DeFi Education Series: Crypto Glossary

Whether you’re new to cryptocurrency, blockchain, & Defi, or you’re a seasoned pro, sometimes a little help with the many, many acronyms floating around can be useful. We’ve compiled a list of the most important words you’ll see across the industry.

Alpha

The very first version of a product that a team releases so that it can be tested to determine how effective it is. After the Alpha version is the Beta version of the product.

AON (All Or Non-Order)

Refers to a situation in which an order must be placed fully or not placed at all. The purpose of this order is to prevent the placement of partial orders.

ATH (All-Time High)

The highest price that a particular cryptocurrency has ever attained. Different cryptocurrency exchanges may have different ATHs because of differences in the crypto prices of the exchanges in question.

Altcoin

Any cryptocurrency that is an alternative to bitcoin is an Altcoin. In other words, any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin is an Altcoin.

AML (Anti Money Laundry)

The term is used to refer to laws, procedures, or basically anything that is done to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained money as legitimate income.

Atomic Swap

The exchange of one cryptocurrency for another, usually on decentralized exchanges where there is no third party or central authority. The exchange is carried out with the help of smart contracts.

Bag

In cryptocurrency, a Bag refers to any group of cryptocurrencies that one is holding, especially if they are poorly performing cryptocurrencies.

Bear market

This is a negative trend used to refer to a scenario in which the value of assets tend to decline consistently over a long period.

Beta release

The Beta release of a product refers to an early version of the product and comes after the Alpha version. The Beta release is usually meant for all interested users to test how well a product is doing.

Bid price

The bid price of an asset is the price that buyers are willing to offer for the product

Bid-Ask spread

In the order book of any given assets, the bid-ask spread is the difference between the lowest and the highest ask and bid prices respectively.

Bitcoin

The first blockchain-based cryptocurrency created by Satoshi Nakamoto

Bitcoin core

Software that allows for interaction with the bitcoin network

Bitcoin dominance

The ratio of Bitcoin Market-cap against Altcoins

Bitcoin Pizza

This refers to the first occasion when bitcoin was first used to buy a product which was Pizza.

Black swan event

An unexpected or unpredictable event with usually severe negative consequences.

Block explorer

A blockchain web page containing vital information about the blockchain such as transactions and balances.

Block reward

Cryptocurrency awarded to miners as incentives for successfully mining and validating a block on the blockchain.

Blockchain

This is so far the most common type of Distributed ledger technology that records information about a particular cryptocurrency chronologically.

Bollinger bands

A TA indicator that measures market volatility consisting of sidelong bands and a simple moving average

Bounty

Reward to incentivize a particular activity.

Breakout

When the price of a cryptocurrency breaks out of a given pattern such as resistance or support.

BUIDL.

Derived from HODL and refers to a situation where developers are more concerned with product development than price appreciation.

Bull market

A period when prices generally tend to increase over a long period with minor corrections along the way.

Buy wall

This refers to a situation where there are so many buy orders or huge buy orders in the market.

Capitulation

When there is massive selling because investors have given up their positions (hopeless)

Censorship resistant

The condition/state of being unable to be altered by a particular entity

CEX (Centralized exchange)

An exchange that keeps users’ funds and serves as an intermediary or central authority.

Confluence

A reliable strategy that results from multiple investment methods, technical indicators, etc

Cryptocurrency

A cryptographically secured digital currency.

Dead cat bounce

When the falling price value of an asset recovers for a very short period and continues the downtrend.

Dapp (Decentralized application)

An application that runs on a P2P network and is managed by multiple computers. This eliminates centralized control of the network.

DAO Decentralized Autonomous Organization.

Sometimes called Decentralized Autonomous Cooperative (DAC) is one that is controlled by its shareholders/members, not by a central entity. It usually consists of hard-coded rules that define how the organization operates.

DEX (Decentralized Exchange)

An exchange that enables users to trade without depositing funds on it. Users trade directly from their wallets and therefore remain in control of their private keys.

DeFi (Decentralized Finance).

A financial system without centralized authorities or intermediaries and is usually powered by distributed ledger technology such as blockchain

DYOR (Do Your Own Research).

A very common and valuable piece of advice in the crypto-verse that emphasizes the need for researching a project before investing.

DCA (Dollar Cost Average)

A method of investing wherein investors deposit small dollar amounts over a given period rather than buying up the asset with a huge sum of money at once.

Double spending

When a given amount is spent more than once. On the bitcoin network, for example, a double-spend can occur if there is a 51% attack.

Fakeout

When a trader enters a position hoping that the price will go in a particular direction, but the price instead reverses quickly to an unexpected direction.

Falling knife

A situation when hen an asset is rapidly declining in price.

FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out)

A strong feeling when people believe they are going to miss out on a potentially profitable investment

FUD (Fear Uncertainty Doubt)

A hopeless situation/circumstance. If you invested in an asset and find yourself in this situation, it means that you’re no longer hopeful that the price will appreciate. Sometimes, investors intentionally create FUD for weak hands to sell so that they can buy back at lower prices.

Fiat

Government or state-issued money.

Flippening

A term that describes when or if ETH surpasses BTC in market capitalization.

Gwei

A small denomination of ETH and widely used to measure gas prices on the ethereum network.

Haha, money printer goes brrr.

A meme that was created as a result of the Federal Red=serve’s plan to print money.

Halving

Sometimes spelt havening and refers to a situation when the block reward of a cryptocurrency drops to one-half of what it was before.

Hard cap

The maximum amount of money a project intends to raise during their ICO or IEO.

HODL Hold On for Dear Life.

A very common expression in crypto that originated from the bitcoin talk forum. It is used to encourage investors to hold on to their investments regardless of market conditions. Originally thought to have come from a typo on a Bitcointalk forum post.

Immutability

One of the core features of blockchain technology refers to the inability to change or be changed.

ICO (Initial Coin Offering)

A fundraising method used in crypto wherein a startup sells their cryptocurrencies to investors.

IEO

An IEO is similar to an ICO in that it’s also a crowdfunding method in crypto, except that it takes place on an exchange.

KYC Know Your Customer

A standards procedure used in Finance and allows companies to identify customers and comply with AML laws.

Lightning Network

A second layer that exists on the first layer (main blockchain) and is usually designed for scalability purpose.

Mining

The process of verifying and confirming transactions on the blockchain.

Mining farm

A collection of many crypto miners.

Moon

An expression used to describe an occasion when a cryptocurrency is experiencing a strong upward trend.

Order book

A list of buy and sell orders for a specific asset on an exchange

Paper wallet

A piece of paper containing a cryptocurrency address and its corresponding private keys.

P2P (Peer to Peer)

A peer-to-peer network is one that functions without a centralized authority.

Plasma

Ethereum’s off-chain scaling solution

Ponzi scheme

A system in which funds from new investors are used to pay early investors. The last group of investors usually end losing while early investors make the most money.

Private key

A lengthy number that allows individuals to sign transactions and also generate receiving addresses.

PoS (Proof of Stake)

One of the most common consensus algorithms in which users are rewarded according to the amount of cryptocurrencies they stake.

Rekt

A slang that refers to a catastrophic situation.

Satoshi

The smallest unit of bitcoin. One satoshi equates to a hundred millionth of a bitcoin. Often referred to as Sats.

Satoshi Nakamoto

The Founder/creator of Bitcoin.

SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users)

An emergency insurance fund. Binance launched its own in Jully 2018

SEC Security Exchange Commission.

An independent state agency in charge of regulating the securities market

Security audit

An evaluation of smart contracts or any other system to find out how safe it is against attacks/exploitation.

Seed Phrase

Also called a mnemonic seed and consists of a group of words (usually 12 or 24 words). The Seed phrase can be used to gain access to funds stored in a cryptocurrency wallet

Sell wall

A large number of sell orders at a certain price.

Stable coin

A type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain stable value and therefore doesn’t experience significant price swings.

Token Lockup

Vesting period during which tokens/coins are not allowed to be transferred.

Weak hands

A term that refers to traders/investors without confidence or a solid plan. Such investors tend to panic sell during minor corrections.

Wei

The smallest denomination of ETH

Whale

A person or any organization that holds large amounts of bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency. Whales can easily manipulate the market as their transactions usually cause huge price swings.