Glossary

If more than half the computer power or mining hash rate on a network is run by a single person or a single group of people, then a 51% attack is in operation.

A 52-week high and low is the highest and lowest market price of a given asset over 52 weeks or one year.

A 52-week range is a difference between an asset’s highest and lowest prices over the past 52 weeks.

The 80/20 rule, commonly known as Pareto Principle, states that 20% of your actions account for 80% of results.

Abnormal return refers to the unusual profits from certain assets or securities over a specific time period.

The term absolute return refers to the return on investment (whether positive or negative) obtained in a specific period of time.

Accepting risk, also known as risk acceptance, is a risk management strategy employed by companies to accept risks linked to certain events instead of investing resources to tackle them.

An account is essentially one whose purpose is to track the financial activities of a specific asset.

Account balance refers to the amount in a bank/cryptocurrency account that can be accessed immediately. On the other hand, in accounting, account balance refers to the sum obtained from the difference between all debit and credit transactions posted to a company’s account.

The accumulation phase is a stage in the market cycle right after a downtrend, where the institutional investors start buying in tranches, signaling a positive uptrend soon.

The accumulation/distribution indicator determines the supply and demand level of a stock/asset/cryptocurrency by multiplying the closing price of a specific period with volume.

An activist investor is an individual or institution seeking to gain a controlling stake in a company to instigate changes.

A place where cryptocurrency can be sent to and from, in the form of a string of letters and numbers.

Adoption curve indicates the pace of adoption of a new technology by people. It may also involve segregation of the target audience to understand the market’s willingness.

An aggressive investment strategy is a high-risk investment strategy that aims to generate the maximum possible returns in financial markets.

If data cannot be accessed, then it cannot be infected or corrupted — this is the concept of an air gap.

A marketing campaign that distributes a specific cryptocurrency or token to an audience.

Airnode is an oracle node and API blockchain gateway that is readily deployed by API providers who want to engage in the API3 blockchain protocol and put their data feeds on-chain.

Alan Greenspan was the former head of the US Federal Reserve and served as the chairman for almost two decades from 1987 to 2006.

Algo-trading is an automated trading system where buy and sell orders are placed according to the rules of a computer program or algorithm.

A process or set of rules to be followed in problem-solving or calculation operations, usually by a computer.

An algorithmic stablecoin actually uses an algorithm underneath, which can issue more coins when its price increases and buy them off the market when the price falls.

The highest point (in price, in market capitalization) that a cryptocurrency has been in history. *see All-Time-Low (ATL).

An all-time low (ATL) refers to the lowest price a cryptocurrency has hit during its trading history.

As Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency that captured the world’s imagination, all other coins were subsequently termed “altcoins,” as in “alternative coins.”

A person who trades cryptocurrencies alternative to Bitcoin.

An automated market maker (AMM) is a system that provides liquidity to the exchange it operates in through automated trading.

Crypto slang for a large quantity of a specific cryptocurrency. Alternatively (but less frequently) used to refer to the contents of an individual’s crypto portfolio.

An investor who continues to hold large amounts of a specific coin or token, regardless of its performance.

Decentralized applications (DApps) running on Bitcoin-powered blockchains while benefiting from the core features of the Bitcoin network are known as Bitcoin DApps.

A file containing information on transactions completed during a given time period. Blocks are the constituent parts of a blockchain.

An application enabling a user to view details of blocks on a given blockchain. Also known as a blockchain browser.

A block header is a unique identifier for a block on a blockchain that is hashed on a continuous basis to supply proof-of-work for mining incentives.

A value describing the number of blocks preceding a given block in the blockchain.

A block producer (BP) is a person or group whose hardware is chosen to verify a block’s transactions and begin the next block on most Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains.

The coins awarded to a miner or group of miners for solving the cryptographic problem required to create a new block on a given blockchain.

In blockchain technology, block size refers to the amount of data about transactions a single block in the chain can carry.

Block time refers to the approximate time it takes for a blockchain-based system to produce a new block.

A block trade is a large-scale purchase or sale of securities that occur outside of an open market. It uses blockhouse as a financial intermediary to aid investors with risk management.

A distributed ledger system. A sequence of blocks, or units of digital information, stored consecutively in a public database. The basis for cryptocurrencies.

Cryptocurrency tokens or coins are considered “burned” when they have been purposely and permanently removed from circulation.

Capital is most commonly defined as the large sum of money you would use to invest.

Capital efficiency is the ratio that compares the spending of a company on their growing revenue and how much they are receiving in return in the way of profits.

Cash is the most liquid form of money: physical coins and banknotes in the most narrow sense of the term.

Centralized exchanges (CEXs) are a type of cryptocurrency exchange that is operated by a company that owns it in a centralized manner.

A “collateralized stablecoin” is a stablecoin that is entirely or almost entirely backed by collateral held in a reserve.

A composable token is an ERC-998 token, a standard extension to any non-fungible token, adding the ability for non-fungible tokens to own other non-fungible (ERC-721) and fungible (ERC-20) tokens.

The practice of new projects to raise funds through DOT or KSM tokens for slots on Kusama or Polkadot network.

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use cryptographic technologies to secure their operation.

Decentralization refers to the property of a system in which nodes or actors work in concert in a distributed fashion to achieve a common goal.

API services that are intrinsically interoperable with blockchain technology are known as decentralized application programming interfaces (dAPIs). This is an invention of the API3 protocol.

A type of application that runs on a decentralized network, avoiding a single point of failure.

A type of application that runs on a decentralized network, avoiding a single point of failure.

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is founded upon and governed by a set of computer-defined rules and blockchain-based smart contracts.

A peer-to-peer exchange allowing users to trade cryptocurrency without the need for an intermediary.

Decentralized stablecoins are fully transparent, non-custodial with no or partial third-party control.

A movement encouraging alternatives to traditional, centralized forms of financial services.

Delayed Proof of Work (dPoW) is a second-layer consensus security mechanism, designed to protect blockchains from 51% attacks threatening the integrity of the network.

An alternative to the Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-Work consensus algorithms.

ERC-1155 digital token standard was created by Enjin and offers more security in comparison to older token standards. It can be used to create both fungible and non-fungible assets on the Ethereum network.

Tokens designed and used solely on the Ethereum platform.

ERC-223 is an Ethereum token standard that is powered by smart contracts that enable users to securely transfer tokens to a digital wallet.

A token standard for non-fungible Ethereum tokens.

ERC-777 is a tradable token standard spun out from ERC-20 to enable a new way to engage with a token contract while staying backward compatible.

ERC-827 is an ETH token standard that addresses the existing limitations of ERC 20 when it comes to the implementation of calls in transfers and approvals in particular.

ERC-884 facilitates the creation of tradable ERC-20 tokens, each of which symbolizes a numberless share issued by a Delaware corporation.

ERC-948 is a new Ethereum token protocol that is designed to connect subscription businesses with customers and allows for subscription-based transactions.

Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) describe standards for the Ethereum platform, including core protocol specifications, client APIs, and contract standards.

Ethereum Request for Comment (ERC) is the protocol to introduce new improvements to the network by developers.

A Turing-complete virtual machine that enables execution of code exactly as intended; it is the runtime environment for every smart contract. Every Ethereum node runs on the EVM to maintain consensus across the blockchain.

Businesses that allow customers to trade cryptocurrencies for fiat money or other cryptocurrencies.

A cryptocurrency reward system usually on a website or app, that rewards users for completing certain tasks.

Fiat currency is “legal tender” backed by a central government, such as the Federal Reserve, with its own banking system, such as fractional reserve banking. It can take the form of physical cash, or it can be represented electronically, such as with bank credit.

A fractional stablecoin is one that is backed in two ways: collaterally-backed and algorithmically modified.

Front running is when you place a transaction in a queue when you have knowledge of a future transaction.

An acronym that stands for “Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.” It is a strategy to influence perception of certain cryptocurrencies or the cryptocurrency market in general by spreading negative, misleading or false information. *see FUDster.

Someone that is spreading FUD.

Geotagged non-fungible tokens (NFT) feature 3D versions of the street art alongside the corresponding geo-location. They allows art aficionados to own both the virtual and physical artwork without the need to remove the actual infrastructure it was originally painted on.

Geth, short for Go Ethereum, is a command-line interface that allows developers to run full Ethereum nodes, mine the cryptocurrency and execute smart contracts.

A golden cross is a bullish technical trading indicator that emerges when the 50-day moving average crosses the 200-day moving average, signaling an imminent price rise of the asset/stock/cryptocurrency.

Google Authenticator is a software-based verification system that generates unique one-time codes that are time-based on your mobile phone.

A governance token is a token that can be used to vote on decisions that influence an ecosystem.

Gray swan is a significant event whose occurrence could be predicted, but the likelihood is low.

A green candle is an indication of the price closing higher than the opening price. The green candle is an indication that the overall sentiment of the market at the time of trading was bullish, or positive. A wide body with a small tail on top indicates a strong bullish movement in the market.

A novel way of launching a project that focuses on people contributing skills to a platform rather than money.

Short for Initial Coin Offering, an ICO is a type of crowdfunding, or crowdsale, using cryptocurrencies as a means of raising capital for early-stage companies.

An initial dex offering (IDX) is an alternative to an initial coin offering (ICO).

A type of crowdfunding where crypto start-ups generate capital by listing through an exchange.

Initial Farm Offering (IFO) helps DeFi projects raise capital through the farming feature offered by decentralized exchanges.

Initial game offerings (IGOs) provide individuals with an opportunity to invest in gaming projects at an early stage that have the potential to offer huge returns after their launch.

A crypto crowdfunding solution where projects can raise funds by listing a set of NFTs via a launchpad.

An initial public offering (IPO) is the process of a company offering shares for purchase on the stock market for the first time.

ITOs are similar to initial coin offerings — but have more of a focus on offering tokens with intrinsic utility in the form of software or usage in an ecosystem.

Liquid staking allows users to stake tokens and simultaneously use them in the DeFi ecosystem.

Liquidity mining is a mechanism or process in which participants supply cryptocurrencies into liquidity pools, and are rewarded with fees and tokens based on their share of the total pool liquidity.

Liquidity pools are crypto assets that are kept to facilitate the trading of trading pairs on decentralized exchanges.

Liquidity providers are decentralized exchange users who fund a liquidity pool with tokens they own.

Liquidity provider tokens or LP tokens are tokens issued to liquidity providers on a decentralized exchange (DEX) that run on an automated market maker (AMM) protocol.

A practice where a trader uses borrowed funds from a broker to trade a cryptocurrency.

An area or arena, online or offline, in which commercial dealings are conducted.

Total capitalization of a cryptocurrency’s price. It is one of the ways to rank the relative size of a cryptocurrency. *see Circulating Supply.

The maker places an order (to buy or sell at a quoted price), while a taker accepts that placed order (to execute the buy or sell at the quoted price)

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are cryptocurrencies that do not possess the property of fungibility.

A stablecoin is a currency whose value is pegged to a real-world asset, such as a fiat currency.

A smart contract is a computer protocol intended to facilitate, verify or enforce a contract on the blockchain without third parties.

A smart contract audit is a security check done by cybersecurity professionals meant to ensure that the on-chain code behind a smart contract is devoid of bugs or security vulnerabilities.

Smart tokens are simply regular tokens that not only transmit value they contain but also all the information needed to execute a transaction simultaneously.

The programming language used by Ethereum for developing smart contracts.

A cryptocurrency with extremely low volatility, sometimes used as a means of portfolio diversification. Examples include gold-backed cryptocurrency or fiat-pegged cryptocurrency.

Staking is a form of participation in a proof-of-stake (PoS) system to put your tokens in to serve as a validator to the blockchain and receive rewards.

A digital unit designed with utility in mind, providing access and use of a larger crypto economic system.

An economy of goods and services that can run without intermediaries and third parties with the help of the blockchain technology.

The time at which a token is issued.

Token issuance is the process of creating new tokens and adding them to the total token supply of a cryptocurrency.

Token lockup refers to a time period during which cryptocurrency tokens cannot be exchanged or traded.

A token sale refers to the initial offering of a cryptocurrency token to a private pool of investors before it officially goes on the market.

The most common token standard today is the Ethereum Request for Comment or ERC.

Token swap refers to the direct exchange of a certain amount of one cryptocurrency token for another between users facilitated by a special exchange service. It can also be defined as the migration of a cryptocurrency token built on top of one blockchain platform to a different blockchain.

The process by which real-world assets are turned into something of digital value called a token, often subsequently able to offer ownership of parts of this asset to different owners.

Tokenomics is the science of token economy which consists of a set of rules that governs a cryptocurrency’s issuance and supply.

The act of exchanging cryptocurrencies on a blockchain.

A payment for using the blockchain to transact.

A transaction ID (TXID) is the unique identification number of each blockchain transaction.

Transactions per second (TPS) is a measure of a computer system’s (or network’s) capacity to perform transactions or calculations in a second.