Crypto Glossary

An attack where a single entity controls more than half of a network's mining or staking power, enabling double-spending and transaction manipulation.

A distribution of free tokens to wallet addresses, typically used for marketing, rewarding early users, or decentralizing token ownership.

The practice of interacting with protocols specifically to qualify for future token airdrops.

A stablecoin that uses algorithms and incentive mechanisms rather than direct collateral to maintain its peg.

The maximum amount of tokens a smart contract is permitted to spend on behalf of a wallet owner.

Anti-Money Laundering — regulations and procedures designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds.

Automated Market Maker — a type of DEX that uses mathematical formulas and liquidity pools instead of order books to price assets.

Annual Percentage Rate — the yearly interest rate without compounding, used to express simple returns on crypto investments.

Annual Percentage Yield — the yearly return including compound interest, typically higher than APR for the same rate.

Profiting from price differences of the same asset across different markets or exchanges.

A trustless exchange of cryptocurrencies between two parties on different blockchains without a centralized intermediary.

A web tool that allows anyone to search and view all transactions, addresses, and blocks on a public blockchain.

The number of blocks preceding a given block in the blockchain, indicating its position in the chain.

The cryptocurrency awarded to miners or validators for successfully adding a new block to the blockchain.

The average time it takes for a new block to be added to the blockchain, affecting transaction confirmation speed.

A distributed, immutable ledger that records transactions in chronological blocks linked together cryptographically.

A DeFi platform allowing users to take out loans by depositing collateral, with interest rates determined algorithmically.

A protocol that enables the transfer of tokens and data between two different blockchain networks.

Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an unspendable address, reducing total supply.

When a protocol uses its revenue to purchase its own tokens from the open market, reducing supply and potentially increasing price.

The ability of a distributed system to continue operating correctly even if some nodes fail or act maliciously.

Central Bank Digital Currency — a digital form of a country's fiat currency issued and controlled by its central bank.

The property of a blockchain that makes it extremely difficult for any party to block or reverse transactions.

Centralized Exchange — a traditional crypto exchange operated by a company that holds user funds and matches orders.

The number of tokens currently available and tradeable in the open market.

The initial period in a vesting schedule during which no tokens are released; after the cliff, vesting begins.

Keeping private keys completely offline (on hardware wallets or paper) to protect against online theft.

Assets pledged as security for a loan; in DeFi, collateral is locked in a smart contract until the loan is repaid.

The layer responsible for achieving agreement among network participants on the valid state of the blockchain.

Interactions or transfers that occur between two or more different blockchain networks.

A stablecoin collateralized by other cryptocurrencies, typically overcollateralized to account for price volatility.

A digital or virtual currency secured by cryptography, operating on decentralized networks without a central authority.

A wallet where a third party (like an exchange) holds your private keys on your behalf — they control your funds.

Ethereum's planned sharding upgrade focused on data availability, designed to dramatically reduce rollup transaction costs.

Decentralized Autonomous Organization — an organization governed by smart contracts and token holder votes rather than traditional management.

The guarantee that all data needed to verify a block is accessible to network participants when needed.

The distribution of control and decision-making across a network rather than a single central authority.

Decentralized Finance — financial services built on blockchain smart contracts that operate without traditional intermediaries like banks.

A token with a decreasing supply over time, typically through burning mechanisms, which may increase scarcity.

A variant of PoS where token holders vote for a limited set of delegates who validate transactions on their behalf.

The act of assigning your staking power to a validator without transferring ownership of your tokens.

When a stablecoin loses its price peg and trades significantly above or below its target value.

Decentralized Exchange — a peer-to-peer marketplace for trading cryptocurrencies without a central authority holding funds.

A cryptographic proof that a message or transaction was created by the holder of a specific private key, ensuring authenticity.

A database that is shared, replicated, and synchronized across multiple nodes or locations.

Do Your Own Research — a reminder to independently verify information before making any crypto decisions.

A token supply that automatically expands or contracts based on price targets, used in rebase tokens.

The predetermined rate and timeline at which new tokens are created and distributed by a protocol.

A fixed period of time in a blockchain during which a set of validators is responsible for producing blocks.

A multi-token standard that supports both fungible and non-fungible tokens in a single contract, used widely in gaming.

The most widely used Ethereum token standard for fungible tokens, defining a common interface for token contracts.

The Ethereum token standard for non-fungible tokens, where each token has a unique ID and cannot be divided.

The part of a modular blockchain responsible for processing transactions and running smart contracts.

A governance mechanism that redirects a portion of protocol trading fees to token holders instead of liquidity providers.

A stablecoin backed 1:1 by fiat currency held in reserve by a centralized issuer, such as USDC or USDT.

The point at which a transaction is considered irreversible and permanently recorded on the blockchain.

An uncollateralized loan that must be borrowed and repaid within a single blockchain transaction, used for arbitrage and liquidations.

An exploit using flash loans to manipulate prices or drain protocol funds within a single transaction.

Fear Of Missing Out — the anxiety of missing a profitable opportunity, often leading to impulsive buying decisions.

A change to a blockchain protocol that creates two diverging paths — either temporary (soft fork) or permanent (hard fork).

Placing a transaction ahead of a known pending transaction to profit from the price impact it will cause.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt — negative sentiment or misinformation spread to cause panic selling in crypto markets.

A node that downloads and validates the entire blockchain history, providing maximum security and trustlessness.

The total market cap if all tokens (including locked, unvested, and unminted) were in circulation at the current price.

The unit measuring the computational effort required to execute operations on the Ethereum network.

The maximum amount of gas a user is willing to spend on a transaction, preventing runaway computation costs.

The amount of ETH (in Gwei) a user is willing to pay per unit of gas, affecting transaction priority.

Competition between users to get transactions included in a block by bidding increasingly high gas fees, often during popular NFT mints or DeFi launches.

The first block ever created in a blockchain, serving as the foundation for all subsequent blocks.

A token that grants holders voting rights in a protocol's decision-making processes, such as parameter changes or treasury spending.

A denomination of ETH (1 ETH = 1,000,000,000 Gwei) commonly used to express gas prices.

A scheduled event in Bitcoin where the block reward is cut in half, reducing the rate of new coin issuance approximately every four years.

A backward-incompatible protocol upgrade that creates a permanent split, resulting in two separate blockchains.

A physical device that stores private keys offline, providing maximum security against online hacks and malware.

A mathematical function that converts any input into a fixed-length output (hash), used extensively in blockchain for data integrity.

The total computational power being used by miners to process transactions and secure a proof-of-work blockchain.

Hold On for Dear Life — a term for holding cryptocurrency long-term rather than selling during price volatility.

A malicious token or contract designed to allow buying but prevent selling, trapping investors' funds.

A cryptocurrency wallet connected to the internet, offering convenience for frequent transactions but greater exposure to hacking risks.

The property of blockchain data that makes it practically impossible to alter or delete once recorded.

The temporary loss of value experienced by liquidity providers when the price ratio of pooled assets changes compared to simply holding them.

A token with an increasing supply over time, often used to incentivize network participation through staking rewards.

The ability of different blockchain networks to communicate and exchange data or assets with each other.

Know Your Customer — identity verification procedures required by regulated financial services to prevent fraud and money laundering.

The base blockchain protocol (like Ethereum or Bitcoin) that handles consensus, security, and data availability.

A secondary protocol built on top of a Layer 1 blockchain to improve scalability and reduce transaction costs.

Infrastructure protocols that sit beneath Layer 1 blockchains, enabling cross-chain communication and interoperability between different networks.

A DeFi platform that allows users to lend assets for interest or borrow assets by providing collateral.

A node that only downloads block headers rather than full transaction data, requiring less storage and bandwidth.

The forced sale of collateral when a borrower's loan-to-value ratio exceeds the protocol's safety threshold.

Earning additional token rewards by providing liquidity to a DeFi protocol, on top of trading fee income.

A smart contract holding reserves of two or more tokens that enables decentralized trading and earns fees for liquidity providers.

A time restriction preventing token holders from selling their tokens, typically applied to early investors and team members.

A token representing a liquidity provider's share of a liquidity pool, redeemable for the underlying assets plus earned fees.

The total market value of a cryptocurrency, calculated by multiplying the current price by the circulating supply.

The pool of unconfirmed transactions waiting to be included in the next block by miners or validators.

A data structure where every leaf node contains a hash of data, and every branch node contains a hash of its children, enabling efficient verification.

Maximal Extractable Value — the profit miners or validators can extract by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block.

A group of miners who combine their computational resources to increase the probability of mining a block and share rewards proportionally.

The creation of new tokens, either as part of a protocol's emission schedule or when a user deposits collateral in a DeFi protocol.

The process of creating a new token or NFT on a blockchain, recording it as a new asset on the ledger.

A blockchain architecture that separates execution, settlement, consensus, and data availability into specialized layers.

A blockchain that handles execution, settlement, consensus, and data availability all in one layer.

A security feature requiring multiple private key signatures to authorize a transaction, reducing single points of failure.

Non-Fungible Token — a unique cryptographic token on a blockchain that represents ownership of a specific digital or physical asset.

A computer that participates in a blockchain network by storing, validating, and broadcasting transaction data.

A wallet where you hold your own private keys, giving you full control and responsibility over your funds.

A number used once in cryptographic communication; in mining, it is the value miners adjust to find a valid block hash.

Transactions or data processed outside the main blockchain, often for speed or privacy, then settled on-chain.

Data or transactions that are recorded directly on the blockchain and are publicly verifiable.

Operational Security — practices and habits that protect sensitive information and reduce exposure to targeted attacks.

A rollup that assumes all transactions are valid by default and only runs fraud proofs if a challenge is submitted during a dispute window.

A service that provides external real-world data (like prices) to smart contracts, bridging the gap between blockchain and off-chain information.

Providing collateral worth more than the loan amount, a common requirement in DeFi lending to manage volatility risk.

A stablecoin backed by crypto collateral worth more than the stablecoin's value, providing a buffer against price drops.

A system where anyone can participate without needing approval from a central authority.

A social engineering attack where scammers impersonate legitimate services to trick users into revealing private keys or seed phrases.

The effect a trade has on the market price of an asset, larger trades cause greater price impact in illiquid markets.

A secret cryptographic key that proves ownership of a wallet and authorizes transactions — never share this with anyone.

A consensus mechanism where a pre-approved set of validators validate transactions, prioritizing efficiency over decentralization.

A consensus mechanism where validators are chosen to create blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they stake as collateral.

A consensus mechanism where miners compete to solve computationally intensive puzzles to validate transactions and earn rewards.

A formal suggestion submitted to a DAO for community voting, typically including a description, implementation details, and voting period.

The engineering of token rewards and penalties to align participant behavior with the long-term health of a protocol.

Fees collected by a DeFi protocol from its users, which may be distributed to token holders or used for development.

The use of a pseudonym (like a wallet address) instead of a real name, providing partial privacy on public blockchains.

A cryptographic key derived from the private key that can be shared publicly and is used to receive funds.

A system of cryptographic keys, certificates, and authorities that enables secure digital communications and identity verification.

The minimum number of votes required for a governance proposal to be considered valid and binding.

An automatic adjustment of a token's total supply to maintain a target price, affecting all holder balances proportionally.

A smart contract vulnerability where an external contract repeatedly calls back into the vulnerable contract before the first execution completes.

The act of canceling a token approval to prevent a smart contract from accessing your wallet funds.

A Layer 2 scaling solution that bundles many transactions together and submits them as a single transaction to the main chain.

A scam where developers abandon a project and steal investor funds, often by draining liquidity pools or selling allocated tokens.

A form of MEV where an attacker places transactions before and after a victim's trade to profit from the price movement.

The challenge of simultaneously achieving decentralization, security, and scalability in a blockchain — improving one often compromises another.

A sequence of 12 or 24 random words that serves as a master backup for a crypto wallet, allowing full recovery if the device is lost.

The layer that provides finality and dispute resolution for transactions, typically the base Layer 1 blockchain.

A database partitioning technique applied to blockchains that splits the network into smaller pieces (shards) to process transactions in parallel.

A penalty mechanism in proof-of-stake systems that destroys a portion of a validator's staked tokens for malicious or negligent behavior.

The difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual executed price, caused by low liquidity or large order size.

Self-executing code stored on a blockchain that automatically enforces and executes agreement terms when predefined conditions are met.

Manipulation tactics used by scammers to psychologically trick people into revealing sensitive information or sending funds.

A backward-compatible protocol upgrade where old nodes can still validate new blocks, avoiding a chain split.

A non-transferable NFT permanently linked to a specific wallet, used to represent identity, credentials, or achievements.

A cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged to a fiat currency like the US dollar.

The mechanism maintaining a stablecoin's value at its target price, such as $1 USD.

Locking up cryptocurrency in a protocol to support network operations (like validation) or earn rewards.

A Layer 2 solution where two parties conduct multiple transactions off-chain and only settle the final state on-chain.

An attack where a single entity creates many fake identities to gain disproportionate influence over a network or governance system.

A smart contract mechanism that delays the execution of approved governance changes, giving users time to react before they take effect.

Permission granted to a smart contract to spend tokens from your wallet up to a specified amount.

The scheduled release of previously locked tokens into circulation, which can create selling pressure.

A schedule that gradually releases tokens to team members or investors over time to prevent immediate selling.

The economic design of a cryptocurrency token, including its supply, distribution, utility, and incentive mechanisms.

The total number of tokens that currently exist, including those held by the team, investors, and in circulation.

Transactions Per Second — a measure of a blockchain network's throughput and processing capacity.

The number of transactions a blockchain can process per unit of time, a key measure of network capacity.

Funds held by a DAO or protocol, typically in a multi-sig wallet, used to fund development, grants, and operations.

A system where participants do not need to trust each other because the protocol enforces rules automatically.

Total Value Locked — the total amount of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol, used as a measure of adoption and size.

Unspent Transaction Output — the accounting model used by Bitcoin where each transaction consumes previous outputs and creates new ones.

A node that participates in a proof-of-stake blockchain by staking tokens and being selected to validate and propose new blocks.

A full node that participates in consensus by validating transactions and blocks, earning rewards for honest behavior.

Software or hardware that stores cryptographic keys, allowing users to send, receive, and manage cryptocurrencies.

A technical document published by a crypto project that explains its technology, goals, tokenomics, and roadmap.

A token pegged 1:1 to another asset and usable on a different blockchain, such as WBTC (Wrapped Bitcoin) on Ethereum.

The practice of moving assets between DeFi protocols to maximize returns through trading fees, interest, and token rewards.

A cryptographic method allowing one party to prove they know a value without revealing the value itself.

A rollup that uses zero-knowledge proofs to cryptographically verify the validity of all transactions before submitting to the main chain.