onto a USB drive and storing it somewhere safe, or (iii) Using a hardware wallet.
The process of moving crypto-currency ‘offline’, as a way of safekeeping your crypto-currency from hacking. There are a variety of ways to do this, but some methods most commonly used:
—Printing out the QR code of a software wallet and storing it somewhere safe, such as a safety deposit box.
—Moving the files of a software wallet onto a USB drive and storing it somewhere safe.
—Using a hardware wallet.
A security measure for Bitcoin that is disconnected from the internet. Could be a paper wallet [see below], USB stick or hardware wallet.
Meaning: Client refers to the software application used to send and receive cryptocurrency transactions.

Cold storage is any kind of cryptocurrency wallet that is offline — e.g., a paper wallet or hardware wallet that is not connected to the internet. They’re thought to be especially secure because your private keys are kept away from places where hackers or other entities can find them. But they can also be harder to recover if you forget or lose your information (since, oftentimes, no one else has that information).

Ethereum Specific Terms

Term used in a sentence:

– John, how can I avoid getting hack?

– It’s called getting “hacked”, grandma. And don’t worry, I’ve put all your Tittiecoins in cold storage.

– I use the Bitcoin Core Client for my Bitcoin-transactions.

Confirmation

Confirmations refers to the depth of the block containing your transaction in the blockchain. When a block is published it has a depth of 0 as it is the top block. As more blocks are published the previous blocks get deeper in the chain.

—Hashing a Bitcoin transaction successfully and its being added into the Blockchain.

—Cipher The name given to the algorithm that encrypts and decrypts information.

—Circulating Supply The total number of coins in a cryptocurrency that are in the publicly tradable space is considered the circulating supply. Some coins can be locked, reserved or burned, therefore unavailable to public trading.

—Confirmed When a transaction has been confirmed, it means it has been approved by the network and permanently appended to the blockchain.

Term used in a sentence: Are you sure the transaction was executed? Yeah, totally, it’s been subject to more than 100 confirmations now.

Correction

After hitting a high, a coin will likely enter a period of correction where it steadies out at a given price before rising again (ideally it rises again from there, sometimes a correction simply spurs on a long “bear market”). In cryptocurrency coins often hit all-time highs and then enter correction periods. In these correction periods we may see “corrections” of 10% or even “crashes” of 20% or more.

Confluence

Confluence is the presence of multiple indicators or analytical methods all indicating the same upcoming movement in an asset’s price. This is a way of mitigating trading risk by waiting for multiple signals all forecasting the same thing, rather than just trading on the basis of a single indicator.

Coin

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

Coinbase

A popular website and app used to buy and sell cryptocurrencies.

Consensus

Consensus is achieved when all participants of the network agree on the validity of the transactions, ensuring that the ledgers are exact copies of each other.

	2. When a transaction is made, all nodes on the network verify that it is valid on the blockchain, and if so, they have a consensus.
Consensus Process		Refers to those nodes that are responsible for maintaining the blockchain ledger so that a consensus can be reached when a transaction is made.
Consortium blockchain		A privately owned and operated, yet publicly transparent, blockchain.

Contagion

Contagion refers to a disturbance that spreads from one market to another and has the potential to disrupt trading strategies that focus too heavily on market correlations.

For example, one might try to profit by watching a pair of tightly correlated cryptocurrencies, waiting for one of them to have a disproportionately low price, and then buying that disproportionately cheap cryptocurrency, with the expectation that its price will rise and restore the correlation between the pair. But if this is a case of contagion, the entire crypto market might be heading for a dip, meaning that one will have lost money by taking a long position on the disproportionately cheap cryptocurrency.

Crypto

A general term that refers to everything cryptocurrency.

Cryptocurrency

Also known as tokens, cryptocurrencies are representations of digital assets.

A form of money that exists as encrypted, digital information. Operating independently of any banks, a cryptocurrency uses sophisticated mathematics to regulate the creation and transfer of funds between entities.
A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security. A cryptocurrency is difficult to counterfeit because of this security feature. A defining feature of a cryptocurrency, and arguably its most endearing allure, is its organic nature; it is not issued by any central authority, rendering it theoretically immune to government interference or manipulation.
A currency based on mathematics and cryptography. Learn more about cryptocurrency.
“cryptocurrency (or crypto currency) is a digital asset designed to work as a medium of exchange using cryptography to secure the transactions and to control the creation of additional units of the currency.”
A type of digital currency that is generally decentralizedand uses cryptography (i.e. data is converted into a format that is unreadable for unauthorized users) for added security, making it difficult to counterfeit or manipulate.

Ex: Bitcoin and altcoin.

Phrased:
Bob: “Hey Sandy, I’ve been trading Cryptocurrency on the side, making some good money.”
Sandy: “What in tarnation is a Crypto Currency Bob? you mean like forex?”
Bob: “No Sandy. like Bitcoin and altcoins.”

Cryptocurrency/Coin/Cryptocurrency Token/ Token

In simple terms, a cryptocurrency can be called a token, where each token is simply 1 unit of value of that cryptocurrency. The ownership of cryptocurrency tokens is recorded on a digital ledger (generally a blockchain).

NOTE: Sometimes the term token is used to specifically refer to tokens that are created on distributed platforms like Ethereum. ERC-2o tokens exist on the Ethereum network alongside the native token, Ether. Despite the term token sometimes being used to refer to ERC-20 tokens (and other tokens of this sort), all cryptocurrencies are technically tokens in that they are “value tokens” and in that transaction can be represented by a string of encrypted data called a “token.”

Cryptography

The process of encrypting and decrypting information.

Cryptographic Hash Function

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

Cryptographic hashes

– produce a fixed-size and unique hash value from variable-size transaction input. The SHA-256 computational algorithm is an example of a cryptographic hash.

Decentralized Application

–A computer program that utilizes a blockchain for data storage, runs autonomously, is not controlled or operated from a single entity, is open source and has its use incentivized by the reward of fees or tokens.

Cryptographic Hash Function

This process happens on a node and involves converting an input – such as a transaction – into a fixed, encrypted alphanumeric string that registers its place in the blockchain. This conversion is controlled by a hashing algorithm, which is different for each cryptocurrency.

Cryptography

The art/science of encoding and decoding. It is at the core of cryptocurrency to an even greater extent than the concept of currency is.

Cryptocurrency Wallet

Software that allows you to create cryptocurrency transactions and see balances associated with cryptocurrency addresses. Or more specifically, in wallets where you control your private keys, software that lets you access balances associated with your private and public keys and create a transaction using your private keys (see “keys” below for an explanation). NOTE: Some wallet types, like custodial wallets on exchanges, don’t have you managing your private keys direction and just show an address where a balance is stored. These too can be described as wallets.

DAG

Meaning: DAG is an acronym for Directed Acyclic Graph.

Term used in a sentence:

– Dad, how does Wikipedia define DAG?

– Well, son, Wikipedia defines DAG as “a finite directed graph with no directed cycles. That is, it consists of finitely many vertices and edges, with each edge directed from one vertex to another, such that there is no way to start at any vertex v and follow a consistently-directed sequence of edges that eventually loops back to v again. Equivalently, a DAG is a directed graph that has a topological ordering, a sequence of the vertices such that every edge is directed from earlier to later in the sequence.”

– Dad, how does Wikipedia define DAG?

DAO

A Decentralized Autonomous Organization. An organization where programmed rule-sets replace most centralized parts of a traditional company. For example DASH is a DAO as all decisions are made by those who run masternodes and anyone across the world with enough DASH can run a masternode.
Decentralized Autonomous Organization. An investor-directed venture capital fund built on the Ethereum network that was hacked in June 2016. The hack stole about a third of the DAO’s funds and led to Ethereum being hard-forked the following month. The DAO is often cited as one of Ethereum’s biggest stumbles thus far.

DAO is an acronym for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. A DAO can (at least theoretically) run itself without any involvement of individuals and can thus be completely autonomous. It can do so by being based on various smart contracts. Read more about DAOs here.

Term used in a sentence: I wonder if there’s a place for board of directors in the future, or if all Forbes 500-companies will just be run as DAOs.

Dapp

Meaning: Dapp means Decentralized Application, which is an application that uses an Ethereum smart contract as it’s back-end code.

Term used in a sentence: Ethereum’s white paper says that there is three different Dapps: (i) money managing dapps, (ii) dapps involving money but also something else, and (iii) “other” Dapps. This essentially means that there could be thousands of Dapps.

DApp: A decentralized application, often stored on a blockchain (with its backend code stored on a blockchain at least). It’s not hosted on a private server; it is hosted on many distributed servers. For example, Cryptokitties (a blockchain-based game that exists on the Ethereum platform where you collect digital cats).

Darksend

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

DDoS

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

DASH

A type of cryptocurrency based on Bitcoin software but has anonymity features that makes it impossible to trace transactions to an individual and other capabilities. It was created by Evan Duffield in 2014 and was previously known as XCoin (XCO) and Darkcoin. For more information, visit the official website for DASH.

Day Trading

Day trading is like swing trading but with a higher trade frequency. As the name suggests, day traders trade multiple times per day, typically trying to routinely profit from small fluctuations in a market.

DCA

Dollar cost averaging. Instead of going all in at once, one might want to dollar cost average into a volatile asset like a cryptocurrency to buy the average price over time to create a long position. There are a number of forms of “averaging,” dollar cost averaging is one of the more popular.

“A distributed denial of service attack uses large numbers of computers under an attacker’s control to drain the resource of a central target.”

Phrased:
Sandy: “Bob! I can’t get my coins off coinbase and the value is plummeting!”
Bob: “That’s because some one is DDoS’ing it Sandy, always remember to store your coins in a safe secure wallet.”

DDoS Attack

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

DDoS

Decentralized Autonomous Organization

Refers to organizations that are run by an application (computer program) rather than direct human input. Control of this application is granted to everyone rather than a single central entity.

Decentralised Autonomous Organizations can be thought of as corporations that run without any human intervention and surrender all forms of control to an incorruptible set of business rules.

Deepweb

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

Deflation

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

Deflation When the demand for a particular cryptocurrency decreases, bringing down the price of its economy.

Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance

A consensus mechanism that uses professional nodes to broadcast a version of the blockchain. If two thirds or more of the nodes agree, that block is written onto the chain.

Delegated Proof of Stake

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

Demurrage

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

Desktop Wallet

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

Deposit Fee

Meaning: Most exchanges charge deposit fees when you deposit fiat currency on the exchange. This fee is sometimes a fixed fee (triggered every time you make a deposit), and sometimes a percentage of the total deposit value. Deposit fees can be particularly high when you deposit via credit card (for the exchanges accepting credit card deposits at all).

Term used in a sentence: Can you believe it? The exchange charged a deposit fee amounting to 11.5% for my credit card deposit! Thieves!!!

Depth

Depth refers to the ability of a market for a specific asset to sustain large orders of that asset without the asset’s price moving significantly. The more open limit orders there are on both sides of an exchange’s order book for an asset, the more depth that book has. Depth is also closely tied to liquidity: The more depth an order book for an asset has, the more liquidity the order book provides to that asset.

An example of a BTC depth chart on SFOX.

Depth charts graphically represent the depth of order books, showing the volume of open orders at various price points and illuminating phenomena like buy walls and sell walls.

Decentralized

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

Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF)

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.

Decentralized

A state where there is no central control, power or function, or in reference to infrastructure, no central point of failure. See Vitalik Buterin’s definition of decentralization.

Decentralized applications (dApps)

A type of software program that runs on a decentralized P2P network rather than on a single computer. Although similar, it differs from smart contracts as it can have any number of participants on all sides of the market and it does not have to be financial. Ethereum is a popular development platform for creating dApps. For more information, see Vitalik Buterin’s terminology guide.

Decentralized Application	A computer program that utilizes a blockchain for data storage, runs autonomously, is not controlled or operated from a single entity, is open source and has its use incentivized by the reward of fees or tokens.
Decentralized Autonomous Organization	Refers to organizations that are run by an application (computer program) rather than direct human input. Control of this application is granted to everyone rather than a single central entity.
Decryption	Turning encrypted cipher text back into plain text.
Deflation	When the demand for a particular cryptocurrency decreases, bringing down the price of its economy.
Depth Chart	This graph plots the requests to buy (known as bids) and the requests to sell (known as asks) on a chart. Because you can put a limit order on your buy or sell transaction, the depth chart shows the crossover point at which the market is most likely to accept a transaction in a timely fashion. It also shows if there are any significant buy walls or sell walls in play.
Deterministic Wallet	This type of wallet is created by producing multiple keys from a seed. If you lose this wallet, your wallet key can be recovered from the seed. Plus, when you make transactions, instead of producing new keys each time, you use variations from the seed, which makes it more transferable and easier to store.

Deterministic Wallet

1. Deterministic Wallet is a wallet that you need to backup only once. It creates all your bitcoin addresses and private keys, from a random number called a “seed”. Your wallet can be recovered from the seed, if the wallet file is accidentally deleted.

Term used in a sentence: I’m using a deterministic wallet, so I have only had to backup the wallet once. How about you? How do you protect your “future Lambo”-money?

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.”
This type of wallet is created by producing multiple keys from a seed. If you lose this wallet, your wallet key can be recovered from the seed. Plus, when you make transactions, instead of producing new keys each time, you use variations from the seed, which makes it more transferable and easier to store.

DApp	Shorthand for “decentralized application”

DEX

A Decentralized EXchange (a peer-to-peer exchange with no middleman). Many DEX exchanges exist on the Ethereum platform as Dapps. One example is EtherDelta.

Deposit Fee

Term used in a sentence: Can you believe it? The exchange charged a deposit fee amounting to 11.5% for my credit card deposit! Thieves!!!

Deterministic Wallet

Meaning: Deterministic Wallet is a wallet that you need to backup only once. It creates all your bitcoin addresses and private keys, from a random number called a “seed”. Your wallet can be recovered from the seed, if the wallet file is accidentally deleted.

Term used in a sentence: I’m using a deterministic wallet, so I have only had to backup the wallet once. How about you? How do you protect your “future Lambo”-money?

DEX

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

Dice

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

Difficulty

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.

A number defining how difficult it is to hash a new block. As computing power for hashing increases, the difficulty level increases.

This refers to how easily a data block of transaction information can be mined successfully

-When someone refers to difficulty in the cryptocurrency space, they are referring to the cost of mining in that moment in time. The more transactions that are trying to be confirmed at any single moment in time, divided by the total power of the nodes on the network at that time, defines the difficulty. The higher the difficulty, the greater the transaction fee – this is a fluid measurement that moves over time.

Digital Asset

Not every cryptocurrency is meant to be a currency. If it is a digital store of value, it can be called a digital asset (both Cryptokitties and Ether are digital assets, but only Ether is a cryptocurrency token). Digital assets can be fungible or non-fungible. Cryptokitties are represented by non-fungible tokens (meaning unique tokens that can’t be replaced and still retain value; sort of like hand crafted one-off artworks) unlike Ether which is fungible tokens (all Ethers are equally valuable, there is no specific unique Ether that is worth more or less than other Ethers; like how dollars work).

Distributed Applications – ĐApps

Software applications that are stored mostly on cloud computing platforms and that run on multiple systems simultaneously. The systems run on the same network and communicate with each other in an effort to complete a specific task or command. They are a type of software program designed to exist on the Internet in a way that is not controlled by any single entity.

Distributed Autonomous Company

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

Distributed Ledger

A list of transactions that exists on every computer that elects to run blockchain software.

Distributed Ledger

Distributed ledgers are ledgers in which data is stored across a network of decentralized nodes. A distributed ledger does not have to have its own currency and may be permissioned and private.

Distributed Ledger A ledger that is stored in multiple locations so that any entries can be accessed and checked by multiple parties. In cryptocurrency, this refers to the blockchain being held on multiple nodes on the network, all of which are checked simultaneously.

Distributed Network

A type of network where processing power and data are spread over the nodes rather than having a centralised data centre.
Uses nodes spread out across many different locations to achieve decentralization.Distributed consensus– Collective agreement by various computers in a network and allows it to work in a decentralized, P2P manner without the need of central authority to deter dishonest network participants.

Diversification

Generally speaking, diversification is a method of managing the overall level of risk in your portfolio by investing in a range of assets that aren’t perfectly correlated with each other, securing better profits (on average), and minimizing the risk of losses. It can be hard to diversify within the crypto sector at this early stage of its existence, but there are a few rules of thumb that are good to follow:

Use Bitcoin as the foundation of your crypto holdings. As the cryptocurrency with the biggest market cap, Bitcoin is almost like an index fund for the crypto sector: if crypto as a whole succeeds, then Bitcoin will succeed.
Holding Etheris a good way of betting that blockchain will have applications beyond being a mere store of value, since most other use cases are being built on Ethereum in one way or another.
Holding Bitcoin Cashis a good way of investing in the use of cryptocurrencies in

Dogecoin

A cryptocurrency that uses the “Doge” meme with a cult-like following.

Dogecoin

A cryptocurrency featuring a Shiba Inu dog from the famous “Doge” internet meme. This is one of the top altcoins

Dollar-Cost Averaging

Dollar-cost averaging is the strategy of buying a particular dollar amount of an asset on a regular schedule, e.g., X amount every hour or X amount every day. The idea behind this strategy, which plays well with HODLing, is to gradually take on a position in an asset like Bitcoin in a way that resists the short-term swings of the market.

Double Spend This occurs when someone tries to send a cryptocurrency to two different wallets or locations at the same time.

Double Spend

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

Double Spending

Double spending occurs when a sum of money is spent more than once

Double-spendingis successfully spending the same money more than once.

Term used in a sentence:

– I finally did it!

– You did what, John?

– I managed to double-spend a few of my Bitcoins!

– That’s hurtful to the community, John. You should be ashamed.

DPoS

Delegated Proof of Stake. A consensus mechanism that has a blockchain’s nodes vote on the correct version of the blockchain.

dPoW

Delayed Proof of Work, the consensus mechanism used by Komodo. dPoW allows one blockchain to take advantage of the security and hashing power of a second blockchain (Bitcoin, in Komodo’s case).

Dump

The act of selling cryptocurrency.

Dump	The term used to describe selling all (or a lot) of your cryptocurrency.

#DUMP = To Sell off a coin

Dumping

When a lot of people dump at once, causing a sharp downward movement in a cryptocurrency’s price.

#DUMPING = Downward price movement

Dust Transactions

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

Dust Transaction

“A transaction for an extremely small amount of bitcoins, which offers little financial value, but takes up space in the blockchain.”

1 satoshi worth of bitcoin

Phrased:
Sandy: “Bob Bitcoin is too expensive to buy!”
Bob: “you don’t have to buy a whole bitcoin sandy, just buy a few Satoshis worth.”

Dust Transaction	Sometimes people will look to slow the network by deliberately flooding it with minor transactions that are incredibly small. These minuscule amounts are referred to as a dust transaction.

Dynamic Reserve Pool

A feature which allows KyberNetwork to maintain high levels of liquidity. The DRP keeps reserves of cryptocurrencies and establishes rates of exchange between them, allowing any user to easily trade one crypto for another.

DYOR

Do Your Own Research. Listening to the person on the internet is step 1, step 2 is doing your own research and making your own investment choices. A Reddit thread is not your fiduciary. For example, I have no specific certification that qualifies me to write a list of crypto acronyms. If you did your DD (Due Diligence), you would know that.

“Do Your Own Research.” Cryptocurrencies are highly speculative and a potential buyer should be prepared to lose their entire investment. It’s essential to do your own research before committing resources to any investment vehicle, especially one as volatile as cryptos.

DYOR Acronym for “do your own research”.

#DYOR = Do Your Own Research

EEA
Enterprise Ethereum Alliance. A coalition of startups and corporations trying to figure out the best way to use this dang thing.

EMA

Exponential Moving Average. A line based on price action over time that helps traders to spot trends.

Encryption Converting plain text into unintelligible text with the use of a cipher.

Ephemeral Layer

An extremely secure messaging functionality offered by QRL.

ERC Stands for “Ethereum request for comments” and is a summation of proposed improvements to the Ethereum system.

ERC-20 The standard to which each Ethereum token complies. It defines the way that each token behaves so that transactions are predictable. Other cryptocurrencies also use the ERC-20 standard, piggybacking on the Ethereum network in the process.

ERC20 Token

A token issued on the Ethereum platform.

Watch Video

06:13 minutes

ERC-20 – A type of token standard for Ethereum which ensures the tokens perform in a predictable way. This allows the tokens to be easily exchangeable and able to work immediately with decentralized applications that also use the ERC-20 standard. Most tokens released through ICOsare compliant with the ERC-20 standard.

Escrow

A third party used to facilitate transactions and increase security.

Escrow

“The act of holding funds or assets in a third-party account to protect them during an asynchronous transaction.”

Escrow When an intermediary is used to hold funds during a transaction, those funds are being held in escrow. This is usually a third party between the entity sending and the one receiving.

ETF

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

Ether (ETH)

A type of cryptocurrency that is used for operating the Ethereum platform and is used to pay for transaction fees and computational tasks. In the platform, transaction fees are measured based on the gas limit and gas price and ultimately paid for in Ether. For more information, see the Ethereum Foundation’s official definition.

Ether (ETH)

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

Ethereum

A cryptocurrency created by Vitalik Buterin that runs on Ether (ETH). Ethereum was the first blockchain-based technology to make smart contracts and decentralized applications possible.
Ethereumis a blockchain-based decentralised platform for apps that run smart contracts, and is aimed at solving issues associated with censorship, fraud and third party interference.
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that enables SmartContracts and Distributed Applications to be built and run exactly as programmed without any possibility of downtime, censorship, fraud or third-party interference. Ethereum is not just a platform but also a programming language (Turing complete) running on a blockchain, helping developers to build and publish distributed applications.

4. An open source, decentralized platform based on blockchain technology created by Vitalik Buterin in 2013. It runs smart contracts on a custom built blockchain that allows developers to create markets, store registries of debts, and so on. For more information, please visit the Ethereum Foundation website or read their whitepaper. Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was proposed by Vitalik Buterin in a 2013 white paper. This blockchain is intended to function as a kind of global, decentralized computer, with a Turing-complete programming language and a layer of smart contracts that allow developers to create everything from decentralized applications to tokens powering ICOs.

Ethereum Classic (ETC)

A type of cryptocurrency that is a continuation of the original Ethereum blockchain following the DAO attack in June 2016. Ethereum is essentially a hard fork of the blockchain that was formed to refund the money that was siphoned during the attack (around $50 million). Ethereum Classic assumes no hard fork occurred and is supported by those who believe in complete immutability of the blockchain. For more information, visit the website for Ethereum Classic.

EVM

Ethereum Virtual Machine. A testing environment on the Ethereum network for executing smart contracts and promoting security.
The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a Turing complete virtual machine that allows anyone to execute arbitrary EVM Byte Code. Every Ethereum node runs on the EVM to maintain consensus across the blockchain.

Elliot Wave. A pattern that the price movement of assets tends to make. Used in technical analysis.

Exchange

A website where you can buy and sell cryptocurrencies. Step 1 when trading crypto is to choose the right exchange. To find the right exchange for you, use our Exchange Finder.

A resource for exchanging currencies. Bitcoin exchanges are used to convert fiat currencies into Bitcoin and vice versa, or to exchange Bitcoin with other cryptocurrencies.

An exchange is a marketplace where people are able to buy and sell assets. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), for example, is a place where people are able to buy and sell stocks. There are a number of cryptocurrency exchanges set up today and that number is increasing all the time. Some of the major exchanges include:

Kraken, headquartered in San Fransisco, CA
Gemini, headquartered in New York, NY
Bitstamp, headquartered in Luxembourg
Bitfinex, headquartered in Hong Kong
itBit, headquartered in New York, NY

All cryptocurrency exchanges are not created equal. Different exchanges let you buy and sell different cryptocurrencies; different exchanges set different prices for their listed cryptocurrencies; and different exchanges have different volumes of trades happening on them, which changes how easy it is to buy or sell cryptocurrency efficiently.

Term used in a sentence: The biggest compilation of cryptocurrency exchanges in the world can actually be found at https://www.cryptowisser.com/, it’s even bigger than the list of exchanges at https://coinmarketcap.com/.

FA

Is an acronym for Fundamental Analysis. When doing a Fundamental Analysis, you not only analyse the price changes and Resistance and Support of a certain cryptocurrency, you look at the a wide variety of factors relevant to the cryptocurrency. These factors include, but is not limited to, demand for the cryptocurrency, supply of the cryptocurrency, the technology behind the cryptocurrency, upcoming upgrades of the technology behind the cryptocurrency, news surrounding the cryptocurrency etc.

Term used in a sentence: You do your Technical Analysis (TA), that’s just nonsense if you ask me. I only look at the Fundamental Analysis, that’s how you really understand what you’re buying and selling.

FA Acronym for “fundamental analysis”.

#FA = Fundamental Analysis

Factor Authentication (2FA)

2-factor authentication (2FA) is a second method of verification, beyond your password, to make your trades and other transactions secure. There are multiple methods of 2FA, including pieces of hardware (see U2F, below) and software like Google Authenticator.

Never enable text messages or phone calls as a method of 2FA. This is one of the worst possible security practices because hackers are very skilled at calling your phone company, convincing them that they’re you, and then using text-message or phone-call 2FA to access your accounts.

Fast Money

A CNBC show on which cryptocurrencies are frequently discussed.

FUD

Faucet

1. Is a site that gives out small amounts of free coins in order to get newbies started. One such site is Freebitco.in.

A website that sends users small amounts of cryptocurrency intermittently and make money by advertising other services.
A resource that provides free Bitcoins, usually in the form of hourly or daily deposits of several Satoshis [see below].
“A technique used when first launching an altcoin. A set number of coins are pre-mined, and given away for free, to encourage people to take interest in the coin and begin mining it themselves.”

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

Term used in a sentence: I don’t have a single cryptocurrency unit, but I’m trying to find a few faucets now where I can get my first. It’s not much, but it’s a start!

Faucet If you find a website that offers to give you free cryptocurrency for connecting with them, it is termed a faucet. The majority of these are scams.

FIAT
Government-issued currency, such as the US dollar.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money
Fiat refers to government-issued currencies, such as the U.S. dollar, the euro, and the renminbi. These typically are contrasted with cryptocurrencies, although those two categories are beginning to blur as governments, like the government of the Bahamas, plan to issue their own cryptocurrencies.

“Any form of physical paper currency. Regulated and Centralized.”

Phrased:
Bob: “Sandy, I hope your trading your fiat for bitcoin.”
Sandy: “If I drove a Fiat, I would hang myself Bob.”
Bob: “touché Sandy, touché! but I was referring to Fiat Currency not the car.

Fiat currency

Fiat currency means currency that a government has declared to be legal tender, but it is not backed by a physical commodity. Examples of Fiat currency is USD and EUR. The value of fiat currency is derived from the relationship between supply and demand rather than the value of the material that the money is made of. Fiat is Latin for “let it be done.”

-“regular” currencies such as Dollars or Pounds that are given value based on people giving them a value.

A currency that is usually backed by a government or group and whose value is tied to the investing public’s confidence in the government that backs it. The United States dollar changed from a fixed currency (backed by gold) to fiat in the 1970’s. Cryptocurrencies are fiat currencies that are not backed by any government — their value is determined by those who trade them and the confidence that the value will increase over time.

Term used in a sentence:

– Man have you seen the price of Ethereum Classic? You gotta buy it now!

– Can’t. I don’t want to sell any of my other cryptos and I’m out of fiat currency.

Fiat money

Refers to currencies that have minimal or no intrinsic value themselves (i.e. they are not backed by commodities like gold or silver) but are defined as legal tender by the government, such as paper bills and coins.

Fibonacci

Fibonacci brought modern mathematics to the west in many ways. He also popularized a set of ratios that are commonly used in trading to find support and resistance levels (Fibonacci retracement levels); they pair nicely with EW.

Finney Szabo
More somewhat common denominations of ether. The full denomination chart: https://ethereum.stackexchange.com/questions/253/the-ether-denominations-are-called-finney-szabo-and-wei-what-who-are-these-na

Flippening

Meaning: The Flippening has nothing to do with iCloud leaks of celebrity photos but refer to a potential future event wherein Ethereum’s market cap surpasses Bitcoin’s market cap, making Ethereum the most ‘valuable’ cryptocurrency. Here’s a link where you can follow the current status of the Flippening.

Term used in a sentence:

– So, have you done any in-depth studies of the Flippening?

– Oh, yes. Very much so…

– What’s your view on Ethereum’s race past Bitcoin, then?

– What’s Ethereum?

Flipping

A type of investment strategy (popular in real estate investing) where you buy something with the goal of reselling for a profit later, usually in a short period of time. In the context of ICOs, flipping refers to the strategy of investing in tokens before they are listed on the exchanges and reselling them for a profit when they are trading in the secondary market.

Fork

A situation where a blockchain splits into two separate chains. Forks generally happen in the crypto-world when new ‘governance rules’ are built into the blockchain’s code. Some more information available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain#Hard_forks

FOMO

The Fear Of Missing Out. The emotional response that makes people impulse buy tokens at their all-time high. Try to not react to FOMO.

Meaning: FOMO means Fear Of Missing Out. In the cryptocurrency markets, the expression is most often used to describe the feeling that you need to get on the train when the price of something starts to skyrocket.

Term used in a sentence:

– Why did you invest in Bitcoin in late December 2017, John?

– FOMO, man. FOMO.

Fork

Meaning: Fork means a situation where a blockchain splits into two separate

Term used in a sentence: Bitcoin Cash is a fork of Bitcoin.

Fork (Cryptocurrency Forks)

Like a “save as” for software. When an update is made to the software, a new version and old version are created. Soft forks are meant to be updates to the existing software (generally a blockchain or software that interacts with the blockchain in cryptocurrency). Hard forks are meant to create two identical versions of the software which can both change after the hard fork occurs. Anyone who owns tokens on one blockchain owns tokens on the new one in most cases when a fork occurs. There are other types of forks, but that is the gist. Bitcoin forks have names like Lightning, Segwit, Bitcoin Cash, etc. I can’t get into every funky name here, but they are all either soft forks are hard forks meant to upgrade the chain or create a new one.

Fork (Hard)

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.

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4:41 minutes

Fork (Soft)

A change in a cryptocurrency’s software that does not make it incompatible with the original version.

Founders’ Reward

A percentage of block reward that is paid to the founders of a cryptocurrency rather than to its miners. Zcash is a cryptocurrency with a Founders’ Reward.

Frontier, Homestead, Metropolis, Serenity
The four planned stages of the Ethereum development roadmap. We are currently in the Homestead phase. The Metropolis update is likely to be available sometime in the next year.

FUD
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Baseless negativity spread intentionally by someone that wants the price of something to drop.

#FUD = Fear Uncertainty & Doubt

An acronym that stands for fear, uncertainty and doubt. It is a strategy to influence perception by spreading negative, misleading or false information about something, as opposed to reasoned criticism

Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (“FUD”) is modern slang for the “opposite” of FOMO: irrationally worrying that a particular investment or sector might collapse. In the cryptocurrency space, otherwise inexplicable sell-offs have been attributed to FUD.

FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. The emotion that people try to invoke in others when they want to bring the price of a coin down or drum up headlines. It can be smart to react to FUD, as one can’t stop widespread FUD from spurring on a correction, especially after a coin just hit an All Time High. FUD is what causes economic depressions. It is what makes bubbles burst. FUD can be warranted or not.

FUD

Meaning: FUD means Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. FUD is essentially negativity without cause that is spread intentionally by someone that wants the price of a cryptocurrency to drop.

Term used in a sentence:

– Hey man did you hear that there’s a vulnerability in Bitcoin’s blockchain and that it will lead to hacks and that this means that Bitcoin is virtually useless?

– Stop spreading FUD, John.

FUDster

Meaning: FUDster means someone who is spreading FUD.

Term used in a sentence:

– Hey man did you hear that there’s a vulnerability in Bitcoin’s blockchain and that it will lead to hacks and that this means that Bitcoin is virtually useless?

– Stop being a FUDster, John.

Fundamental Analysis (FA)

Fundamental analysis (FA) is a trading strategy that emphasizes trading based on the intrinsic value of the asset. Traders consider a wide range of quantitative and qualitative data in an attempt to determine this intrinsic value. Especially in these early days of crypto, a lot of fundamental analysis amounts to trying to determine which cryptocurrencies have compelling long-term value propositions rather than being mere get-rich-quick schemes.

Gas

A measurement of how much processing is required by the ethereum network to process a transaction. Simple transactions, like sending ether to another address, typically do not require much gas. More complex transactions, like deploying a smart contract, require more gas.
The Ethereum network requires one to pay “gas” to send a transaction or otherwise execute a smart contract. Gas can be paid in ether (but it is calculated in GWEI, where a GWEI is 1/1000000000th of an Ether.
The amount of ether to be spent for each gas unit on a transaction. The initiator of a transaction chooses and pays the gas price of the transaction. Transactions with higher gas prices are prioritized by the network.

Gas Price

Meaning: Gas Price means the amount of ether to be spent for each gas unit on a transaction. The initiator of a transaction chooses and pays the gas price of the transaction. Transactions with higher gas prices are prioritized by the network.

Term used in a sentence: What was the gas price for that transaction? Not much just a few hundred Gweis.

General Cryptocurrency Terms

blockchain The classification of technology that Ethereum falls into. Blockchains are distributed ledgers, secured by cryptography. They are essentially public databases that everyone can access and read, but the data can only be updated by the data owners. Instead of the data residing on a single centralized server, the data is copied across thousands and thousands of computers worldwide. More detailed information available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain

Genesis Block

Meaning: The Genesis Block is the first block of the blockchain of Bitcoin ever released. It was released by Satoshi Nakamoto on 4 January 2009.

Term used in a sentence:

– I was there when the Genesis Block was released.

– What do you mean, John?

– I know Satoshi Nakamoto.

– You’re a compulsive liar, John.

– I can bench-press 1100 pounds.

– Shut up, John.

Gigahashes/sec

The amount of hashes possible every second, measured in billions of hashes.

Git

Meaning: Git is a distributed revision control and source code management system focusing on speed. It enables software developers to work together as a team remotely from anywhere in the world. Git is a free software. For more information, see Git.

Term used in a sentence:

– Can you explain what Git means, John?

– No, the Git-system is a little too difficult for me to explain.

GitHub

Meaning: GitHub is a web-based hosting service for projects that use the Git revision control system. Access GitHub here.

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

Term used in a sentence: There are a lot of talented developers hanging out on GitHub.

GOING LONG

A margin trade that profits if the price increases.

Going long on a cryptocurrency means that you’re buying it with the expectation of selling it at a higher price (without hedging). It doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be holding your position for a long time, though: Day traders “go long” when they buy a stock and sell it for a higher price an hour later.

Meaning: Going Longmeans a margin trade that profits if the price of the relevant cryptocurrency increases.

Term used in a sentence:

– Do you think I should be going long in The Billion Coin?

– The Billion Coin is a scam, John. Wake up. Smell the coffee.

Going Short

Going short on a cryptocurrency is a way of profiting by betting that its price will go down. There are two standard ways to short an asset:

Buy put options on the cryptocurrency: an agreement allowing one to sell a certain amount of that cryptocurrency at an agreed-upon price, which appreciates as the cryptocurrency depreciates.
Borrow a certain amount of the cryptocurrency from a broker, immediately sell it, and then later buy back the same amount of that asset — hopefully at a lower price — to repay the broker. This is inherently quite risky since there’s no limit to how much money you can end up owing the broker if the asset goes up in value after your initial sale, rather than down.
A less risky way of pseudo-shorting a cryptocurrency is to sell off a certain amount of your own holdings in the cryptocurrency, with the expectation that the price will drop, and then buy more of the cryptocurrency at the reduced price. Notice, though, that this isn’t quite the same as what we discussed above. For this strategy to work, you’re not just betting that the cryptocurrency’s price is going down; you’re also betting that it’s going to come back up.
A margin trade that profits if the price decreases.
Meaning: Going Short means a margin trade that profits if the price of the relevant cryptocurrency decreases.

Term used in a sentence:

– I’m going short in ZCash!

– Nobody cares about you or your investments, John.

Gorilla Trades

Gorilla trades are one of our trade algorithms designed for executing large trades without inadvertently moving the market. This method of trade finds the best way to execute a large order by only showing smaller pieces of it on the order book, preventing it from getting buried deep in the order book. It’s best used when there are medium levels of activity in the market.

Goxxed

Meaning: Goxxed comes from the infamous MtGox, which was a bitcoin exchange that many claim was plagued with technical problems. The term goxxed refers to being impeded by technical issues.

Term used in a sentence: I wanted to subscribe for tokens in that new ICO. But I couldn’t get past the KYC-bot in the Telegram-channel. I was goxxed.

GPU

Meaning: GPU is an acronym for Graphics Processing Unit. It can be used to play games or mine cryptocurrencies.

Term used in a sentence:

– What did you do with all the stolen goods from that robbery, John?

– I bought a hardcore GPU. I’m leaving the criminal life now, I’m going to start mining and become rich in cryptocurrencies instead.

Gwei

Meaning: Gwei is a denomination of Ether (the Ethereum currency). Gas prices are most often measured in Gwei. 1 Ether = 1 billion (1,000,000,000) Gwei. (109)

Term used in a sentence: I’m so broke right now. No fiat money and not even a single Gwei in my crypto wallet. Only a few Weis.

Hard Cap

The maximum amount of money a cryptocurrency’s founders will accept while raising money in exchange for early coins on their platform.
The maximum amount that an ICO will be raising. If an ICO reaches its hard cap, they will stop collecting any more funds. See also: soft cap.

Halving

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

#HODL = Hold/Hold a position

Hard Fork

Meaning: Hard Fork occurs when there are a sufficient number of clients on the network that disagree on the rules about how blocks are created and recorded in the blockchain. It leads to a split in the chain, one set of clients follow one branch and another set follows the other. To fix hard forks, some action must be taken by the holders of the relevant cryptocurrency.

Term used in a sentence: Bitcoin Cash is a hard fork of Bitcoin.

Hardfork

“An alteration to the block structure of bitcoin that changes the difficulty rules.”

Ex: See segwit, btc unlimited

Hard Fork

A type of fork that renders previously invalid transactions valid, and vice versa. This type of fork requires all nodes and users to upgrade to the latest version of the protocol software.

Hash Rate Measurement of performance that reveals how many hashes per second your computer is capable of producing. Each hash is an attempt to find a block by creating a unique block candidate and testing it against the network.

Hash

The act of performing a hash function on the output data. This is used for confirming coin transactions.
“A mathematical process that takes a variable amount of data and produces a shorter, fixed-length output.”

Hash Rate

The number of hashes a miner performs over a given period of time.
Measurement of performance for the mining rig is expressed in hashes per second.
The level of performance of mining computer hardware expressed in hashes/second.

Haskell

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

Hashing Power The hash rate of a computer, measured in kH/s, MH/s, GH/s, TH/s, PH/s or EH/s depending on the hashes per second being produced. 1,000 kH/s = 1 MH/s, 1,000 MH/s = 1 GH/s and so forth.

Hardware wallet

A device that can securely store crypto-currency. Hardware wallets are often regarded as the most secure way to hold crypto-currency.
Meaning:Hardware Wallet means a device that can securely store cryptocurrency. Compare and review all cryptocurrency wallets in our Cryptocurrency Wallet List to find the best wallet for you.
A physical device that stores private keys.
A hardware wallet is a unit of security-audited hardware that stores your private keys and allows you to send, receive, and store cryptocurrency. They’re thought to be some of the most reliable, safest storage solutions available. At the moment, Trezorand Ledger are the leading hardware wallets out there.

Term used in a sentence: I’m just too lazy and sloppy to have a web wallet. Paper wallets are not for me and I can’t really keep track of anything, so brain wallet is out of the question. The only solution for me is to have a hardware wallet in my key ring.

Hash Rate

Meaning: Hash Rate is a unit of mining performance expressed as follows:

1 h/s = 1 hash per second

1 Kh/s = Kilohash per second. 1,000 h/s

1 Mh/s = Megahash per second. 1,000 Kh/s (1,000,000 h/s)

1 Gh/s = Gigahash per second. 1,000 Mh/s (1,000,000,000 h/s)

1 Th/s = Terahash per seond. 1,000 Gh/s (1,000,000,000,000 h/s)

Term used in a sentence: I bought a Zotac GTX 1080 Mini the other day. A bit disappointed over the hash rate. I thought that graphics card would help me achieve an even higher hash rate.

Hedging

Hedging is an action you take to mitigate the risk of a trade. For example, if Bitcoin’s candlestick chart is suggesting that the market is very indecisive, and you think the price is about to go up, you might buy some more BTC while simultaneously shorting a correlated asset (e.g., ETH). Neglecting to hedge is one of the easiest ways to overexpose yourself to risk — especially if you’re day trading.

High-Net-Worth Individual (HNWI)

A high-net-worth individual (HNWI), broadly speaking, is a person who trades large enough amounts of an asset that the trades can move the market for that asset.

HNWIs can be formally defined in a number of ways, but a common method of identifying them is seeing whether they qualify as an accredited investor: a person or entity who, according to the SEC under Regulation D, has a reduced need for the protection of regulatory disclosure filings due to this person or entity’s financial sophistication.

If you’re a person, you qualify as an accredited investor if you meet one or more of these conditions:

You’ve had an annual income of $200,000, or $300,000 jointly with a spouse, for the last 2 years, with expectations of that income continuing
You have a net worth of $1 million or more, either individually or jointly with a spouse
You’re an executive officer, general partner, or director for an issuer of unregulated securities

An entity is an accredited investor if it consists of people who are accredited investors, or if it’s a private business development organization or company with assets in excess of $5 million.

HODL

A type of passive investment strategy where you hold an investment for a long period of time, regardless of market volatility. The term was made famous by a typo made in a bitcoin forum. Also referred to as ‘buy and hold’ or ‘hold on for dear life’.
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.

3. HODL stands for Hold On for Dear Life, and describes the process of not selling cryptocurrency in spite of market movements.

“HODL” is derived from a drunken typo on a message boardand has become a folksy rallying cry for those who have held onto Bitcoin throughout its extreme volatility. Though it was initially a misspelled version of “HOLD,” an ensuing acronym was created: “Hold On for Dear Life.”
The term “HODL” comes from when Bitcoin forum user GameKyuubi drunkenly misspelled that he was holding Bitcoinin December of 2013, despite its price crashing. HODL has become synonymous with the “trading” philosophy of buying Bitcoin (or other cryptocurrencies) and holding it indefinitely. The rationale behind this philosophy varies. Many who are entering the space with little trading experience believe that they will make more money in the long run by holding than they would by trying to catch the highs and lows of the market. Others — true Bitcoin maximalists, for example — believe that cryptocurrencies will ultimately replace fiat currencies, in which case it would be irrational to sell any cryptocurrency for fiat.

—Long ago, someone on a bitcoin forum got drunk and made a post with this typo in the place of ‘hold’. A meme was born. https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=375643.0

Acronym for “hold on for dear life”

Term used in a sentence: My cryptocurrency investment strategy is this: HODL, just HODL

HODLACL

Stands for Hold On for Dear Life And Complain a Little, and describes the process of HODLing while also complaining about e.g. volatility.

Term used in a sentence:

– I mean, I’m HODLing, but the volatility man! It drives me crazy to see these drops every other day.

– Quit HODLACLing, John.

Hot Storage

Hot storage is any kind of cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet — for example, a web wallet or mobile wallet. They are typically thought to be the least safe wallets because they are susceptible to hacks, though they’re also usually easier to recover than cold-storage wallets if you forget your password — provided that the company providing the wallet also provides a password reset option.

Hot Wallet

Meaning: Hot Walletis a wallet that is accessible via the web or another network Hot Wallets are vulnerable to many online attacks and are not as secure as their Cold Wallet (Cold Storage) counterparts.
An online wallet for storying cryptocurrencies. Considered less secure than cold wallets.

Term used in a sentence: I don’t care about security. I have all my cryptos in a Hot Wallet.

Hybrid PoS/PoW

A hybrid PoS/PoW allows for both Proof of Stake and Proof of Work as consensus distribution algorithms on the network. In this method, a balance between miners and voters (holders) may be achieved, creating a system of community-based governance by both insiders (holders) and outsiders (miners).

I

ICO

Meaning: ICOmeans “Initial Coin Offering” and is similar to an “IPO” in the non-crypto world. Read more about the difference between ICOs and IPOs here. In an ICO, startups issue their own token in exchange for ether. This is essentially crowdfunding on the ethereum platform.

Term used in a sentence: I used to be broke, going from pay check to paycheck, but then I borrowed 100,000 USD and invested it in XTRABYTES’ ICO. Now I own a small castle and two yachts.

An unregulated means by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture. Initial Coin Offering means that someone offers investors some units of a new cryptocurrency or crypto-token in exchange against cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum. An ICO is used by startups to bypass the rigorous and regulated capital-raising process required by venture capitalists or banks. The pre-created token can be easily sold and traded on all cryptocurrency exchanges if there is demand for them. Investors hope that successful projects will cause tokens’ value to rise.
“An Initial Coin Offering, A way for a new cryptocurrency project to raise money for their project by offering a select amount of coins for sale to the public at base price.”
Initial coin offering (ICO) – An unregulated means by which a cryptocurrencyventure, typically early stage, can raise money from supporters by issuing tokens. It is often referred to as a crowdsale as ICO participants may potentially earn a return on their investments (as opposed to crowdfunding, where supporters donate money to a project or cause). Ethereum is currently the most popular platform for launching ICOs.

ICO Acronym for “initial coin offering”.

IoT8/

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

Ex. Bancor ICO, Civic ICO, DCORP ICO

Phrased:
Sandy: “Bob, Why is my BNT token worth less than what I bought it for in ICO?!”
Bob: “Sandy, you bought that hype, never buy that hype.”

Immutable Ledger

The term used to refer to blockchains to describe the way in which blocks cannot be changed after they are recorded.

Incoming Connection

A request for communication from one node to another node.

Inflation

The process of increasing a cryptocurrency’s supply, which usually drives its price down.

Input

Created each time coins are sent to an address.
The input side of a given Bitcoin transaction is the side where the Bitcoin payment is coming from. Usually, this is expressed with a Bitcoin address.

IOTA (MIOTA)

Refers to the cryptocurrency and the name of an open source distributed ledger founded in 2015 that does not use blockchain (it uses a new distributed ledger called the Tangle). It offers features such as zero fees, scalability, fast and secure transactions, and so on. It is focused on the Internet of Things. For more information, visit the official website and the FAQs page for IOTA.

IPO

Initial Public Offering. An event in which a company “goes public,” selling early shares of their business in exchange for funds.

IP Address

Internet Protocol Address. A series of numbers and periods used to identify computers communicating through a network.

I2P

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

IRS

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

J

We don’t know any cryptocurrency terms starting with “J”. But we hate incompleteness. Please let us know if you know any cryptocurrency term starting with “J”!

JavaScript

A popular programming language.

Jihan Wu

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

JOMO Acronym for “joy of missing out”.

Jumblr

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.

Keylogger

Software that records every button press of an individual’s keyboard. Often used to hack into accounts by recording passwords.

Kimoto Gravity Well

An algorithm used to adjust mining difficulty so that all miners are given a fair chance at earning block rewards.

KYC

Meaning: KYCis an acronym for Know Your Customer. It is legal requirements to make a reasonable effort to confirm your costumers true identity. This process is intended to help prevent money laundering.
Know Your Customer. Information gathered by cryptocurrency exchanges in compliance with AML (Anti Money Laundering) laws.

Acronym for “know your customer”, which refers to a financial institution’s obligation to verify the identity of a customer in line with AML laws.

Term used in a sentence: I hate KYC-procedures. I never look good when taking a selfie holding my passport next to my face.

Ledger Nano S / Trezor
Ledger A record of financial transactions. A ledger cannot be changed, it can only be appended with new transactions.
A loan of sorts offered by a broker on an exchange during margin trading (see below).

– Two of the most popular hardware wallet models.

Leverage

Leverage is the additional buying power created by margin trading, allowing you to effectively pay less than full price for an asset using borrowed funds. Leverage is typically represented as a ratio: for example, if you have $10,000 in a trading account and borrow another $10,000, then you have 2:1 leverage.

Borrowed money used to trade assets.

Liberty Reserve

Digital currency processors located in Costa Rica that was shut down and seized by the United States government after it was found to be laundering money.

Lightning Network

Lightning Network – A low latency, off chain P2P system for making micropayments of cryptocurrencies. It offers features such as instant payments, scalability, low cost and cross-chain functionality. Participants do not have to make individual transactions public on the blockchain and security is enforced by smart contracts. For more information, visit the official websiteor the whitepaper.
A network layer that functions on top of the Bitcoin blockchain and allows for a huge number of low-fee microtransactions.

Limit Order

Meaning: Limit Order means an order placed by traders to buy or sell a cryptocurrency when the price meets a certain amount. They can be thought of as ‘for-sale’ signs. These orders are what are bought and sold against when traders place market orders.

Term used in a sentence: You should always place limit orders. That way you know you won’t be screwed by high-frequency trading bots.

Limit order / limit buy / limit sell

Orders placed by traders to buy or sell a crypto-currency when the price meets a certain amount. They can be thought of as ‘for-sale’ signs. These orders are what are bought and sold against when traders place market orders.
Limit Order/Limit Buy/Limit Sell If you set a rule whereby a cryptocurrency is sold or bought when at a certain price, you are setting a limit order. When traders place an order for a buy or sell, the system looks for these limit orders.

Litecoin (LTC)

– A type of cryptocurrency that was created by former Google employee Charlie Lee in 2011. It offers features such as Segregated Witness and the Lightning Network which allows for faster processing at lower cost. For more information, visit the Litecoin website.

Limit Order

A limit order is an agreement that you make with an exchange to execute a trade only at a certain price point or better. If that price point ends up never being reached, your order may never be executed. Limit orders also allow you to set a time limit on the order, after which the trade won’t be executed at all.

Liquidity

Meaning: Liquidity(or market liquidity) is an asset’s ability to be sold without causing a significant movement in the price and with minimum loss of value. Liquidity is characterized by a high level of trading activity. Assets that can be easily bought or sold are known as liquid assets.
Liquidity, roughly speaking, is a measure of how easy it is to convert an asset into cash quickly and without loss. The easier this is, the more liquid an asset is. One facilitator of liquidity in the cryptocurrency trading world is the presence of many different limit orders creating depth in an exchange’s order book.
Liquidity The liquidity of a cryptocurrency is defined by how easily it can be bought and sold without impacting the overall market price.

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

Term used in a sentence: There is no liquidity at all in that crypto. It’s like one trade a day and that causes price swings with 35-40%.

Liquidity Swap

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

Locktime

If a transaction request comes with a rule delaying when it can be processed to a certain time or certain block on the blockchain, that is referred to as the locktime.

Long When you intend to take a large amount of cryptocurrency and stockpile it with the anticipation that it will grow in value, you are going long (or taking a long position).

Litecoin

A cryptocurrency forked from Bitcoin known primarily for its decreased block time, which (theoretically) allows for faster transactions.

– another top altcoin. See our guide to Litecoin.

Lightning Network

A peer-to-peer system for cryptocurrency micropayments that is focused on low latency, instant payments. They’re typically low cost, scalable and can work across chains, and transactions can be public or private.

Long

A bet that a cryptocurrency’s price will rise.

#LONG = Margin bull position

MACD

Meaning: MACD stands for Moving Average Convergence Divergence, which is a trend indicator that shows the relationship between two moving averages of prices. More info: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/macd.asp

Term used in a sentence:

– Dad, do you know any difficult trading concepts to explain?

– Sure, son, MACD – the Moving Average Convergence Divergence – is very difficult to explain.

Mainnet

Meaning:Mainnet is a blockchain in operation where you are also able to transfer cryptocurrencies to different recipients. This is different from a Testnet where you can’t make such transfers.
The main network a cryptocurrency and its blockchain live on, as opposed to the Test Net(test network where developers and users can test transactions).

—–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.

Term used in a sentence: After running the Testnet for a few months, the company XYZ has now launched the Mainnet and sending/receiving real tokens is finally possible.

Manipulator

Meaning: The Manipulator is a real or an imagined agent who controls the market value with his vast reserves of fiat currency and cryptocurrency.

Term used in a sentence: God damn it! This must be the Manipulator again. I hate that guy.

Market Cap
The total value held in a crypto-currency. It is calculated by multiplying the total supply of coins by the current price of an individual unit. This site shows a great run-down of each coin’s market cap: http://coincap.io/
Market Capitalization This is defined as the total number of coins in supply multiplied by the price. Cap = supply x price.

Market capitalization (market cap)

The market value of a company, market or sector at a point in time commonly used to rank relative size. In equities, it refers to the total market value of a company’s outstanding shares. In cryptocurrency investing, it refers to either price multiplied by the circulating supply (i.e. free float market cap) or price multiplied by the total supply (i.e. fully diluted market cap).

Market Makers

Contrary to some increasingly common colloquial uses of the term, a “market maker” is not someone who is rich enough to move the entire market with their trades. Rather, a market maker is an entity who provides liquidity to an exchange by placing limit orders on its order book so that trades can be made at a range of prices. Many exchanges provide rebates to makers for this added liquidity.

Market Order As opposed to a limit order, a market order does not wait until a certain price to buy or sell; it trades wherever the price is at the time the transaction order is made.

Maximum supply

An approximation of the maximum number of coins or tokens that will ever exist for a cryptocurrency or crypto asset. See also: circulating supply and total supply.

MCAP Acronym for “market capitalization”.

Market Order

Meaning:Market Order means a simple purchase or sale on an exchange at the current price. Market buys purchase the cheapest ETH available on the order book, and market sells fill the most expensive buy order on the books.
A pre-planned trade set to execute if a cryptocurrency reaches a certain price.

Term used in a sentence: I’m not that worried about high-frequency trading bots. I just want the cryptocurrencies that I’m looking for, immediately when I want them. That’s why I always make market orders.

Masternode

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.

mBTC

1 thousandth of a Bitcoin (0.001 BTC). Learn more about Bitcoin denominations.
A sub-unit of Bitcoin: 1000 mBTC equal 1 BTC.

McAfee

John McAfee (the creator of McAfee antivirus) is a cybersecurity mogul who is known for promoting cryptocurrency and speculating about altcoins.

Merged Mining

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

Term used in a sentence: I made a leveraged trade yesterday and it isn’t looking too good at all. I just hope I don’t get that margin call if you know what I mean.

Manipulator

Meaning: The Manipulator is a real or an imagined agent who controls the market value with his vast reserves of fiat currency and cryptocurrency.

Term used in a sentence: God damn it! This must be the Manipulator again. I hate that guy.

Maker/Taker

Maker fees are fees associated with limit orders. Taker fees are fees associated with market orders. This only applies to exchanges that use a Maker/Taker model and is only relevant when one fee type is lower than the other. GDAX is an example of an exchange where this matters. On GDAX maker orders have no fees, but taker orders do

Margin Call

Meaning: Margin Call is a “call” made by a lender, broker or exchange to the person who has made the margin trade. The call is made when the margin falls below the minimum required to cover the credit risk of the lender, the broker or exchange. At such point, the position is automatically closed and the margin is lost. You don’t want to get this “call” if you’re a trader…

Term used in a sentence: I made a leveraged trade yesterday and it isn’t looking too good at all. I just hope I don’t get that margin call if you know what I mean.

Margin Trading

Meaning:Margin Trading means the act of adding leverage to your trades. When margin trading, you borrow money against your current funds to trade cryptocurrency “on margin” on an exchange. In other words, you borrowing money to increase your buying power (generally you pay interest on the amount borrowed, but not always).
The act of ‘magnifying’ the intensity of your trades by risking your existing coins. (NOTE: Very risky, only for experienced traders and only on certain exchanges even then)
Margin trading is the practice of buying an asset using funds borrowed from a broker. This is a risky method of trading because, if the assets end up decreasing in value, the trader can be left in significant debt — it’s possible to lose more money than one initially invested.
Margin Trading A risky strategy used by experienced traders where they risk their existing coins to magnify the intensity of their trades. This allows them to buy more than they can afford using leverage provided by an exchange.

Term used in a sentence: You must have nerves of steel to do the kind of margin trading I do, Bitcoin long with 100x leverage. Go big or go home!

Market Cap

The total value held in a crypto-currency. It is calculated by multiplying the total supply of coins by the current price of an individual unit. This site shows a great run-down of each coin’s market cap: http://coincap.io/

Market Capitalisation

Meaning: Market Capitalisation (for short: Market Cap) is total value of a cryptocurrency. It is calculated by multiplying the total supply of coins by the current price of one such coin.

Term used in a sentence: The market capitalisation of Bitcoin was 116.5 billion in November 2017. That means that Bitcoin was then the world’s 59th biggest economy (bigger than e.g. Kuwait).

Market order / market buy / market sell
A simple purchase or sale on an exchange at the current price. Market buys purchase the cheapest ETH available on the order book, and market sells fill the most expensive buy order on the books.

Market Order

Meaning:Market Order means a simple purchase or sale on an exchange at the current price. Market buys purchase the cheapest ETH available on the order book, and market sells fill the most expensive buy order on the books.
Is what happens when you make an agreement with an exchange to buy or sell a certain amount of an asset immediately at the best available price. Depending on the size of your order and the trading volume on the exchange, this can end up giving you an extremely suboptimal price, though it allows you to execute your trade quickly.

Masternode

Masternodes are nodes that have voting rights. Masternodes generally get a cut of mining rewards and require locking up a large amount of a given crypto while running the node.

MEW

Meaning: MEW stands for MyEtherWallet, one of the most popular free online open-source wallets.

Term used in a sentence:

– Do you know where to store Ethereum and ERC20-tokens?

– There are loads of alternatives, but I use MEW.

Micro-transaction

A very small payment made possible with digital currencies.
The ability to pay for things in very small sums thanks to the fact that Bitcoin may be extended to 8 decimal places. Microtransactions are especially important to Bitcoin casinos by providing players the ability to deposit and gamble fractions of Bitcoins.

Miner

An individual that volunteers computing power to verify transactions on a blockchain in exchange for block rewards.
Network users or nodes who perform mining, which is the process of validating transactions and adding them to a blockchain – a public ledger of past transactions. Miners decide by consensus which blockchain should be mined, or if there is a disagreement or a “fork”, which version of the code carries more potential for profit. Miners are paid any transaction fees as well as a “subsidy” of newly created coins. This both serves the purpose of disseminating new coins in a decentralized manner as well as motivating people to provide security for the system.

Miner Fee

A fee paid to voluntary participants for using their computing power to verify transactions. When a miner mines a block they get a block reward as well as all the transaction fees in it.

Mining

Running software that cracks cryptographic puzzles and rewards you with coins for solving the puzzle. Mining is how transactions get added to the ledger.
Meaning: Miningis the process of trying to solve/create the next block. It requires large amounts of computer processing power to do effectively, and is therefore also rewarded with ether.
The process of creating blocks for the blockchain, which requires an inordinate amount of energy. As reported by CBS News, “Nearly 10 U.S. households can be powered for one day by the electricity consumed for a single bitcoin transaction, according to figures from The Bitcoin Energy Consumption Index.”
“The act of generating new bitcoins by solving cryptographic problems using computing hardware.”
Miningis the process of trying to solve/create the next block. It requires large amounts of computer processing power to do effectively, and is therefore also rewarded with ether.
Mining – A process where transactions are verified and added to a blockchain. It is also the process where new bitcoinsor certain altcoins are created. In theory, anyone with the necessary hardware and access to the internet can be a miner and earn income, but the cost of industrial hardware and electricity has limited mining for bitcoins and certain altcoins today to large-scale operations.
The act of creating new Bitcoins using computer hardware. For more read our full guide to bitcoin mining.

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

—The term, somewhat confusingly, given to the process of verifying transactions on a blockchain. In the process of solving the encryption challenges, the person donating the computer power is granted new fractions of the cryptocurrency.

Term used in a sentence: How do you get rich mining? Well, you can start with getting a proper mining rig and focus on miningpromising cryptocurrencies with high block rewards.

Mining Algorithm

A mathematical problem that is solved by participants of a blockchain to verify transactions in exchange for block rewards.

Mining Contract

An agreement that allows individuals to sell their computing power for the purposes of verifying transactions on a blockchain.
An investment in mining hardware whereby you rent out the hashing power of mining hardware for a certain amount of time. The renter does not pay for the hardware or the maintenance and electricity required to run it.

Mining Difficulty

“This number determines how difficult it is to hash a new block. It is related to the maximum allowed number in a given numerical portion of a transaction block’s hash. The lower the number, the more difficult it is to produce a hash value that fits it.”

Mining Rig

Meaning: Mining Rig means a computer specially designed for processing proof-of-work blockchains. They often consist of multiple high-end graphic processors (GPUs) to maximize their processing power.

Term used in a sentence: You should see my new mining rig. It’s really powerful. Hope my mom doesn’t notice that our electricity bill is 132 times higher each month since I got it though

Mining Pool

If a number of miners combine their computing power together to try and help complete the transactions required to start a new block in the blockchain, they are in a mining pool. The rewards are spread proportionately between those in the mining pool based on the amount of power they contributed. The idea is that being in a mining pool allows for better chances of successful hashing and therefore getting enough cryptocurrency reward to produce an income.

Groups of miners that work together, combining their computing power to mine blocks and proportionally split profits.

Minting

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

Mixing Service

The act of combining Bitcoins from different people by switching their addresses. This can help improve privacy and anonymity, but also can be used for money laundering.
A third party that enables anonymous transactions by grouping payments together, obscuring their sources.

Mobile Wallet

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

Monero

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

Monero (XMR)

A type of cryptocurrency created in 2014 that is focused on privacy and scalability, and runs on platforms like Windows, Mac, Linux and Android. Transactions on Monero are designed to be untraceable to any particular user or real world identity. For more information, please visit the Monero website.

Money Services Business A legal term used to represent an entity that transfers or converts money.

Money Laundering

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

Moon

Where you want your coin to pass by on its way to Mars. Mooning is when a coin goes on a “run” (AKA bull run). That is when the price goes up quick. The opposite is a crash, correction, or dip. Can’t get a Lambo without mooning, can’t see the moon if you don’t HODL. NOTE: You’ll make old school more virtuous crypto nerds cry if you say “Lambo, moon, and HODL” in the same sentence. So try to be polite and say “Tesla, Stratosphere, and Laddering” when appropriate.
A term used to describe a major price movement upwards. For example, Ripple is mooning.

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.

In crypto slang, “moon” has multiple connotations. Most simply, a cryptocurrency going “to the moon” refers to its price skyrocketing, either in the short-term because of some kind of announcement/market sentiment, or in the long-term because of the cryptocurrency’s real value. “Moon lambos” are the lavish cars that some intend to buy once their crypto holdings go to the moon. They are not Lamborghinis that one drives on the moon.
Sometimes, though, there’s also a bit of derisiveness behind the use of the term “moon”: It can be used to refer to people who are undereducated about the crypto space and are merely buying up coins with the expectation of making a quick, huge profit. This kind of subtle mockery is typically what’s happening when people post “when moon?” on crypto traders’ discussion forums.

#MOON = Continuous upward movement of price.

Mooning

In the crypto world – the price of a cryptocurrency going up to astronomical levels.
In the crypto-world, this does not mean exposing your buttocks. It is referring to a price going up astronomical levels.
When the price of a coin rapidly increases in value, it’s “shooting up to the moon” or “mooning.”

Term used in a sentence:

– I promise you, man! PIVX Coin is mooning! You have to get it know.

– You have said that about every coin you have read the whitepaper for, John. And you have been wrong every time.

Multi-sig

Meaning: Multi-sig is a system that requires multiple cryptographic authentication keys.

Term used in a sentence: I used to have insomnia, but since I fixed multi-sig security on all of my crypto stuff I’m sleeping like a baby every night

Moving Average (MA)

A moving average is a method used in technical analysis to smooth out smaller fluctuations in an asset’s price: It’s the average price of an asset over a number of periods of a given length. Moving averages come in different varieties, but the most common types are the exponential moving average, which determines the average price of an asset while giving more weight to more recent prices, and the simple moving average, which determines the average price of an asset without any time bias.

2. Moving Average Convergence Divergence A part of the technical analysis of a cryptocurrency’s value, this tracks the momentum of price change to try and forecast into the future.

MSB

Acronym for “money services business”.

Mt. Gox

One of the first Bitcoin exchanges that began liquidating after more than 850,000 of its users’ Bitcoins were lost or stolen – an amount equal to more than $450,000,000 at the time.
A cryptocurrency exchange led by Mark Karpeles that allegedly lost millions of dollars in user funds.

Multi-Layer

When a blockchain features several levels for scalability and encryption purposes, it can be said to be “Multi-Layered.”

Multi-sig

Meaning: Multi-sig is a system that requires multiple cryptographic authentication keys.

Term used in a sentence: I used to have insomnia, but since I fixed multi-sig security on all of my crypto stuff I’m sleeping like a baby every night.

Multipool Mining

If a miner moves from one cryptocurrency blockchain to another depending on the profitability provided by the network at that moment in time, they are

engaging in multipool mining.

Multisig

A feature that requires several keys to authorize a single transaction, especially for dividing responsibility among separate parties.

Multi-Signature

A feature that requires several keys to authorize a single transaction, especially for dividing responsibility among separate parties.
Multi-signature addressesprovide an added layer of security by requiring more than one key to authorize a transaction.
Multisignature (multisig) refers to cryptocurrency transactions that require more than one signature to be approved. This has lots of applications, but its primary utility when it comes to trading is 2-factor authentication: If you have 2FA enabled, then each “factor” — e.g., your password and U2F — is a signature that’s required before your trade can be executed.

Multi-Signature (Multi-Sig) Wallets If, in order for a transaction to go through, more than one user needs to provide their unique code, then it is multi-signature. This system is set up at the creation of the account and is considered less susceptible to theft.

MyEtherWallet

A popular online wallet that supports Ether and most ERC20 tokens.

Node

Any computer that hosts the blockchain. The blockchain isn’t stored in one place; it is distributed, each node running it plays an important role in verifying the ledger.
A computer that possesses a copy of the blockchain and is working to maintain it.
Meaning:Node means a computer that possesses a copy of a blockchain and is working to maintain it.

Term used in a sentence:

– I’m contributing to the crypto community, dad. Our family computer is also a node.

– I don’t want this family’s computer to be a gnome, John.

– A node!

– A what?

– Nevermind.

Namecoin

A cryptocurrency that allows data (and transactions) to be written onto its blockchain.
An altcoin allowing people to use the currency to purchase domain names.

NEM (XEM)

Refers to the cryptocurrency and the name of a platform for management of a variety of assets, including currencies, supply chains, ownership records, etc. It offers additional features to blockchain technology such as multi-signature accounts, encrypted messaging, etc. For more information, please visit their official website.

NEO

Refers to the cryptocurrency and the name of a China’s first open source blockchain that was founded in 2014 by Da Hongfei. It is similar to Ethereum in its ability to execute smart contracts or dApps but has some technical differences such as coding language compatibility. For more information, visit their official website.

NeoContracts

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

Net

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.

Network

A network refers to all the nodes committed to helping the operation of a blockchain at any given moment in time.

Network Effect

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

NFC

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

OCO

Acronym for “one cancels the other order”.

One Cancels the Other Order When two orders for cryptocurrency are placed simultaneously with a rule in place whereby if one is accepted, the other is cancelled.

Off Blockchain Transactions

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

Opsec

Operations Security. Refers to how well assets are protected.

Oracles

The smart contracts stored on a blockchain are stuck within the network. They can only be reached by the external world through a program called an oracle. The oracle sends the data to and from the smart contract and the outside world as required. Oracles are most commonly found on the Ethereum network.

Orphaned Blocks

Meaning: Orphaned Blocks is the term for certain blocks following a Soft Fork or Hard Fork, or when miners produce blocks at exactly the same time. Whenever a Soft Fork or Hard Fork occurs, the blockchain is split into two paths. One of these chains will eventually be considered the valid one, and the other will be the invalid chain. Blocks that are in an invalid chain are called Orphaned Blocks.

Term used in a sentence: When two miners produce blocks at exactly the same time, one of those blocks will not be part of the main chain. They will be so called orphaned blocks.

#OTC

Over The Counter

OTC

Meaning: OTC is an acronym for Over The Counter. This is off-exchange trading that is done directly between two parties.

Term used in a sentence: I want to know who I’m trading with. That’s why I only trade OTC with people I trust.

OTC Exchange

Over The Counter Exchange, also known as Off-Exchange Trading. Trades that occur bSetween two parties rather than using a centralized exchange.

Outgoing Connection

The initiator of communication on a cryptocurrency network.

OTC Trades

Over-the-counter (‘OTC’) trades are how many high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors make their especially large trades: they use a broker who directly connects them with an entity willing to buy or sell the asset in question at a particular price. This is intended to avoid losing money by executing a trade so large that it moves the market — but the peculiar information asymmetries involved in such a trade make it easy to make a mistake that ends up offsetting the potential advantages of OTC trading.

Output

The output side of a given Bitcoin transaction is the side where the Bitcoin payment is being sent to. Usually, this is expressed with a Bitcoin address.

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

Overbought

If a large number of purchases have been made on a cryptocurrency, its price will increase for an extended period of time. At this juncture, it is considered overbought and a period of selling is expected.

Oversold

If a cryptocurrency has spent significant time being sold without an upward movement, it is considered oversold. In this condition, there would be concerns about whether it will bounce back.

Paper Wallet

A physical piece of paper containing a private key, a public key, and often corresponding QR codes.
paper versions of Bitcoins that are meant to be more secure due to being offline.
Paper Walletis a way to store cryptocurrency. It is done by printing the addresses and private keys directly on a piece of paper (or any other material).
A paper wallet — named such because it is often literally printed on a piece of paper — is a cryptocurrency wallet generated by a site like com.It’s a combination of a private key and public key that’s totally offline, making it secure against theft but also virtually impossible to recover if lost.
Paper Wallet Storing your wallet code (your private key) on a physical document makes it a paper wallet. It’s also sometimes referred to as cold storage.

Term used in a sentence:

– Hello?

– Hello, is this John?

– Yes, speaking.

– I’m from the fire department and I’m sorry to say this, John, but your entire house has burned down. Everything in there is gone.

– OH NO I HAD MY PAPER WALLET IN THE HOUSE!!!

Parent Chain

A cryptocurrency’s main blockchain which connects its sidechains or subchains.

Peer

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

Peercoin

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

Peer to Peer

Decentralized networks in which individuals interact with each other directly.
In a peer-to-peer connection, two or more computers network with each other without a centralized third party being used as an intermediary.
Peer to Peer (P2P) refers to the decentralized interactions between two parties or more in a highly-interconnected network. Participants of a P2P network deal directly with each other through a single mediation point.
Peer-to-Peer Refers to networks in which individuals connect to each other rather than a central authority.

P2P Acronym for “peer to peer”.

Phishing Attack

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).

Panic Selling

Selling in a panic at a low because the price is going down and one fears it might go lower.

Pool

Pool is a group of miners that all work together in order to improve their chances of solving a block.

Term used in a sentence: Ever since I joined that mining pool, the compensation I receive for mining has started to improve.

Ponzi Scheme

Ponzi Scheme is a fraudulent investment operation that pays returns to its investors from their own money or the money paid by subsequent investors. The term comes from the infamous Charles Ponzi and his arbitrage affairs with international reply coupons during the 1920s.

Term used in a sentence: I’m pretty sure that this ICO is a Ponzi Scheme, but it doesn’t really matter to me. If you’re one of the first people entering the scheme and you exit in time, you can still reap the benefits of it.

POS

POS stands for Proof of Stake (not Piece of Shit…) and is the proposed future consensus algorithm to be used by Ethereum. Instead of mining in its current form, people that own ETH will be able to ‘lock up’ their ether for a short amount of time in order to ‘vote’ and generate network consensus. The plan is that these stakeholders will be rewarded with ETH by doing so. Another famous POS blockchain is LISK.

A proof-of-stake system (Pos). It is where mining is done by those who hold coins. The result is a bit like getting paid interest for holding coins.

Proof-of-stake (not piece of shit). The proposed future consensus algorithm to be used by Ethereum. Instead of mining in its current form, people that own ETH will be able to ‘lock up’ their ether for a short amount of time in order to ‘vote’ and generate network consensus. The plan is that these stakeholders will be rewarded with ETH by doing so.

Term used in a sentence: How are new transactions validated in the DASH-crypto? They are validated through POS.

PoW

A proof-of-work system (PoW). It is where mining is done by those who have the hash power, time, and energy. The result is that time and energy is traded for rewards.
Proof-of-work. The current consensus algorithm used by Ethereum.
POW stands for Proof Of Work (not Prisoner Of War…) and is the current consensus algorithm used by Bitcoin.

Term used in a sentence: How are new transactions validated in the Super Bitcoin-cryptocurrency? They are validated through POW.

Premining

Premining is the procedure of mining certain altcoins before they are released to the public. This generates coins for the developers, who hope to profit from them in the future.

Term used in a sentence: The premining in this ICO is absolutely insane. Seems like a fraud to me. Watch out.

Pump and Dump

Pump and Dump means an altcoin getting a lot of attention, resulting in a fast price increase, which is then followed by a crash.

The recurring cycle of an altcoin getting a ton of attention, leading to a fast price increase, and then of course followed by a huge crash.

People get together on telegram groups and then pump coins to the moon. Sometimes what looks like natural growth in crypto is a “PND.” If you don’t have a why, don’t buy. Try not to get FOMO and buy into the giant green candle. Pump and Dumpers who spoof to gather coins and then Pump and Dump a coin help in that they help raise prices of coins over time. Otherwise, they are just a symptom of free markets and cause a lot of the instability you see in crypto. They are a less grey area and more toward being black hat. Most exchanges ban pump and dumps and other manipulation tactics as a rule of thumb, but let’s be honest, the track record of actually stopping these is not great.

Term used in a sentence:

– What happened? I thought that crypto was going to the moon but now the price is even lower than what I bought it for?

– It was a classic Pump and Dump, John. Get over it.

Public Address

A public address is the cryptographic hash of a public key. They act as email addresses that can be published anywhere, unlike private keys.

Raiden Network
An upcoming protocol change to Ethereum that will enable high-speed transfers across the network. It is similar in some aspects to Bitcoin’s planned Lightning Network. The name, I assume, comes from the Mortal Kombat character named Raiden that can shoot lightning. More reading available at: https://themerkle.com/what-is-the-raiden-network/

Relative Strength Index

A type of technical analysis whereby you determine the momentum of price change over time. It looks at recent changes in price exponentially, with the most recent changes given more weight than older ones. This produces an overall trend of movement for a cryptocurrency that can determine if the market is overbought (a reading higher than 70) or oversold (a reading lower than 30).

REP – Augur

REKT = When you have a bad loss

Resistance

Resistance is the opposite of support, and is a trading term denoting a price level that a certain cryptocurrency rarely or never will exceed. If Bitcoin’s resistance would be USD 20,000, the price of Bitcoin could go up to USD 20,000 (maybe even several times), but not exceed USD 20,000.

Resistance, typically mentioned in reference to technical analysis, is a price level at which the selling pressure on an asset is historically greater than the buying pressure, meaning that the asset encounters “resistance” from the market when it attempts to break through that price level. One basic tactic of day tradingis shorting an asset when the asset is nearing a resistance level and the trader expects it won’t break through the resistance level.
Once an asset does break through a resistance level, that level often turns into a support level.

Term used in a sentence:

– What do you think about the Bitcoin, will it surpass USD 25,000 this year?

– Don’t know man, there is definitely resistance at the USD 20,000 level. But if Bitcoin manages to break that resistance, who knows where it will stop.

Reward – when mining for new Bitcoins, the miner may claim new coins in a new block as a reward for helping to add new Bitcoins into circulation.

Roadmap

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

Roger Ver

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

ROI

Meaning: ROI stands for Return On Investment and is the percentage of how much money has been made compared to an initial investment (i.e., 100% ROI means someone has doubled their money).

A return on investment. What you would ideally like to happen.

The ROI, typically expressed as a percent, is a measure of the efficiency of an investment. It’s usually calculated as follows:

For example, if you bought 1 BTC for $6,000 USD and sold it a month later for $6,600 USD, your ROI (ignoring fees, for simplicity’s sake) would be $600 USD / $6,000 USD = 10% in 1 month.

Term used in a sentence:

– I doubled my money during 2017. ROI x 2. How about that?

– That’s nice John. I invested all of my money in XTRABYTES. ROI during 2017 was 3879.99 – …

RSI

RSIis an acronym for Relative Strength Index, being an indicator looking at the magnitude of recent price changes. The RSI is used to analyse whether a certain cryptocurrency is oversold or overbought, which in turn makes it possible to analyse whether it is an appropriate time to buy or sell.
The relative strength index (RSI) is a momentum indicator that compares the magnitude of recent gains and losses over a specified period to measure speed and change of price movements. It is smart to enter a coin when it has a low RSI.

Acronym for “Relative Strength Index”.

Term used in a sentence: Looking at Ripple’s RSI, I see clear purchase signals right now. I’m definitely going in hard.

Reverse Indicator = Someone who is always wrong predicting price movements.

Ring Signature–A ring signature is a type of encryption process that retains anonymity for the user. The concept gives the network of nodes the power to approve a transaction on a blockchain without identifying which of the nodes requested the transaction. As a result, it cannot be traced.

Ripple

A platform that connects banks, payment providers, and digital asset exchanges to provide frictionless transactions.

Ripple (XRP) – Refers to the cryptocurrency and the name of an open source payment platform where the cryptocurrency (Ripple or XRP) can be transferred. The vision for the platform is to enable real-time global payments anywhere around the world. The Ripple payment protocol was built by OpenCoin which was founded in 2012. For more information, visit Ripple’s official website.

Risk On, Risk Off (RoRo)

Risk on, risk off (RoRo) trading is a style of trading according to which you modulate your risk appetite in response to the perceived level of risk in the overall market or economy: When the general cryptocurrency market seems especially risky, you make (relatively) less risky investments (e.g., holding Bitcoin); when the general cryptocurrency market seems less risky, you make (relatively) riskier investments (e.g., trading other tokens).

SATS

This is the smallest unit of bitcoin, which is 0.00000001 BTC.
The name SATS is shorthand for Satoshi Nakamoto, which is the fake name used by the creator of bitcoin.
Satoshi Nakamoto- The individual, or group of individuals – it has never been confirmed – who created bitcoin.
#SAJ #CANDLE = Huge green candle#SHITCOIN = A coin with no potential value or use
The smallest unit of Bitcoin, named after the creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. One Satoshi is worth 0.00000001 Bitcoin.
A Bitcoin “cent”, the smallest form of Bitcoins. One Bitcoin is equal to 1 million Satoshis.
the creator of Bitcoin and the author of the original Bitcoin whitepaper and code. His real identity is unknown to the world. Learn more about Bitcoin’s mysterious creator.
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.
The annonymous person or group that created Bitcoin.

Scalability

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

Scam

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

Scamcoin

An altcoin that is marketed as technology with potential, but is really just sold to make money with no promise of a future use case.
is an altcoin created for the sole purpose of conning people out of their money?

Term used in a sentence:

– So, have you seen any Scamcoins in the market lately, John?

– Yeah I lost all of my pension savings in a Scamcoin last month.

Scrypt

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.
An algorithm that encrypts a key in such a fashion that it takes a serious amount of RAM to hash it. The system makes it challenging to attack for hackers. Despite its spelling, Scrypt is pronounced “ess-crypt”.
Scrypt is a type of cryptographic algorithm and is used by Litecoin. Compared to SHA256, this is quicker as it does not use up as much processing time.

Segregated Witness (SegWit)

The process where the block size limit on a blockchain is increased by removing digital signature data and moving it to the end of a transaction to free up capacity. Transactions are essentially split (or ‘segregated’), into two segments: the original data segment and the signature (or ‘witness’) segment.

SEC

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

Security tokens

Financial instruments of ownership, similar to shares in a company. If a crypto token derives its value from an external, tradable asset, it is classified as a security token and becomes subject to federal securities regulations. The security token classification creates the potential for a company to issue tokens that represent shares of company stock.

Seed

A type of password that an individual can use to recover their wallet.
Seed The origin point from which you created your wallet ID. Usually, a seed is a phrase or a series of words that can be used to regenerate your wallet ID if you lose it. Something to keep very secret.

Segregated Witness

The processes of separating digital signature data from transaction data. This lets more transactions fit onto one block in the blockchain, improving transaction speeds.

SegWit

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

Self-Executing Contract

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

Sell Wall/Buy Wall

Sell Wall and Buy Wall means the current limit buy and sell points, as presented in a depth chart. The graphical representation on the depth chart looks like walls.
Sell walls are a large number of sell orders, typically placed on the order book all at once, at a seemingly undervalued price. They look like this:
Using a depth chart, traders can see the current limit buy and sell points.
The graphical representation on the depth chart looks like walls: http://media.coindesk.com/uploads/2015/05/image-1.png
When a large limit order has been placed to sell when a cryptocurrency reaches a certain value, that is a sell wall. This can prevent a cryptocurrency from rising above that value, as supply will likely outstrip demand when the order is executed.

Term used in a sentence: You see these Sell Walls and Buy Walls? My interpretation of this order depth chart is that the price will increase due to higher buy pressure.

Selfish Mining

If a miner finds or creates a new block in the blockchain and then doesn’t share that information with the network, he or she is partaking in selfish mining. This is because other miners are now burning their computational power on an old block, allowing the selfish miner to get a head start on the new block.

SHA-256

Secure Hash Algorithm 256. An algorithm used by some Proof of Work consensus mechanisms (most notably, Bitcoin’s).
SHA-256 stands for Secure Hash Algorithm. It is an algorithm that generates a hash when provided with input data.
SHA-256 The name of the cryptographic hash function (the hashing algorithm) used by bitcoin. It’s been subsequently used by a number of altcoins too.
SHA-256 is a cryptographic algorithm used by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. However, it uses a
lot of computing power and processing time, forcing miners to form mining pools to capture gains.

Term used in a sentence:

– Can you please use SHA-256 in a sentence, John?

– No, I’m too lazy.

Shapeshift

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

Sharding

The process by which a full database is split into smaller databases called shards. Sharding helps with the scalability of cryptocurrencies.
Shardingis a scaling solution for blockchains. Every node in a blockchain network typically houses a complete copy of the blockchain.
Shardingis a method that allows nodes to have partial copies of the complete blockchain in order to increase overall network performance and consensus

Term used in a sentence:

– Through sharding, the different nodes in a network can work more efficiently.

– Did you just say sharting?

– No, John, sharding.

sharding
A scaling solution for blockchains. Typically, every node in a blockchain network houses a complete copy of the blockchain. Sharding is a method that allows nodes to have partial copies of the complete blockchain in order to increase overall network performance and consensus speeds.

Sharding is a way of splitting up the full blockchain history so each full node doesn’t need the whole copy of it. It’s considered a scaling solution for blockchains because as they grow larger, it begins to slow the network performance if every node is required to carry the full blockchain.

Sidechain

A platform that function alongside of an existing blockchain protocol, allowing transactions to occur off of the main blockchain. Sidechains can be customized to allow features like faster transaction time and increased anonymity.

Sig & Signature

Meaning: Sig (or Signature) is a cryptographic authentication key.

Term used in a sentence: I’ll be with you in a minute I just need to verify a transaction with my sig.

Signature

A series of bytes that is a digital signature to connect someone to their public key in performing Bitcoin transactions.
A mathematical mechanism for combining a public address with a private address to ensure authenticity and prevent forging.

Signaling

An indication of support for a feature, often sent out by miners to inform the general public of their opinion.

Shilling

Similar to the pump-and-dump strategy, shilling refers to the act of disingenuously spreading potentially false news about an asset in which one has a vested interest.
This is particularly prevalent and problematic in spaces like Reddit and Facebook, which are intended to be spaces where individuals share content that genuinely interests them: It’s easy for a shoddy crypto company to set up a bunch of Reddit accounts to advertise their brand by posing as interested individuals on crypto-related subreddits and submitting links to that crypto company’s content. That’s one of the reasons why you should take market sentiments expressed on forums with a grain of salt.

Shilling / pumping

Someone essentially advertising another crypto-currency. If a coin is promised to cure cancer or be the second coming of Jesus, it’s being shilled.
Shilling/Pumpingmeans strongly advertising a cryptocurrency. If a cryptocurrency is promised to cure cancer or be the second coming of Jesus, it’s being shilled/pumped.

Term used in a sentence: I’m pretty sure that cryptocurrency is getting shilled. It can’t possibly be as good as promised.

Silk Road

An online black market on the Darknet best known as a place individual could buy and sell illegal goods and services. One of the first communities to use Bitcoin as currency.
An underground website, as part of the “dark web”, that was essentially the black market online. One could purchase illegal drugs, organs or hire assassins online. The site used cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and was shut down in 2013 by the FBI.

Shit Coin

A derogatory term used to describe altcoins that are based on faulty technology or have little promise for the future.
No points for guessing this one. It’s a term used to describe a cryptocurrency not expected to have a positive future.

Shorting

Selling a cryptocurrency in hopes of buying it at a lower price at a later time to gain profit.

Phrased:
Bob: “Sandy, I just shorted bitcoin at 2700$ yesterday, gonna make all kinds of money when it drops back to 2000$”
Sandy: “Bob you fool, have you checked the price today? it shot up to 10,000$ last night, I’m Rich!”

#SHORT = Margin bear position

Short Also known as short selling, this is a concept whereby traders sell an asset they don’t have. The hope is that they can then buy the asset at a lower price than which they sold it to complete the deal. Thereby they earn a margin in the interim.

SmartBridge

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

Small Blocker

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

SmartCoins

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

Smart Contracts

Agreements between two parties that self-execute when their terms are met and automatically cancel when their terms are not met.
A code that is deployed onto the Ethereum blockchain, often directly interacting with how money flows. Simplistically put, a normal transaction allows you to send money from A to B. Smart contracts allow you to send money from A to B, on the condition that C happens.
Code that is deployed onto the Ethereum blockchain, often directly interacting with how money flows. Not my quote, but: “A normal transaction allows you to send money from A to B. Smart contracts allow you to send money from A to B, on the condition that C happens.
Smart contracts encode business rules in a programmable language onto the blockchain and are enforced by the participants of the network.
When a contract is written in computer code, as opposed to traditional legal language, it is deemed a smart contract. This programmed contract is set up to execute and carry itself out automatically under specified conditions.
When a smart contract is on the blockchain, both parties can check its programming before agreeing to it, and then let it do its thing, confident that it cannot be tampered with or changed. It lets two parties agree to complex terms without needing to trust each other and without needing to involve any third parties. This functionality is the defining feature of the Ethereum blockchain.
An automated mechanism involving two or more parties where digital assets are put in and redistributed at a later date based on some preset formula and triggering event. The contract can run as programmed without any downtime, censorship, fraud or third party interference. For more information, see Vitalik Buterin’s terminology guide.
Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code. The code and the agreements contained therein exist across a distributed, decentralized blockchain network. Smart contracts permit trusted transactions and agreements to be carried out among disparate, anonymous parties without the need for a central authority, legal system, or external enforcement mechanism. These transactions are trackable and irreversible.

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4:17 minutes

Term used in a sentence:

– What’s so smart about smart contracts?

– Well, for one, they execute themselves.

– I had a cousin who accidentally executed himself. He wasn’t that smart.

Smart Media Token

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

Sniper Trades

Sniper trades are one of our trade algorithms, a hidden order optimized for speed. This algorithm is ideal for getting the best possible price on a large order quickly, as you would want to do when the markets are especially volatile and you’re worried about prices dropping drastically.

A sell wall for BTC at ~$6000 USD on SFOX.

The standard explanation for sell walls is that a group of rich individuals is manipulating the market to drive down an asset’s price before it takes on a large position in it. Here’s how that explanation goes:

A group of high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) all want to buy a particular cryptocurrency, but they don’t want to move the market with a large order because that will end up making them pay a premium for their trade. Therefore, each member of the group buys only a small fraction of the position they ultimately want to take (e.g., 100,000 of the cryptocurrency rather than 500,000), and then they all simultaneously flood the market with underpriced sell orders.

Because the market is flooded with so much selling volume, the buying pressure can’t eat through the wall quickly enough — and anyone who wants to liquidate their own positions in this cryptocurrency will now have to sell at a price lower than that of the sell wall. This drives down the cryptocurrency’s price further, to a point at which the group of HNWIs feels comfortable buying the quantity they initially wanted. Once they’ve done so, they remove the sell wall — and the price of the cryptocurrency rises accordingly.

Slippage

Slippage refers to the difference between the price at which a trader expects a trade to execute and the price at which it actually executes. There are a number of reasons why slippage would occur — for instance, if a trader places a market order when the market is especially volatile, or when a trader places a trade large enough to move the market.

Imagine a situation in which the top-of-the-order-book price of Bitcoin is $8100 USD and you’re hoping to buy 100 BTC. Chances are good that there won’t be enough volume near the top of the order book to actually let you buy that much BTC at $8100 USD per coin: instead: you’ll end up needing to go deep into the order book to fill your order, meaning you’ll end up paying more than you expected — maybe up as high as $8200 or $8300. Worse, if you telegraph your large order to other traders and bots on the exchange, they might recognize the buying pressure and drive up the price of BTC even more as you’re trying to buy it. These are two classic examples of slippage in action.

Soft Cap

The minimum amount of funds that a cryptocurrency’s founders wish to raise in an ICO. If an ICO does not meet its soft cap, it will often be canceled until a later date.
Generally refers to the minimum amount that an initial coin offering (ICO) needs to raise. If the ICO is unable to raise that amount, it may be cancelled and the collected funds returned to participants. See also: hard cap.

Soft Fork

A situation where two or more competing blocks are published at the same height in the blockchain. These kinds of forks will solve themselves without any intervention from holders of the relevant cryptocurrency.
A fork in a blockchain protocol where previously valid transactions become invalid. A soft fork is backwards-compatible, as the old nodes running the old protocol will still consider new transactions valid, rather than disregarding them. For a soft fork to work, a majority of the miners powering the network will need to upgrade to the new protocol.
The procedure of splitting an open-source software project into two projects by copying the original project and developing it independently from that point onwards. A soft fork differs from a hard fork in that only previously valid transactions are made invalid. Since old nodes recognize the new blocks as valid, a soft fork is essentially backward-compatible. This type of fork requires most miners upgrading in order to enforce, while a hard fork requires all nodes to agree on the new version.

Term used in a sentence: Don’t worry about that soft fork. It doesn’t require any action on our part.

Software Wallet

Software Wallet means a storage for cryptocurrency that exists solely as software files on a computer. Software wallets can be generated for free from a variety of sources. Compare and review all cryptocurrency wallets in our Cryptocurrency Wallet Listto find the best wallet for you.

Storage for crypto-currency that exists purely as software files on a computer. Software wallets can be generated for free from a variety of sources. MyEtherWallet (MEW) is one of the popular. (more on MEW below)

Term used in a sentence: There are many differences between a software wallet and a hardware wallet. One such difference is that a software wallet doesn’t exist in physical form.

Term used in a sentence: Don’t worry about that soft fork. It doesn’t require any action on our part.

Due to differences among the members of the development team, they have now decided to do a software fork and thereafter work independently from each other.

Sockpuppet

Meaning: Sockpuppet is an online identity used for the purposes of deception.

Term used in a sentence: I’m pretty sure that the account 1337CryptoHero is a sockpuppet.

Solidity

One of the most popular languages that smart contracts can be written in. Has some similarities to Javascript.
A Ethereum’s programming language for developing smart contracts.
A programming language similar to JavaScript but focused on developing smart contracts. It’s exported as bytecode, which is used by the Ethereum Virtual Machine that runs the Ethereum network.
A programming language used to create smart contracts.
One of the most popular languages that smart contracts can be written in on Ethereum.

Term used in a sentence: Can you write in Solidity? No I only speak English and emojis.

Spread

Spread is the amount by which the Ask Price exceeds the Bid Price. This is essentially the difference in price between the highest price that a buyer is willing to pay for a cryptocurrency and the lowest price for which a seller is willing to sell it.

Term used in a sentence: By giving makers a discount on the trading fees, the exchange promotes liquidity and tightens the bid ask spread.

Speculator

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

SPV Client

SPV Client stands for Simplified Payment Verification Client. It is a lightweight client that downloads only part of the relevant blockchain.

Term used in a sentence: What’s that you have there on your computer, John? It’s an SPV Client.

SPV mode

Simplified Payment Verification. Allows wallets to function by letting them connect to local nodes that have full copies of the blockchain rather than requiring download of the full blockchain (like Bitcoin Core).

Stablecoin

Any cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset for the purpose of reducing price volatility.

Stable Coin

A cryptocurrency with extremely low volatility that can be used to trade against the overall market. A “stable coin” is a cryptocurrency that is often pegged to another stable asset, like silver, gold or a fiat currencysuch as US dollar. It’s a currency that’s global, but not tied to a central bank and has a lower volatility than other cryptos. Examples of stable coins on the market today are: (i) Havven, (ii) MakerDao, (iii) Basis, and (iv) Tether.
A crypto-currency with extremely low volatility that can be used to trade against the overall market.
Stable coins are cryptocurrencies intended to maintain a stable price and value, in contrast to the other extremely volatile cryptocurrencies. Tether, for instance, is a project that issues tokens with value pegged to particular fiat currencies — for example, the USDT, a token designed to always be worth $1 USD.

Term used in a sentence: After being a successful cryptocurrency trader for more than a year, I decided to park my cryptos into a stable coin. I was worried about possible price decreases at that point, and rightly so.

Stale Block

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.

Staker

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

Stale

when a Bitcoin clock is successfully hashed, the act of hashing it becomes ‘stale’, which means that no other miner may attempt to hash it.

Staking

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.

Stop Loss & Stop Order

Stop Loss-order (or Stop Order) is an order designed to limit an investor’s loss on a security position. Setting a stop loss order for 10% below the price you paid will limit your loss to 10%. This strategy allows investors to determine their loss limit in advance.

Term used in a sentence:

– Man! I lost everything. All of my savings. My college fund. It’s all gone!

– I set a 5% stop loss-order, so I just lost 5%. I must have forgotten to tell you to do the same. Sry.

Support

Support is the opposite of resistance and is a trading term referring to a certain price that a cryptocurrency historically does not fall below. If Bitcoin’s support would be USD 5,000, it would mean that the price of Bitcoin rarely or never falls below such level.

Term used in a sentence:

– I’m HODLing Bitcoin, I really am, but I don’t know how much longer I can take it? I’m afraid I might lose everything!

– No you won’t, there’s solid support at the USD 5,000 level so the price of Bitcoin won’t go lower than that.

Subchain

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.”

Supercomputer

A computer that is far more powerful than an ordianry computer due to its superior performance.

Supply Chains

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

Support

A support is typically discussed in terms of technical analysis: It’s a price level at which the buying pressure on an asset is historically greater than the selling pressure, meaning the asset encounters “support” when its price attempts to dip lower than that level. A basic method when attempting to secure profit, especially in a volatile market like crypto, is to buy into a cryptoasset when it’s around a level of support and the trader expects that the support will hold.

Once an asset does break through a support level, that level often turns into a resistance level.

SwiftTX

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

Swing Trading

Swing trading is the strategy of buying an asset at a low price and selling it at a high price at a relatively high frequency — typically once a day or once every few days. The high volatility of many cryptocurrencies has led many traders to focus on this kind of strategy, though that high volatility can also make the strategy costly if you time your trades poorly.

#SWING = Zig zag price movement (Upwards and downwards)

Scamcoin

Scamcoin is an altcoin created for the sole purpose of conning people out of their money.

Term used in a sentence:

– So, have you seen any Scamcoins in the market lately, John?

– Yeah I lost all of my pension savings in a Scamcoin last month.

Snapshot Block:

Forks occur at specific block heights. The block height you have to be in a coin by to qualify for a fork is called a snapshot block. It is the block at which a snapshot of the ledger will be taken to determine the balances of the ledger of the fork.

Sockpuppet

Sockpuppet is an online identity used for the purposes of deception.

Term used in a sentence: I’m pretty sure that the account 1337CryptoHero is a sockpuppet.

Spoofing

When a person or people with a lot of money and coins buy and sell to themselves in a set range to create the illusion of volume.

TA

TA stands for Technical Analysis (some call it Trend Analysis), and is the process of examining current price charts of e.g. a specific cryptocurrency in order to predict which way such cryptocurrency will move next.
Technical Analysis Using a trading tool to look at historical data on a cryptocurrency in the hope of forecasting its future.

Term used in a sentence: I used to do my TA and make trading decisions based on that. It never really played out in my favour.

Take-Profit Order

A take-profit order is the “other half” of a stop-loss order: whereas a stop-loss order is put in place to limit one’s losses, a take-profit order is put in place to secure one’s profits. When this kind of limit order is put in place with an exchange, you will automatically sell the asset in question, immediately, if its value reaches a certain price.

TCP/IP

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

Technical Analysis (TA)

Trend Analysis or Technical Analysis. Refers to the process of examining current charts in order to predict which way the market will move next.
Technical Analysis is the art/science of trying to predict future trends from historic price and volume data. You don’t need TA as a casual investor, but you should learn the basics if you trade. See com. That said, even though crypto can be speculative and see a lot of emotional trading, and thus TA tends to help, it is vital to do some Fundamental Analysis (FA) and other analysis types as well. A chart can only tell you so much; you also need to understand factors like demand, supply, tech, upcoming upgrades, the news, etc. Don’t make the mistake of thinking a coin “has to” go to X support level just “because TA,” sometimes good news, bad news, or a software update can be the main driver of a coins price (and that won’t always be clear from a chart).
Technical analysis (TA) is a trading strategy that emphasizes using mathematical patterns and indicators to predict where an asset’s price will go in the future. Some focus on TA to the exclusion of all else, reading charts without reading any actual market news — though this isn’t recommended.

The Ultimate Cryptocurrency Glossary

Term	Description
51% Attack	If more than half the computer power on a network is run by a single person or a single group of people, then a 51% attack is in operation. This means this entity has full control of the network and can negatively affect a cryptocurrency by halting mining, stopping or changing transactions, and reusing coins.

Term used in a sentence: I would never buy that cryptocurrency, it’s worthless. But hey, I got the units through an airdrop so no harm in that I guess.

Term used in a sentence: Man, Bitcoin is yesterday’s news. I’m all into altcoins now. It’s with the altcoins you can make the really big bucks.

Term used in a sentence: Did you see the ANN for that Russian ICO? Filled with typos and everything. I’m staying away from that.

Term used in a sentence: Have you heard that the updates of centralized exchange X’s market price for cryptocurrencies that they sell themselves is lagging behind? Sometimes up to a minute. I’m definitely going to try some arbitrage trading there.

Term used in a sentence: Your trading technique is really weird my friend. Your ask price is completely unreasonable, nobody will buy it at that price.

Term used in a sentence: When Bitcoin was at its ATH, I was seriously checking out Lambos online. Found a really nice one in Germany that I was minutes from buying. Now, one month later, I’m looking at skateboards instead…

Term used in a sentence: Look at John, he refuses to accept that the crypto he invested in never will recover. He’s such a bagholder.

Testnet

Meaning: Testnet is a blockchain in a testing phase where you are not able to transfer cryptocurrencies to different recipients. This is different from a Mainnet, which is a blockchain in operation where you can make such transfers.

Term used in a sentence: The team behind the cryptocurrency has now launched its Testnet and in a few weeks or so, they say they’ll be ready for launch of the Mainnet.

Ticker Symbols

Every coin has a trading symbol or ticker symbol. For Ripple, it is XRP, for Bitcoin BTC, for Litecoin LTC, for Ether (ETH), etc. People often refer to coins by their ticker symbol and not their name.

The Flippening
A potential future event wherein Ethereum’s market cap surpasses Bitcoin’s market cap, making Ethereum the most ‘valuable’ crypto-currency. This site shows the progress of the Flippening in real-time: http://www.flippening.watch/

This is gentlemen
“This is it, gentlemen”. Used to point out positive things that are currently happening. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=This%20is%20gentlemen

Tokens

Meaning: Tokensmean the ‘currency’ of projects built on the Ethereum network that have raised money via issuing their own tokens. There are thousands of tokens in the market.
Refers to the ‘currency’ of projects built on the ethereum network that have raised money via issuing their own tokens. Examples:
GNT – Golem
REP – Augur
BAT – Basic Attention Token
ICN – Iconomi

Term used in a sentence:

– I never know which token I should invest in and which token I should stay away from.

– Nobody does.

Trading Fee

Meaning: Trading Fee is the fee you pay when executing an order on a cryptocurrency exchange. This fee is normally a percentage of the order value. Industry average for centralized exchanges is arguably around 0.25% for both “takers” and “makers”. Exchanges sometimes charge “makers” lower fees, thus providing discounts on the trading fees for the makers. This is for the purpose of providing liquidity to the exchange and incentivize makers to tighten the spread in the order book. In our Cryptocurrency Exchange List, you can easily see which exchanges charges which trading fees, and choose the best one for you.

Term used in a sentence: The industry average of trading fees across the globe is arguably around 0.25%. Interestingly enough, the average trading fees are higher in South America than in the rest of the world.

Tokenomics

Meaning: Tokenomics is the distribution and creation of certain tokens, and how they are put in place in the relevant token ecosystem. Factors such as: (i) how many tokens that can be mined, (ii) how many tokens that have been pre-mined, and (iii) how many tokens that are allocated through pre-sale and public sale, are important factors in a company’s tokenomics.

Term used in a sentence: I thought their technology looked promising but when looking at the tokenomics as presented in their White Paper, I’m not sure if I want to invest.

Tokenization

If you just sent unencrypted data across the internet it would not be secure. So instead of doing that information is tokenized. It is encrypted and turned into a string of data. That string can then be sent and stored. Data sent between wallets and stored on the blockchain is tokenized. This is why the term cryptocurrency tokens are used.

Transaction Fee

To send a transaction a fee must be paid (with most cryptos). This fee is a reward for miners. In Ethereum it is called “Gas,” it might have a unique name for a given cryptocurrency.

TX

TXstands for Transaction.
A transaction number. This allows you to track a transaction. If you are freaking out because your transaction is taking too long, you probably just have to wait longer. Try tracking the TX.

Term used in a sentence:

– This is black eagle, the assassination of your mother-in-law is done. Have you sent me the Bitcoins, John?

– Yes, the TX was successfully carried out last night.

U

We don’t know any cryptocurrency terms starting with “U”. But we hate incompleteness. Please let us know if you know any cryptocurrency term starting with “U”!

uBTC – the unit for a microbitcoin (0.000001 BTC).

Unconfirmed

When a transaction is proposed, it is unconfirmed until the network has examined the blockchain to ensure that there are no other transactions pending involving that same coin. In the unconfirmed state, the transaction has not been appended to the blockchain.

UIA

User-Issued Assets, Tokens that can be created on the BitShares network.

Universal 2-Factor (U2F)

A universal 2-factor (U2F) is a sort of specialized, encrypted USB drive that you insert into your computer as a method of 2-factor authentication. At the moment, YubiKey is one of the leading U2Fs available.

Unspent Transaction Output

This refers to the amount of cryptocurrency sent to an entity but not sent on elsewhere. These amounts are considered unspent and are the data stored in the blockchain.

Unstoppable Code

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

UTXO

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

Acronym for “unspent transaction output”.

Utility Token

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.
Also called user tokens or app coins, represent future access to a company’s product or service. Through utility token ICOs, startups can raise capital to fund the development of their blockchain projects, and users can purchase future access to that service, sometimes at a discount off the finished product’s sticker price. The defining characteristic of utility tokens is that they are not designed as investments

Value at Risk (VaR)

Value at risk (VaR) is a statistical method of measuring a portfolio’s risk: It’s the maximum amount of value that one could expect to lose over a given time horizon. For example, if your crypto portfolio has a “95% 2-week VaR of $100,000 USD,” that means that there is 95% confidence, statistically speaking, that your portfolio will not lose more than $100,000 USD of value over the next two weeks.

Vanity Address

Addresses that hold cryptocurrency. Instead of random alphanumeric strings, however, users with vanity addresses can choose specific words and phrases for their addresses, similar to vanity license plates.
A Bitcoin address that is personalized, like a vanity license plate.

Venture Capitalist

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

Velocity of Money

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

Volatility

A measure that describes how rapidly an asset tends to fluctuate in price.
The measurement of price movements over time for a traded financial asset.”
Volatility is the size of changes in an asset’s value over time. If an asset’s value frequently fluctuates to a great degree — that is, if it’s highly volatile — then it’s typically thought to be a proportionately high-risk The historically high volatility of Bitcoin is one of the reasons why some have been skeptical of Bitcoin’s capacity to act as a store of value.Volatility is also what gives traders the opportunity to profit through day trading and swing trading (see below).

Phrased:
Sandy: “Bob, I just bought ethereum for 370$ on GDAX, and now it’s worth 10$”

Vitalik Buterin

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

Virgin Coins

Coins which haven’t ever been spent. Virgin coins were mined and left alone.

Wallet

A wallet is defined by a unique code that represents its “address” on the blockchain. The wallet address is public, but within it is a number of private keys determining ownership of the balance and the balance itself. It can exist in software, hardware, paper or other forms.
A store of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, analogous to a digital bank account. Crypto wallets can be divided into two categories: hosted wallets (e.g. wallets store on exchanges or third-party servers) and cold wallets (e.g. hardware wallets such as the Ledger Nano S, paper wallets and desktop wallets)
In cryptocurrency, a wallet is software which allows you to store “keys” and create cryptocurrency transactions. It is essentially where you store cryptocurrency addresses which can receive cryptocurrency and where you send cryptocurrency from. Also, sometimes people call cryptocurrency addresses “wallets.”
A file that houses private keys.It usually contains a software client which allows access to view and create transactions on a specific blockchain that the wallet is designed for.
Wallet– a method for storing Bitcoins, and is generally the first step for anyone looking to buy or own Bitcoins. There are various forms of wallets – online, offline (software), hardware and paper – with varying levels of security.
A place to securely lock away your cryptocurrency private keys.

When it comes to managing your cryptocurrency holdings, it’s important to understand who actually has your holdings. If you have your holdings in a wallet — whether that’s a hardware wallet, a software wallet, or a paper wallet — you control your private key and actually have custody over those holdings. On the other hand, when you buy and hold cryptocurrencies on most exchanges, they store those holdings in wallets of their own. That’s why some people worry about centralized cryptocurrency exchanges: if they’re hacked, their investors’ money could vanish overnight.

Wallet.dat

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

Wei
The smallest denomination of ether. 1 Ether = 1000000000000000000 Wei (10¹⁸⁾
Meaning: Weiis the smallest denomination of ether. 1 Ether = 1000000000000000000 Wei (10¹⁸)

Term used in a sentence: I’m so broke right now. I’m even broker than the guy in the reference example for the glossary term Gwei! Not even a single wei in my crypto wallet.

Whale

A very wealthy individual capable of making large trades.
Whalemeans someone that owns so much cryptocurrency that he/she has the power to alone substantially affect the price of such cryptocurrency (by e.g. issuing a sell order).
Someone who possesses a Majority percentage of a cryptocurrency. Referred to as a Whale.
Whale” is a colloquial term for the biggest players in the cryptocurrency trading game — these include not only HNWIs but also large institutional investors, such as hedge funds. It’s thought that whales are often responsible for atypical market phenomena, such as buy wallsand sell walls. Ex: The Winklevoss twins
A term used to describe extremely wealthy investors or traders who have enough funds to manipulate the market.
Someone that owns absurd amounts of crypto-currency.
Very Wealthy trader/Market mover

Term used in a sentence:

– My biggest dream in the world is to become a whale.

– Well, your weight is almost 600 pounds so you’re not far from it, John.

Whitelist (ICOs)

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. Prior to an ICO, interested parties can sign up/register their involvement and intent to purchase or even purchase under pre-sale conditions. The list of these parties is referred to as the whitelist.
A list of registered and approved participants that are given exclusive access to contribute to an ICOor a pre-sale.

White Paper

White Paperfor cryptocurrencies is essentially the cryptocurrency world’s equivalent of the stock market’s prospectuses. In the White Paper, you will normally have a fairly detailed description of the project, details on the project team members, road map, timeline, details on tokenomics and more.
A technical document that outlines a project’s features, technology, and vision.
A documentation describing a crypto currencies protocol in detail.
An informational document that generally informs readers on the philosophy, objectives and technology of a project or initiative. Whitepapers are often provided before the launch of a new coin or token.
A detailed explanation of a cryptocurrency, designed to offer satisfactory technical information, explain the purpose of the coin and set out a roadmap for how it plans to succeed. It’s designed to convince investors that it’s a good choice ahead of an ICO.

Ex: Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin Whitepaper

Phrased:
Bob: “Sandy did you see the whitepaper for Bitconnect?”
Sandy: It doesn’t look like they have a whitepaper Bob.”
Bob: “Sandy you turd! Bitconnect is a scam. Always make sure to read the whitepaper before you invest in a cryptocurrency.”

Term used in a sentence: I read the White Paper and it was complete and utter bullshit. I can’t believe that people fell for this. Every person in the project team in the White Paper was made up and there wasn’t even a road map!

Withdrawal Fee

Meaning: Withdrawal fees are fees charged by cryptocurrency exchanges when you take out cryptocurrencies (or fiat currencies) from your account at the relevant exchange. Withdrawal fees charged for cryptocurrency withdrawals are normally a fixed fee per withdrawal. There are however certain exchanges that charge a withdrawal fee that is a percentage of the total withdrawn amount. This can add up to quite substantial amounts when you make bigger withdrawals. Check out our the Best Cryptocurrency Exchange List in the world (our own!) to see which exchanges charge which withdrawal fees.

Term used in a sentence: I traded at an exchange with really small trading fees, so I thought I was safe. But when I wanted to take home my profit, they hit me with their ridiculously excessive withdrawal fees. I thought I was going to start to cry.

Wire Transfer

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

Weak Hands

When too many new investors (in a given coin) invest in a coin the coin can be said to be “in weak hands.” Long-term investors who have built a position in a coin they love tend to HODL when the going gets rough (and thus they have “strong hands”), new investors with weak hands tend to get “weak knees,” and “panic sell” in a correction.

Wei
The smallest denomination of ether. 1 Ether = 1000000000000000000 Wei (10¹⁸⁾

Whales

Whales are cryptocurrency investors with many coins or dollars. These investors can help move markets, or they can help stop markets from moving. When you see a 250 BTC buy wall or sell wall, that is a Whale. When the price goes down quickly and it makes you sad, or it shoots up and liquidates your short position, you can curse your semi-mythic nemeses “whales.”
Someone that owns absurd amounts of crypto-currency.

X

We don’t know any cryptocurrency terms starting with “X”. But we hate incompleteness. Please let us know if you know any cryptocurrency term starting with “X”!

XBT

Ticker for Bitcoin used on Kraken and some other exchanges. Same as BTC.

Transaction Fee

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

XBRL Data

eXtensive Business Reporting Language. A language for defining and exchanging financial data that makes extracting useful data from a large body of data easier.

XMR

The native currency of Monero.

YABC

YABC means “Yet Another Bitcoin Company” and is a term indicating that there is really nothing special with this specific company and that it is just trying to surf the Bitcoin-wave.

Z-Score Formula

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

Zk-SNARKs

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

Zero-Confirmation Transaction

Payment that has been broadcast but is still pending inclusion on a blockchain.

During a Bitcoin transaction, the seller may choose to send the product before the transaction has received confirmations. This is generally a show of good faith but also runs the risk of using the Bitcoins twice.

Zerocoin

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

Term used in a sentence:

Zhoutonged

Meaning: Zhoutonged is term coming from a man named Zhou Tong, who is the creator of Bitcoinica. Bitcoinica is a margin tradingplatform that no longer exists. Being Zhoutonged simply means loosing all your money.

Term used in a sentence:

– Weren’t you buying a house with Bitcoin in St Tropez last year?

– You haven’t heard? Yeah I was, but then I got Zhoutonged.

0-9

51% Attack

Meaning: 51% Attack is a situation where one single attacker has more than 50% of the total network processing power. In such case, the attacker could perform a double spend, amongst other things. Bitcoin (and most other cryptocurrencies) is designed with the belief that a single attacker will never have more than 50% of the total network processing power.

Term used in a sentence: Nobody will ever have more than 50% of the total network processing power when it comes to Bitcoin, so I’m not that worried about a 51% attack

A

Address

AI (Artificial Intelligence)

Airdrop

Algorithm

All Time High (ATH)

All-Time Low (ATL)

Alt-coin/Altcoin/Alt

ANN

Arbitrage

ASIC

Ask Price

ATH

Bart

BarterDEX

Bagholder

Term (Bagholder) used in a sentence

Look at John; he refuses to accept that the crypto he invested in never will recover. He’s such a bagholder.

Bear

Bearish

Bear Trap

Bear Trend

Bid-Ask Spread

Bitcoin Address:

BitcoinJS

Bitcoin Network

Bitcoin Protocol

BitcoinQT

Block

1. The blockchain is made up of blocks. Each block holds a historical database of all cryptocurrency transactions made until the block is full. It’s a permanent record, like a bag of data that can be opened and viewed at any time.

Blockchain

1. This is a list of every block that has been mined since Bitcoin began. All Bitcoin transactions are displayed within the Blockchain in order to provide transparency for the currency.

Blockchain Bloat

Block Explorer

Block Height

Block Lattice

Block Reward

Block Size

Bollinger Band

Bollinger Bands

Brain Wallet

Bull Trap

Bull Trend

Buying the Dip

Buy Wall

Candlesticks

Candle / Candlestick

Central Ledger

Chain Linking

Circulating supply

Ethereum Specific Terms

Ethereum Specific Terms

Confirmation

Correction

Confluence

Coin

Consensus

Contagion

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency/Coin/Cryptocurrency Token/ Token

Cryptographic Hash Function

Cryptography

Cryptocurrency Wallet

Darksend

DDoS

DASH

Day Trading

DDoS Attack

DDoS

Deepweb

Deflation

Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance

Delegated Proof of Stake

Demurrage

Desktop Wallet

Depth

Decentralized Identity Foundation (DIF)

1. Deterministic Wallet is a wallet that you need to backup only once. It creates all your bitcoin addresses and private keys, from a random number called a “seed”. Your wallet can be recovered from the seed, if the wallet file is accidentally deleted.

DApp

DEX

Frontier, Homestead, Metropolis, Serenity
The four planned stages of the Ethereum development roadmap. We are currently in the Homestead phase. The Metropolis update is likely to be available sometime in the next year.

FUD
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Baseless negativity spread intentionally by someone that wants the price of something to drop.