Crypto Glossary
Plain-language definitions for 57 crypto and blockchain terms.
A unique alphanumeric identifier used to send and receive cryptocurrency.
Free distribution of tokens to wallet addresses, typically as a promotional or governance event.
Slang for buying into an asset quickly with little or no research, often driven by FOMO.
A decentralized exchange mechanism that uses liquidity pools and mathematical formulas instead of order books.
A cryptocurrency exchange operated by a company that holds user funds in custody.
A cryptocurrency wallet that stores private keys offline, disconnected from the internet.
The protocol by which distributed blockchain nodes agree on the valid state of the ledger.
Describes interactions, transactions, or protocols that operate across multiple blockchains.
An organization governed by token holders through on-chain proposals and voting rather than traditional management.
A peer-to-contract trading venue where users swap tokens directly from their wallets without custodying funds.
Financial services — lending, trading, yield — delivered through open smart contracts rather than centralized intermediaries.
Short for 'degenerate' — someone who takes extreme risks in crypto markets, often worn as a badge of pride.
The Ethereum upgrade that introduced a base fee burned with every transaction, making ETH partially deflationary.
The standard interface for fungible tokens on Ethereum, enabling composability across wallets and protocols.
The Ethereum token standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), where each token has a unique identifier.
An uncollateralized loan that must be borrowed and repaid within a single blockchain transaction.
Fear of Missing Out — the anxiety-driven impulse to buy an asset because others appear to be profiting.
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt — negative sentiment or misinformation spread about an asset or project.
A periodic payment exchanged between long and short perpetual futures traders to keep contract prices anchored to spot.
A programmatic reduction of Bitcoin's block reward by 50%, occurring approximately every four years.
A backward-incompatible blockchain upgrade that permanently splits the chain if nodes don't upgrade.
A cryptocurrency wallet connected to the internet, offering convenience at the cost of higher exposure to attacks.
A scaling network built on top of a base blockchain that inherits its security while offering faster, cheaper transactions.
A DeFi application enabling users to borrow against crypto collateral or earn yield by supplying assets.
The forced closure of a leveraged position or undercollateralized loan when collateral falls below a required threshold.
A smart contract holding reserves of two or more tokens that facilitate decentralized trading.
The profit miners or validators can capture by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block.
The waiting room for unconfirmed transactions before they are included in a block.
A wallet requiring multiple private key signatures to authorize a transaction, reducing single points of failure.
Derivative contracts that track an asset's price without an expiry date, kept in line with spot via funding rates.
A secret cryptographic number that proves ownership of a blockchain address and authorizes transactions.
A consensus mechanism where validators lock up (stake) tokens as collateral to propose and attest to blocks.
A consensus mechanism requiring miners to expend computational energy solving cryptographic puzzles to produce blocks.
A human-readable list of 12–24 words that encodes a wallet's private key and can be used to restore access.
The difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which it actually executes.
Self-executing code deployed on a blockchain that automatically enforces predefined conditions without intermediaries.
A cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged to a fiat currency like the US dollar.
Locking tokens in a protocol to earn rewards — either securing a PoS network or providing incentivized protocol participation.
Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an unspendable address.
The economic design of a token: supply, distribution, vesting, inflation, and value-capture mechanics.
The aggregate value of assets deposited into a DeFi protocol or ecosystem.
Software or hardware that stores private keys and signs blockchain transactions on behalf of the user.
An individual or entity holding a large enough position to meaningfully influence an asset's price.
A tokenized version of an asset from another blockchain, backed 1:1 by the original asset held in custody.