Crypto Glossary: 200+ Terms in Plain English

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1099-DA Intermediate also: Form 1099-DA: An IRS tax form that US crypto brokers, such as centralized exchanges, use to report customers' digital asset sales. Brokers report gross proceeds for sales made from 2025 onward, and cost basis reporting phases in for certain assets acquired in 2026 and later. See also: Cost basis, Capital gains, Centralized exchange. Learn more →
51% attack Advanced also: majority attack: When one party controls most of a network's mining power or stake, letting it reorder or reverse recent transactions. It's very expensive on large networks but has happened on smaller ones. See also: Double spend, Hash rate, Reorg.

A

Active addresses Intermediate: The number of unique addresses that sent or received transactions on a network during a period. It's a rough usage signal, since one person can control many addresses and bots can inflate the count. See also: Address, On-chain, Blockchain analytics. Learn more →
Address Beginner also: public address: A string of letters and numbers that identifies where crypto can be sent on a blockchain, a bit like an account number. Sharing your address is safe, but sending funds to the wrong one usually can't be undone. See also: Public key, Wallet, Address poisoning. Learn more →
Address poisoning Intermediate also: address spoofing: A scam where an attacker sends a tiny or zero-value transfer from an address that looks almost identical to one you use, hoping you'll copy it from your history later. Always check the full address, not just the first and last few characters. See also: Address, Phishing, Block explorer. Learn more →
Admin keys Intermediate also: upgrade keys: Special keys that let a project's team change, pause, or upgrade its smart contracts. They can be used to fix bugs, but in the wrong hands they can also move or freeze user funds. See also: Smart contract, Multisig, Rug pull. Learn more →
AI agent Intermediate also: autonomous agent: Software powered by an AI model that can take actions on its own toward a goal, such as researching, trading, or using apps. In crypto, some agents control their own wallets, which raises new questions about security and accountability. See also: Decentralized compute, Inference, Smart contract. Learn more →
Air-gapped Intermediate also: air gap, offline signing: Describes a device that never connects to the internet, USB data, or Bluetooth while it handles your keys. Air-gapped hardware wallets pass transactions back and forth by QR code or memory card, which narrows the paths malware could use. See also: Hardware wallet, Cold wallet, Private key. Learn more →
Airdrop Beginner: Free tokens sent to wallet addresses, often to reward early users or spread ownership of a new project. Real airdrops exist, but fake "claim your airdrop" sites are a common way to trick people into signing malicious transactions. See also: Token, Drainer, Token approval.
Algorithmic stablecoin Intermediate: A stablecoin that tries to hold its peg through code and incentives rather than full reserves of cash or assets. Several have collapsed, most famously TerraUSD in May 2022. See also: Stablecoin, Depeg. Learn more →
Altcoin Beginner also: alt: Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. The label covers everything from large smart contract platforms to tiny experimental tokens, so it says nothing about quality. See also: Bitcoin, Token, Coin. Learn more →
Anti-money laundering Intermediate also: AML: Laws and procedures meant to stop criminals from moving illicit money through the financial system. US crypto businesses that handle customer funds generally must follow AML rules, including monitoring and reporting suspicious activity. See also: KYC, Travel rule, FinCEN. Learn more →
APR Beginner also: annual percentage rate: The yearly rate of return or borrowing cost without counting compounding. Crypto APRs often change daily and can fall quickly, so treat any quoted rate as a snapshot. See also: APY, Yield, Staking. Learn more →
APY Beginner also: annual percentage yield: The yearly return including the effect of compounding, so it looks higher than the matching APR. Very high APYs usually point to high risk, short-lived incentives, or both. See also: APR, Yield, Yield farming. Learn more →
Arbitrage Intermediate: Buying an asset where it's cheaper and selling it where it's pricier at roughly the same time to capture the difference. Arbitrage helps keep prices aligned across exchanges. See also: Flash loan, DEX.
ASIC Intermediate also: application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC miner: A computer chip built to do one job very efficiently. Bitcoin mining today is dominated by ASIC machines designed only to compute SHA-256 hashes. See also: Mining, Hash rate, SHA-256.
Authorized participant Advanced also: AP: A large financial firm allowed to create or redeem ETF shares directly with the fund. Its activity helps keep an ETF's market price close to the value of what the fund holds. See also: ETF, Net asset value, Arbitrage. Learn more →
Automated market maker Intermediate also: AMM: A type of decentralized exchange that prices trades with a formula based on the tokens sitting in a liquidity pool, instead of matching buyers and sellers in an order book. See also: DEX, Liquidity pool, Impermanent loss, Slippage. Learn more →

B

Bear market Beginner: A long stretch of falling prices and gloomy sentiment. There's no official threshold, though a 20% drop from a recent high is a common shorthand in traditional markets. See also: Bull market, Volatility.
BIP-39 Advanced also: BIP39: The Bitcoin standard that defines how seed phrases work, including the 2,048-word list most wallets use. See also: Seed phrase, Passphrase, Derivation path. Learn more →
Bitcoin Beginner also: BTC: The first cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It runs on a proof-of-work blockchain with a fixed limit of 21 million coins. See also: Blockchain, Mining, Halving, Satoshi. Learn more →
BitLicense Advanced: A New York State license that most businesses need to conduct virtual currency activity involving New York or its residents. It's issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services and has been in force since 2015. See also: KYC, Anti-money laundering, Centralized exchange. Learn more →
Blind signing Intermediate: Approving a transaction or message without being able to read what it actually does. It's a common way people get drained, so prefer wallets that show clear, decoded transaction details. See also: Drainer, Token approval, Hardware wallet. Learn more →
Blob Advanced also: blob transaction, EIP-4844: A type of temporary, low-cost data space on Ethereum, added in the March 2024 Dencun upgrade, that lets rollups post their data far more cheaply than before. See also: Rollup, Data availability, EIP. Learn more →
Block Beginner: A batch of transactions bundled together and added to a blockchain. Each block includes the hash of the one before it, which is what links the chain together. See also: Blockchain, Hash, Confirmation. Learn more →
Block explorer Beginner also: blockchain explorer: A website that lets you look up public blockchain data such as addresses, transactions, and blocks. It's the easiest way to check whether a transfer went through and how many confirmations it has. See also: Address, Transaction hash, Confirmation. Learn more →
Block reward Intermediate: The new coins a miner or validator earns for producing a block, usually paid along with transaction fees. On Bitcoin, the new-coin part of the reward is cut in half at each halving. See also: Mining, Halving, Validator.
Blockchain Beginner: A shared, append-only record of transactions kept in sync by many independent computers. Once data is accepted and buried under later blocks, changing it becomes extremely difficult. See also: Block, Node, Consensus. Learn more →
Blockchain analytics Advanced also: chain analysis, on-chain analytics: Tools that trace funds and group addresses to identify who controls them, used by exchanges, investigators, and regulators. See also: Pseudonymity, Anti-money laundering.
Bonding curve Advanced: A formula that sets a token's price automatically based on how many tokens have been bought, so the price climbs as more are sold. Many meme coin launch platforms use one before a token moves to a regular exchange. See also: Automated market maker, Meme coin, Liquidity. Learn more →
Bridge Intermediate also: cross-chain bridge: A tool that moves tokens or messages between blockchains, often by locking assets on one chain and issuing a matching version on another. Bridges have been the target of some of the largest hacks in crypto. See also: Wrapped token, Interoperability, Layer 2.
Bull market Beginner: A long stretch of rising prices and optimistic sentiment. Bull markets can fuel FOMO and risky behavior, so many people set their rules before excitement sets in. See also: Bear market, FOMO.
Buyback Intermediate: When a project or company uses revenue or treasury funds to buy its own token on the market. Purchased tokens may be burned, held, or redistributed, so check what actually happens to them. See also: Token burn, Tokenomics. Learn more →

C

Capital gains Beginner also: capital gains tax: The profit you make when you sell or spend an asset for more than you paid. The IRS treats crypto as property, so selling, trading, or spending it can create a taxable gain or loss. See also: Cost basis, 1099-DA, Wash sale. Learn more →
Central bank digital currency Intermediate also: CBDC: A digital form of a country's currency issued directly by its central bank. A CBDC is government money, not decentralized crypto; as of October 2026 the US has not issued one. See also: Stablecoin, Tokenization. Learn more →
Centralized exchange Beginner also: CEX: A company-run platform where you can buy, sell, and often store crypto, similar to a brokerage. It's convenient, but the exchange holds custody of your coins while they sit there. See also: Exchange, Custody, DEX, KYC. Learn more →
CFTC Intermediate also: Commodity Futures Trading Commission: The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees futures and other derivatives markets and has treated bitcoin and ether as commodities. See also: SEC, Derivatives. Learn more →
Checksum Intermediate: A built-in error check in many address formats. Wallets can reject a mistyped address because its checksum doesn't match, but a checksum can't protect you from pasting a scammer's valid address. See also: Address, Address poisoning. Learn more →
Circulating supply Beginner: The number of coins or tokens currently available and moving in the market. It leaves out tokens that are locked, not yet released, or burned. See also: Max supply, Total supply, Market capitalization, Fully diluted valuation. Learn more →
Clipboard hijacker Intermediate also: clipper malware: Malware that watches for crypto addresses you copy and swaps in the attacker's address when you paste. Check the address on your hardware wallet screen before confirming. See also: Address, Address poisoning. Learn more →
Coin Beginner: A cryptocurrency that is the native asset of its own blockchain, such as BTC on Bitcoin or ETH on Ethereum. In everyday use, people often treat "coin" and "token" as interchangeable. See also: Token, Altcoin. Learn more →
Cold wallet Beginner also: cold storage: A wallet whose private keys are kept offline, such as a hardware wallet. Keeping keys away from the internet sharply cuts the risk of remote hacks. See also: Hot wallet, Hardware wallet, Air-gapped. Learn more →
Collateral Intermediate: Assets you lock up to secure a loan. If the collateral's value falls too far compared with what you borrowed, it can be sold off in a liquidation. See also: Loan-to-value, Liquidation, Health factor. Learn more →
Confirmation Beginner: Each new block added on top of the block containing your transaction counts as one confirmation. More confirmations make a transaction harder to reverse, which is why exchanges wait for several before crediting deposits. See also: Block, Finality, Block explorer. Learn more →
Consensus Intermediate also: consensus mechanism: The rules a blockchain network uses to agree on which transactions are valid and in what order. Proof of work and proof of stake are the two best-known approaches. See also: Proof of work, Proof of stake, Node. Learn more →
Correlation Intermediate: How closely two assets' prices move together. When most crypto assets are highly correlated, holding several of them offers less protection than it seems. See also: Diversification, Volatility. Learn more →
Cost basis Beginner: What you paid for an asset, including eligible fees. Your taxable gain or loss is generally the sale amount minus your cost basis, so good records matter. See also: Capital gains, 1099-DA. Learn more →
Counterparty risk Intermediate: The risk that the other side of a deal, such as an exchange, lender, or stablecoin issuer, fails to meet its obligations. See also: Custody, Proof of reserves. Learn more →
Cryptocurrency Beginner also: crypto, digital asset: Digital money that runs on a blockchain or similar network and uses cryptography to secure ownership and transfers, without a bank keeping the ledger. See also: Blockchain, Coin, Token, Wallet. Learn more →
Custodial Beginner: Describes a service where a company holds the private keys to your crypto for you, as most exchanges do. It's convenient, but you're trusting that company's security and solvency. See also: Custody, Custodial wallet, Self-custody. Learn more →
Custodial wallet Beginner: A wallet where a company, such as an exchange, holds the private keys for you. You can usually reset a forgotten password, but you depend on that company's security and solvency. See also: Custody, Self-custody, Counterparty risk. Learn more →
Custodian Intermediate also: qualified custodian: A firm that holds and safeguards assets on behalf of others. Crypto ETFs, for example, rely on a custodian to store the coins the fund owns. See also: Custody, ETF, Counterparty risk. Learn more →
Custody Beginner also: custodial: Who actually controls the private keys to your crypto. With a custodial service, a company holds them for you; with self-custody, you do. See also: Self-custody, Centralized exchange, Private key. Learn more →

D

DAO Intermediate also: decentralized autonomous organization: A group that coordinates through rules written in smart contracts, with members usually voting using tokens. How decentralized a DAO really is depends on who holds the votes. See also: Governance token, Smart contract, Multisig.
dApp Beginner also: decentralized application: An application whose core logic runs on smart contracts rather than one company's servers. You usually connect to a dApp with a self-custody wallet. See also: Smart contract, Wallet, Token approval. Learn more →
Data availability Advanced also: DA: Making sure the data behind a block or rollup batch is published so anyone can check it. Specialized data availability networks, like Celestia, focus on this job. See also: Rollup, Sharding, Blob. Learn more →
Decentralization Beginner: How widely control over a network is spread among independent participants, such as node operators, validators, developers, and token holders. The more decentralized a network is, the harder it is for any single party to censor, change, or shut it down. See also: Node, Validator, Consensus. Learn more →
Decentralized compute Intermediate also: decentralized GPU network: Networks that pay independent operators, often in tokens, to rent out processing power such as GPUs for jobs like AI training and inference. See also: AI agent, Inference, DePIN. Learn more →
DeFi Beginner also: decentralized finance: Financial services like trading, lending, and borrowing that run on smart contracts instead of through banks or brokers. It's open to anyone with a wallet but carries smart contract, market, and scam risks. See also: Smart contract, DEX, Liquidity pool, Lending protocol. Learn more →
Delegation Intermediate also: delegated staking: Assigning your stake to a validator so it counts toward securing the network, usually in exchange for a share of the rewards. On many chains your tokens stay in your wallet while delegated. See also: Staking, Validator, Slashing. Learn more →
Depeg Intermediate: When a stablecoin or pegged token drifts noticeably from the value it's meant to track. A depeg can be brief or, for failed designs, permanent. See also: Stablecoin, Liquid staking, Algorithmic stablecoin. Learn more →
DePIN Intermediate also: decentralized physical infrastructure network: Projects that use token rewards to get people to build and run real-world infrastructure, such as wireless hotspots, storage drives, or GPU servers. See also: Decentralized compute, Tokenomics. Learn more →
Derivation path Advanced: A short code, such as m/44'/0'/0'/0/0, that tells a wallet which keys and addresses to generate from a seed phrase. If you restore a seed and see an empty balance, a different derivation path is a common reason. See also: Seed phrase, HD wallet, Private key. Learn more →
Derivatives Intermediate: Contracts whose value is based on an underlying asset, such as futures, options, and perpetual swaps. They often involve leverage, which magnifies both gains and losses. See also: Leverage, Perpetual futures, Liquidation.
Destination tag Beginner also: memo, tag: An extra identifier some networks, such as XRP and Stellar, use so an exchange knows which customer a deposit belongs to. Leaving it out can delay or lose a deposit. See also: Address, Test transaction. Learn more →
DEX Beginner also: decentralized exchange: A trading platform built on smart contracts where you swap tokens directly from your own wallet. There's no account to open, but you're responsible for checking which token and contract you're using. See also: Automated market maker, Liquidity pool, Slippage, Centralized exchange. Learn more →
Diversification Beginner: Spreading money across different assets so one failure doesn't sink everything. Many crypto assets tend to move together, which limits how much diversifying within crypto alone helps. See also: Volatility, Counterparty risk. Learn more →
Dollar-cost averaging Beginner also: DCA: Investing a fixed dollar amount on a regular schedule regardless of price. It spreads out your entry points and removes the pressure of timing the market, though it doesn't prevent losses. See also: Volatility, FOMO. Learn more →
Dominance Intermediate also: bitcoin dominance: The share of total crypto market capitalization made up by a single asset, most often Bitcoin. Traders watch it as a rough gauge of where money is flowing. See also: Market capitalization, Altcoin. Learn more →
Double spend Intermediate: Spending the same digital money twice. Blockchains prevent it by having the network agree on one ordered history of transactions. See also: Consensus, Confirmation, 51% attack.
Drainer Intermediate also: wallet drainer: Malicious code, often rented out to scammers as a kit, that tricks you into signing approvals or transfers that empty your wallet. Drainers usually hide behind fake mint, airdrop, or support websites. See also: Phishing, Token approval, Blind signing. Learn more →
Drawdown Beginner: The drop from an asset's or portfolio's peak value to a later low, usually shown as a percentage. Major crypto assets have had drawdowns of more than 70% in past downturns. See also: Volatility, Position sizing. Learn more →
Dust Intermediate: A tiny amount of crypto, often too small to be worth moving after fees. Unexpected dust in your wallet can also be a tracking attempt or part of an address poisoning scam. See also: Address poisoning, UTXO.
DYOR Beginner also: do your own research: Slang for "do your own research," a reminder to check facts yourself before buying anything. It's sound advice, though it's sometimes used to dodge responsibility for promoting a token. See also: FOMO, FUD, Shill. Learn more →

E

EIP Advanced also: Ethereum Improvement Proposal: A formal document that proposes a change to Ethereum, from core protocol upgrades to token standards like ERC-20. See also: ERC-20, Ethereum, Hard fork.
ERC-20 Intermediate: The most common technical standard for interchangeable tokens on Ethereum and compatible chains. It defines basic functions such as transferring tokens and approving others to spend them. See also: Token, Token approval, EVM, ERC-721.
ERC-721 Intermediate: The Ethereum token standard for NFTs, where every token has its own unique ID. See also: NFT, ERC-20.
ETF Beginner also: exchange-traded fund, spot bitcoin ETF: Short for exchange-traded fund: a fund whose shares trade on a stock exchange. Spot crypto ETFs hold the actual asset, giving investors price exposure through a regular brokerage account without managing keys. See also: ETP, Custody, Spot price. Learn more →
Ethereum Beginner also: ETH, ether: A proof-of-stake blockchain that runs smart contracts, letting developers build apps, tokens, and DeFi services on top. Its native currency, ether (ETH), pays for transaction fees. See also: Smart contract, EVM, Gas. Learn more →
ETP Intermediate also: exchange-traded product, ETN: Short for exchange-traded product: an umbrella term for investments that trade on an exchange and track an asset, including ETFs, exchange-traded notes, and certain trusts. Many crypto funds are technically ETPs, which affects how they are regulated. See also: ETF, Custody. Learn more →
EVM Intermediate also: Ethereum Virtual Machine: The software environment that runs smart contracts on Ethereum. Many other chains are EVM-compatible, so the same wallets and address formats work across them. See also: Smart contract, Ethereum, Layer 2.
Exchange Beginner: A platform for trading one asset for another, either run by a company (centralized) or built from smart contracts (decentralized). See also: Centralized exchange, DEX. Learn more →
Expense ratio Beginner: The yearly fee a fund such as an ETF charges, shown as a percentage of your investment and deducted from the fund's assets automatically. See also: ETF, Net asset value. Learn more →
Exploit Intermediate also: hack: An attack that takes advantage of a flaw in code or design to steal or freeze funds. See also: Smart contract audit, Flash loan, Smart contract.

F

Fiat currency Beginner also: fiat: Government-issued money, such as the US dollar, that isn't backed by a commodity like gold. In crypto, "fiat" usually just means regular money. See also: On-ramp, Stablecoin.
Finality Intermediate: The point at which a transaction can no longer be reversed or changed. Some chains reach finality in seconds, while Bitcoin's finality is probabilistic and grows stronger with each confirmation. See also: Confirmation, Consensus, Settlement.
FinCEN Advanced also: Financial Crimes Enforcement Network: The US Treasury bureau that administers anti-money-laundering rules. Many crypto businesses must register with it as money services businesses. See also: Anti-money laundering, Travel rule. Learn more →
Firmware Intermediate: The built-in software running on a device such as a hardware wallet. Update it only through the manufacturer's official app, never from a link in an email or message. See also: Hardware wallet, Phishing, Supply chain attack. Learn more →
Flash loan Advanced: A loan with no collateral that must be borrowed and repaid within a single transaction, or the whole thing is canceled. Flash loans are used for arbitrage and refinancing, and also in many DeFi exploits. See also: DeFi, Oracle, Exploit.
FOMO Beginner also: fear of missing out: Short for "fear of missing out": the urge to buy because prices are rising and others seem to be profiting. Decisions made from FOMO tend to skip research and risk limits. See also: FUD, DYOR, Volatility. Learn more →
Fork Intermediate: A split or change in a blockchain's software or history. Forks can be accidental and short-lived, or planned upgrades. See also: Hard fork, Soft fork, Reorg.
Fraud proof Advanced also: fault proof: Evidence anyone can submit during an optimistic rollup's challenge window to show that a posted batch was wrong, causing it to be rejected. See also: Optimistic rollup, Validity proof. Learn more →
FUD Beginner also: fear, uncertainty and doubt: Short for "fear, uncertainty, and doubt": negative news or claims that spread worry. Sometimes it's misleading and sometimes it's a legitimate warning, so judge the evidence rather than the label. See also: FOMO, DYOR.
Fully diluted valuation Intermediate also: FDV: What a project would be valued at if every token that will ever exist were already circulating, at today's price. A big gap between FDV and market cap means many tokens are still to be released. See also: Market capitalization, Max supply, Token unlock. Learn more →
Funding rate Advanced: Periodic payments between long and short traders on perpetual futures. When it's positive, longs pay shorts, which tends to pull the contract price back toward the spot price. See also: Perpetual futures, Spot price.

G

Gas Beginner also: gas fee: The unit that measures the computing work a transaction needs on Ethereum and similar chains. Your fee is the gas used multiplied by the gas price, paid in the chain's native token. See also: Transaction fee, Ethereum, Gwei. Learn more →
Gas fees Beginner: The fees you pay to have a transaction processed on Ethereum and similar networks, worked out from the gas a transaction uses and the going gas price. They rise when the network is busy. See also: Gas, Transaction fee, Layer 2. Learn more →
GENIUS Act Intermediate also: Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for U.S. Stablecoins Act: A US federal law signed in July 2025 that sets rules for payment stablecoins, including one-to-one reserves in cash and similar safe assets, regular reserve disclosures, and licensing for issuers. See also: Stablecoin, MiCA. Learn more →
Governance token Intermediate: A token that gives holders voting power over a protocol's decisions, such as fee changes or treasury spending. Voting power is often concentrated among a few large holders. See also: DAO, Token, Whale.
Gwei Intermediate: A tiny unit of ether equal to one billionth of an ETH, commonly used to quote gas prices. See also: Gas, Ethereum.

H

Halving Beginner also: halvening: A scheduled event, roughly every four years (every 210,000 blocks), that cuts Bitcoin's new-coin block reward in half. The most recent halving happened in April 2024. See also: Bitcoin, Block reward, Mining. Learn more →
Hard fork Intermediate: A protocol change that isn't backward-compatible, so all nodes must upgrade. If part of the community refuses, the chain can split in two, as Ethereum and Ethereum Classic did in 2016. See also: Soft fork, Fork, Node. Learn more →
Hardware wallet Beginner also: signing device: A small physical device that stores your private keys offline and signs transactions inside the device, so keys never touch your computer or phone. Buy directly from the manufacturer to avoid tampered units. See also: Cold wallet, Secure element, Seed phrase, Air-gapped. Learn more →
Hash Intermediate also: hash function: A fixed-length fingerprint produced by running data through a one-way math function. Change even one character of the input and the hash changes completely, which is how blockchains detect tampering. See also: Block, Proof of work, SHA-256.
Hash rate Intermediate also: hashrate: The total computing power miners devote to a proof-of-work network, measured in hashes per second. A higher hash rate makes the network costlier to attack. See also: Mining, Proof of work, 51% attack.
HD wallet Intermediate also: hierarchical deterministic wallet: A wallet that generates a whole tree of keys and addresses from a single seed, so one backup covers all of them. Nearly all modern wallets work this way. See also: Seed phrase, Derivation path. Learn more →
Health factor Intermediate: A number lending protocols use to show how safe a loan is relative to its collateral. If it drops below 1, the position can be liquidated. See also: Liquidation, Collateral, Loan-to-value. Learn more →
HODL Beginner: Slang for holding crypto long term instead of trading. It started as a typo of "hold" in a 2013 forum post and stuck. See also: Dollar-cost averaging, FOMO.
Honeypot token Intermediate also: honeypot: A scam token built so you can buy it but can't sell it, usually because of hidden code in its contract. Its chart can look strong because only buys go through. See also: Rug pull, Smart contract, Token. Learn more →
Hot wallet Beginner: A wallet whose keys live on an internet-connected device, like a phone app or browser extension. It's convenient for frequent use but more exposed to malware and phishing. See also: Cold wallet, Wallet. Learn more →
Howey test Advanced: A test from a 1946 US Supreme Court case used to decide whether something is an investment contract, and therefore a security: money invested in a common enterprise with an expectation of profits from others' efforts. See also: SEC, Initial coin offering. Learn more →

I

Impermanent loss Intermediate: The shortfall a liquidity provider can face compared with simply holding the two tokens, caused when their prices move apart. It becomes a realized loss if you withdraw while the prices are still apart. See also: Liquidity pool, Automated market maker, Liquidity provider. Learn more →
Inference Intermediate: Running a trained AI model to produce an answer, image, or prediction. Some crypto networks sell inference from distributed GPUs as an alternative to large cloud providers. See also: Decentralized compute, AI agent. Learn more →
Inflation Beginner also: supply inflation: In crypto, the rate at which new coins or tokens are added to supply over time. More broadly, it means rising prices across an economy, which shrinks what each dollar buys. See also: Token emissions, Max supply, Store of value. Learn more →
Initial coin offering Intermediate also: ICO: A fundraising method where a project sells new tokens directly to the public. ICOs boomed in 2017, and many later turned out to be scams or unregistered securities offerings. See also: Howey test, Tokenomics.
Interoperability Intermediate also: cross-chain: The ability of different blockchains to share data and value with each other, through bridges, messaging protocols, or shared standards. See also: Bridge, Wrapped token.
ISO 20022 Intermediate: An international standard for formatting financial messages with richer, structured payment data. SWIFT moved cross-border payment messages to it in 2025. It governs messages between institutions, not coins, so claims that a token is "ISO 20022 compliant" deserve skepticism. See also: SWIFT, Tokenization, Settlement. Learn more →

K

KYC Beginner also: know your customer: Short for "know your customer": identity checks financial companies run before opening an account, such as verifying your ID and address. US exchanges require KYC under anti-money-laundering rules. See also: Anti-money laundering, Centralized exchange. Learn more →

L

Layer 1 Beginner also: L1, base layer: A main blockchain that processes and finalizes its own transactions, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana. See also: Layer 2, Blockchain. Learn more →
Layer 2 Beginner also: L2: A network built on top of a layer 1 to make transactions faster and cheaper while relying on the base chain for security. Rollups and the Lightning Network are examples. See also: Layer 1, Rollup, Lightning Network. Learn more →
Ledger Beginner also: distributed ledger, DLT: A record of transactions and balances. A blockchain is a ledger that many computers share and keep in sync. (Ledger is also the name of a hardware wallet company.) See also: Blockchain, Node. Learn more →
Lending protocol Intermediate: A DeFi app where users deposit crypto to earn interest and others borrow against collateral, with terms set by code instead of a loan officer. See also: Collateral, Health factor, Liquidation. Learn more →
Leverage Intermediate: Borrowing to take a bigger position than your own money allows. With 10x leverage, a 10% move against you can wipe out your entire stake. See also: Liquidation, Derivatives, Perpetual futures. Learn more →
Lightning Network Intermediate also: Lightning: A layer 2 payment network for Bitcoin that routes payments through off-chain channels, allowing fast, low-fee transfers that settle back to Bitcoin when channels close. See also: Bitcoin, Layer 2. Learn more →
Limit order Beginner: An order to buy or sell only at a price you set or better. It gives you price control but may never fill. See also: Market order, Order book, Maker/taker.
Liquid staking Intermediate also: liquid staking token, LST: Staking through a protocol that gives you a token representing your staked assets and rewards, which you can trade or use in DeFi. It adds smart contract risk, and the token can trade below the value it represents. See also: Staking, Restaking, Depeg. Learn more →
Liquidation Intermediate: The forced sale of a borrower's collateral when its value falls below a required level. It protects lenders but usually comes with a penalty for the borrower. See also: Collateral, Health factor, Leverage. Learn more →
Liquidity Beginner: How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price much. Low-liquidity tokens can be hard to sell at the price you see on the chart. See also: Slippage, Spread, Order book.
Liquidity pool Intermediate: A smart contract holding two or more tokens that traders swap against on an automated market maker. People who deposit tokens earn a share of trading fees. See also: Automated market maker, Liquidity provider, Impermanent loss. Learn more →
Liquidity provider Intermediate also: LP: Someone who deposits tokens into a liquidity pool in exchange for a share of fees, usually receiving an LP token that represents their portion. See also: Liquidity pool, Impermanent loss.
Loan-to-value Intermediate also: LTV: The size of a loan compared with the value of its collateral, shown as a percentage. Borrowing $500 against $1,000 of crypto is a 50% LTV; the higher it climbs, the closer you are to liquidation. See also: Collateral, Liquidation, Health factor. Learn more →

M

Maker/taker Intermediate also: maker fee, taker fee: A common way exchanges set trading fees. A maker places an order that waits on the order book; a taker fills an order that's already there. Makers often pay lower fees because they add liquidity. See also: Order book, Limit order, Market order. Learn more →
Margin Intermediate also: margin trading: Money or collateral you put up to open a leveraged trade. If losses eat into it past a set level, the exchange can close your position. See also: Leverage, Liquidation, Derivatives. Learn more →
Market capitalization Beginner also: market cap: A coin's price multiplied by its circulating supply. It's a rough measure of size, not the amount of money invested or how much could be cashed out. See also: Circulating supply, Fully diluted valuation, Dominance. Learn more →
Market maker Intermediate: A firm or trader that continuously posts buy and sell orders to provide liquidity, earning money from the spread. See also: Liquidity, Spread, Automated market maker.
Market order Beginner: An order to buy or sell immediately at the best price available. It fills fast but can suffer slippage in thin markets. See also: Limit order, Slippage.
Max supply Beginner also: maximum supply, supply cap: The most coins or tokens that can ever exist under a protocol's rules, such as 21 million for Bitcoin. Some assets have no maximum at all. See also: Circulating supply, Total supply, Token emissions. Learn more →
Meme coin Beginner also: memecoin: A token inspired by internet jokes, culture, or celebrities, usually with little use beyond community and speculation. Prices can swing wildly. See also: Volatility, Rug pull. Learn more →
Memo Beginner also: deposit memo: A short note or numeric code attached to a transfer on some networks, such as Stellar, TON, and Cosmos-based chains, that exchanges use to route a deposit to the right account. Leaving out a required memo can delay or lose a deposit. See also: Destination tag, Test transaction. Learn more →
Mempool Intermediate also: memory pool: The waiting area for transactions that have been broadcast but not yet included in a block. When it's crowded, fees usually rise. See also: Transaction fee, Confirmation, MEV.
Metal seed backup Beginner also: steel backup, seed plate: A plate or capsule made of steel or titanium for stamping or arranging your seed words so they survive fire and water. See also: Seed phrase, Paper wallet. Learn more →
MEV Advanced also: maximal extractable value, miner extractable value: Extra profit that whoever orders transactions in a block can capture by including, excluding, or reordering them, for example by sandwiching a large swap. It can quietly raise costs for ordinary users. See also: Sandwich attack, Mempool, Sequencer.
MiCA Intermediate also: Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation: The European Union's Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation, which sets rules for crypto service providers and stablecoin issuers and became fully applicable at the end of 2024. A firm licensed in one EU country can serve customers across the bloc. See also: GENIUS Act, Stablecoin. Learn more →
Mining Beginner also: miner: The proof-of-work process where computers compete to add the next block and earn new coins plus fees. It secures networks like Bitcoin but uses a lot of electricity. See also: Proof of work, Hash rate, ASIC, Block reward. Learn more →
Mint Beginner also: minting: Creating new tokens or NFTs on a blockchain. Fake "mint" pages are a common phishing trap. See also: NFT, Drainer, Token burn.
Mixer Advanced also: tumbler, coin mixer: A service that pools and shuffles coins to hide where they came from. Some mixers have faced US sanctions or criminal charges, and exchanges may freeze funds that passed through them. See also: Privacy coin, Blockchain analytics, Anti-money laundering.
Multisig Intermediate also: multi-signature, multi-sig: A wallet setup that needs approval from several keys, such as 2 of 3, before funds can move. It removes single points of failure but makes setup and recovery more complex. See also: Private key, Hardware wallet, Smart contract wallet. Learn more →

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Net asset value Intermediate also: NAV: The value of everything a fund holds, minus its liabilities, divided by the number of shares. An ETF's share price usually trades close to its NAV. See also: ETF, Authorized participant, Expense ratio. Learn more →
NFT Beginner also: non-fungible token: A token with a unique ID that represents ownership of a specific item, such as artwork, a membership, or a ticket. Owning an NFT doesn't automatically give you copyright in the underlying content. See also: ERC-721, Mint, Token.
Node Intermediate also: full node: A computer running a blockchain's software that stores the ledger and checks that transactions and blocks follow the rules. Running your own node lets you verify the chain yourself. See also: Blockchain, Validator.

O

On-chain Beginner also: off-chain: Activity recorded directly on a blockchain and visible to anyone. Off-chain activity happens elsewhere, such as inside an exchange's internal ledger, and may settle to the chain later or not at all. See also: Block explorer, Layer 2.
On-ramp Beginner also: off-ramp, fiat on-ramp: A service that converts regular money into crypto; an off-ramp does the reverse. Exchanges, payment apps, and some wallets offer them, usually with identity checks. See also: Fiat currency, KYC, Centralized exchange. Learn more →
Optimistic rollup Advanced: A rollup that assumes batches are valid unless someone challenges them with a fraud proof during a dispute window. That's why standard withdrawals to Ethereum often take about a week. See also: Rollup, ZK rollup. Learn more →
Oracle Intermediate also: price oracle: A service that feeds outside data, such as asset prices, into smart contracts. If an oracle reports a wrong price, lending and trading apps that rely on it can malfunction. See also: Smart contract, Flash loan. Learn more →
Order book Intermediate: A live list of buy and sell orders for an asset at different prices on an exchange. Its depth shows how much can trade before the price moves. See also: Limit order, Maker/taker, Spread, Liquidity.
Overcollateralization Intermediate also: overcollateralized: Requiring a borrower or issuer to lock up more value than they borrow or issue, such as $150 of crypto to borrow $100. The extra cushion absorbs price drops before liquidation kicks in. See also: Collateral, Loan-to-value, Liquidation. Learn more →

P

Paper wallet Intermediate: A printout of a private key or seed, often with QR codes. It's offline, but paper can be lost or damaged, and some old paper-wallet generators had security flaws. See also: Cold wallet, Seed phrase. Learn more →
Passkey Beginner: A login method that replaces passwords with a cryptographic key stored on your device or security key, unlocked with your fingerprint, face, or PIN. Passkeys resist phishing because they only work on the genuine website. See also: Two-factor authentication, Phishing. Learn more →
Passphrase Intermediate also: 25th word, BIP39 passphrase: An optional extra word or phrase added to a seed phrase that creates a completely separate set of wallets. It protects you if your seed is found, but if you forget the passphrase, those funds can't be recovered. See also: Seed phrase, Hardware wallet, BIP-39. Learn more →
Peg Intermediate: The fixed value a token is designed to track, such as one US dollar for most stablecoins. A peg is held in place through reserves, redemptions, or market incentives. See also: Stablecoin, Depeg. Learn more →
Permit signature Advanced also: permit, Permit2: An off-chain signature that grants a token approval without a separate on-chain transaction. Scammers abuse permit requests because they can look like harmless sign-in messages. See also: Token approval, Drainer, Blind signing. Learn more →
Perpetual futures Advanced also: perps, perpetual swaps: Futures contracts with no expiration date, kept close to the spot price through periodic funding payments between buyers and sellers. They are usually traded with leverage. See also: Derivatives, Leverage, Funding rate.
Phishing Beginner: Tricking you into giving up passwords, seed phrases, or wallet approvals through fake websites, emails, texts, or ads that pose as trusted brands. No legitimate company will ever ask for your seed phrase. See also: Drainer, Social engineering, Seed phrase. Learn more →
Pig butchering Beginner also: romance investment scam: A long-con fraud where a scammer builds trust over weeks or months, often starting with a "wrong number" text or a dating chat, then steers the victim into a fake investment platform. Victims see fake profits until they try to withdraw. See also: Social engineering, Recovery scam, Ponzi scheme. Learn more →
Ponzi scheme Beginner: A fraud that pays earlier investors with money from newer ones instead of real profits, and collapses when new money slows. Guaranteed high returns are a classic warning sign. See also: Pig butchering, Yield. Learn more →
Position sizing Beginner: Deciding how much of your money to put into any single asset or trade, often based on how much you could afford to lose. It's one of the simplest risk controls there is. See also: Diversification, Drawdown, Stop-loss. Learn more →
Privacy coin Intermediate: A cryptocurrency built to hide transaction details such as amounts or addresses, like Monero or Zcash. Some exchanges restrict them because of regulatory concerns. See also: Zero-knowledge proof, Pseudonymity, Mixer. Learn more →
Private key Beginner: A secret number that proves ownership of a crypto address and lets you sign transactions. Anyone who has your private key controls your funds, so never share it. See also: Public key, Seed phrase, Wallet. Learn more →
Proof of reserves Intermediate also: PoR: An attempt by an exchange or custodian to show, often with cryptographic proofs or an outside accountant's review, that it holds enough assets to cover customer balances. It's helpful but incomplete unless liabilities are shown too. See also: Custody, Centralized exchange, Counterparty risk. Learn more →
Proof of stake Beginner also: PoS: A consensus method where validators lock up the network's tokens as collateral for the right to propose and confirm blocks. Validators who break the rules can lose part of their stake. See also: Validator, Staking, Slashing. Learn more →
Proof of work Beginner also: PoW: A consensus method where miners spend computing power solving puzzles to add blocks. That work makes rewriting history extremely costly. See also: Mining, Hash rate, Bitcoin. Learn more →
Pseudonymity Intermediate: Most blockchain transactions are tied to addresses rather than names, which makes them pseudonymous, not anonymous. Once an address is linked to you, its full history can often be traced. See also: Address, Block explorer, Privacy coin.
Public key Intermediate: A key mathematically derived from your private key that others can use to verify your signatures. Your address is usually created from your public key. See also: Private key, Address, Public-key cryptography. Learn more →
Public-key cryptography Intermediate also: asymmetric cryptography: The math behind crypto wallets, which uses a linked pair of keys: the private key signs, and the public key lets anyone verify the signature. See also: Private key, Public key.
Pump and dump Beginner: A scheme where promoters hype a thinly traded token to push its price up, then sell to the buyers they attracted. See also: Rug pull, Shill, FOMO. Learn more →

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Real-world assets Intermediate also: RWA, tokenized assets: Traditional assets, such as Treasury bills, gold, or real estate, represented as tokens on a blockchain. A token's value depends on the legal structure and on the issuer actually holding the asset. See also: Tokenization, Stablecoin. Learn more →
Rebalancing Beginner: Periodically buying or selling to bring a portfolio back to its target percentages after prices move. In a taxable account, selling can create a tax bill. See also: Diversification, Capital gains, Position sizing. Learn more →
Recovery scam Beginner also: asset recovery scam: A follow-up scam aimed at people who already lost crypto, where fake recovery experts or investigators promise to get funds back for an upfront fee. See also: Social engineering, Pig butchering. Learn more →
Rekt Beginner also: wrecked: Slang for suffering a heavy loss, often from a liquidation or a bad trade. See also: Liquidation, Leverage.
Reorg Advanced also: chain reorganization: When a network replaces one or more recent blocks with a competing version of the chain. It's why very recent transactions are treated as less settled than older ones. See also: Confirmation, Finality, 51% attack.
Restaking Advanced: Reusing staked assets, or liquid staking tokens, to help secure additional services in exchange for extra rewards. Each added layer brings more smart contract and slashing risk. See also: Liquid staking, Staking, Slashing. Learn more →
Revoke Intermediate also: revoke approval: Canceling a token approval you granted earlier, so that contract can no longer move those tokens. It's done from your wallet or a revoke tool and costs a small network fee. See also: Token approval, Drainer. Learn more →
Rollup Intermediate: A layer 2 that executes transactions away from the main chain and posts compressed data back to it, borrowing the layer 1's security. See also: Optimistic rollup, ZK rollup, Layer 2, Sequencer. Learn more →
Rug pull Beginner also: rug: A scam where a project's creators drain its funds or liquidity and disappear, leaving holders with worthless tokens. See also: Honeypot token, Pump and dump, Liquidity pool. Learn more →

S

Sandwich attack Advanced: A form of MEV where a bot spots your pending swap, buys just before you to push the price up, then sells right after you. A tight slippage setting limits the damage. See also: MEV, Slippage, Mempool.
Satoshi Beginner also: sat, sats: The smallest unit of bitcoin, equal to 0.00000001 BTC, named after Bitcoin's creator. See also: Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. Learn more →
Satoshi Nakamoto Beginner: The pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, who published its whitepaper in 2008. Their real identity has never been confirmed. See also: Bitcoin, Whitepaper. Learn more →
SEC Intermediate also: Securities and Exchange Commission: The US Securities and Exchange Commission, which regulates securities markets, including crypto assets and products that count as securities, such as spot crypto ETFs. See also: CFTC, ETF, Howey test. Learn more →
Secure element Intermediate also: SE chip: A tamper-resistant chip, similar to those in bank cards and passports, built to store secrets and resist physical attacks. Many hardware wallets use one to protect private keys. See also: Hardware wallet, Private key, Supply chain attack. Learn more →
Security key Beginner also: hardware security key, FIDO key: A small physical device, often USB or NFC, used as a second login factor or passkey. It's one of the strongest defenses against phishing. See also: Two-factor authentication, Passkey. Learn more →
Seed phrase Beginner also: recovery phrase, mnemonic, secret recovery phrase: A list of usually 12 or 24 words that can regenerate every key in a wallet. Whoever has it controls your funds, so store it offline and never type it into a website or share it with anyone. See also: Private key, Passphrase, Hardware wallet, BIP-39. Learn more →
SegWit Advanced also: Segregated Witness: A 2017 Bitcoin soft fork that moved signature data out of the main transaction structure, raising effective block capacity and fixing a flaw called transaction malleability. Native SegWit addresses start with "bc1q". See also: Soft fork, Taproot, Bitcoin.
Self-custody Beginner also: non-custodial: Holding your own private keys, so no company can freeze or lose your funds. The tradeoff is full responsibility: if you lose your seed phrase, no one can restore access. See also: Custody, Seed phrase, Hardware wallet. Learn more →
Sequencer Advanced: The part of a rollup that orders transactions and batches them for the base chain. Many rollups still run a single sequencer, which is a point of centralization. See also: Rollup, MEV. Learn more →
Settlement Intermediate: The final transfer of value that completes a payment or trade. Blockchains can settle in minutes or seconds, while some traditional systems take a business day or more. See also: Finality, ISO 20022. Learn more →
SHA-256 Advanced: The hash function used in Bitcoin's proof of work and in many other security systems. See also: Hash, Proof of work.
Shamir backup Advanced also: SLIP-39, Shamir secret sharing: A way of splitting a wallet backup into several shares so that only a set number of them, such as 2 of 3, are needed to recover it. See also: Seed phrase, Multisig. Learn more →
Sharding Advanced: Splitting a blockchain's workload into parallel pieces so the network can handle more activity. Ethereum's current roadmap focuses on cheaper data space for rollups rather than splitting execution. See also: Layer 2, Rollup, Data availability.
Shill Beginner: Promoting a token aggressively, often without disclosing that the promoter owns it or is being paid. See also: Pump and dump, DYOR.
Short selling Intermediate also: shorting, short: Betting on a price drop, typically by borrowing an asset to sell now and buy back later, or by opening a short derivatives position. Losses can grow quickly if the price rises instead. See also: Derivatives, Leverage, Perpetual futures.
SIM swap Beginner also: SIM hijacking, port-out scam: A scam where a criminal persuades your phone carrier to move your number to their SIM card, letting them receive your text-message codes and reset your accounts. App- or key-based 2FA and a carrier account PIN help protect you. See also: Two-factor authentication, Social engineering. Learn more →
Slashing Intermediate: A proof-of-stake penalty where part of a validator's stake is destroyed for serious faults, such as signing conflicting blocks. On some networks, delegators share in the loss. See also: Proof of stake, Validator, Delegation. Learn more →
Slippage Beginner: The difference between the price you expected and the price your trade actually got, caused by thin liquidity or fast-moving markets. See also: Liquidity, Automated market maker, Sandwich attack.
Smart contract Beginner: A program stored on a blockchain that runs automatically when its conditions are met. Smart contracts power DeFi and NFTs, but bugs in their code can be hard or impossible to fix and have led to large losses. See also: EVM, dApp, Token approval, Smart contract audit. Learn more →
Smart contract audit Intermediate also: audit: An independent review of a project's smart contract code to find bugs and security flaws. Audits reduce risk but don't guarantee safety, and some claimed audits are shallow or fake. See also: Smart contract, Rug pull, Exploit. Learn more →
Smart contract wallet Advanced also: smart account: A wallet controlled by a smart contract instead of a single private key, enabling features like spending limits, social recovery, and paying fees in other tokens. See also: Multisig. Learn more →
Social engineering Beginner: Manipulating people rather than hacking systems, for example by posing as support staff, a friend, or a government agent to get you to send funds or reveal secrets. See also: Phishing, Pig butchering, SIM swap. Learn more →
Soft fork Intermediate: A backward-compatible upgrade that tightens the rules, so nodes that haven't upgraded still accept new blocks. Bitcoin's SegWit and Taproot upgrades were soft forks. See also: Hard fork, Taproot, SegWit.
Spot price Beginner also: spot: The current price for buying or selling an asset for immediate delivery, as opposed to a futures price. See also: Perpetual futures, ETF. Learn more →
Spread Beginner also: bid-ask spread: The gap between the highest price a buyer will pay and the lowest price a seller will accept. Some apps build extra profit into a wider spread instead of charging a visible fee. See also: Order book, Liquidity, Slippage. Learn more →
Stablecoin Beginner: A token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar, most often backed by cash and short-term government debt. Its safety depends on the issuer's reserves, redemption rights, and oversight. See also: GENIUS Act, Depeg, Tokenization. Learn more →
Staking Beginner: Locking up tokens to help secure a proof-of-stake network in return for rewards. Risks include price swings, lockup periods, slashing, and the safety of any platform you stake through. See also: Proof of stake, Validator, Liquid staking. Learn more →
Stop-loss Beginner also: stop-loss order: An order that sells automatically if the price falls to a level you choose, to limit losses. In fast markets it may fill at a worse price than you set. See also: Limit order, Volatility. Learn more →
Store of value Beginner: An asset people expect to keep its purchasing power over long periods, as gold has. Some people describe Bitcoin this way; its high volatility is the main argument against the label. See also: Bitcoin, Inflation, Volatility. Learn more →
Subnet Advanced: A specialized network running inside a larger blockchain system. On Bittensor, for example, each subnet is a marketplace focused on one kind of AI task. See also: Decentralized compute, AI agent. Learn more →
Supply chain attack Advanced: Tampering with a product or software before it reaches you, such as a hardware wallet altered in transit or a compromised code library. See also: Hardware wallet, Firmware. Learn more →
SWIFT Intermediate also: Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication: A member-owned network banks use to send secure payment and financial messages to each other worldwide. SWIFT carries the instructions; the money itself settles through banks' accounts. See also: ISO 20022, Settlement, Central bank digital currency. Learn more →
Synthetic dollar Advanced: A dollar-tracking token backed by crypto plus offsetting derivatives positions rather than cash in a bank. Its stability depends on those positions and on funding rates. See also: Stablecoin, Funding rate, Perpetual futures. Learn more →

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Taproot Advanced: A 2021 Bitcoin upgrade that added Schnorr signatures and made complex transactions, like multisig, more private and efficient. See also: Soft fork, Bitcoin, SegWit. Learn more →
Test transaction Beginner also: test send: A small transfer sent first to confirm the address and network are right before sending the full amount. See also: Address, Transaction fee. Learn more →
Token Beginner: A digital asset created on top of an existing blockchain, usually by a smart contract, rather than being that chain's native coin. Tokens can represent currencies, voting rights, game items, or claims on real assets. See also: Coin, ERC-20, Smart contract. Learn more →
Token approval Intermediate also: allowance, token allowance: Permission you give a smart contract to spend a specific token from your wallet, sometimes in unlimited amounts. Old or malicious approvals can be used to drain funds, so review and revoke ones you no longer need. See also: Drainer, ERC-20, Revoke, Permit signature. Learn more →
Token burn Intermediate also: burn: Permanently removing tokens from circulation, usually by sending them to an address no one controls. Burns reduce supply, but they don't guarantee any change in price. See also: Tokenomics, Circulating supply, Buyback. Learn more →
Token emissions Intermediate also: emissions, token inflation: The rate at which new tokens are created and handed out, for example as mining or staking rewards. Ongoing emissions add supply, which can dilute existing holders. See also: Tokenomics, Max supply, Token unlock. Learn more →
Token unlock Intermediate also: unlock: When previously locked tokens, often held by team members or early investors, become free to sell under a set schedule. Large unlocks increase circulating supply. See also: Vesting, Tokenomics, Circulating supply. Learn more →
Tokenization Intermediate: Representing ownership of an asset, such as a fund share, bond, or bank deposit, as a token on a blockchain so it can move and settle digitally. See also: Real-world assets, Stablecoin. Learn more →
Tokenomics Intermediate also: token economics: The economic design of a token: its supply, who gets it, emission and unlock schedules, and what it's used for. See also: Max supply, Token unlock, Token burn, Fully diluted valuation. Learn more →
Total supply Intermediate: All tokens that currently exist, minus any that were burned, including ones that are locked or not yet circulating. It usually sits between circulating supply and max supply. See also: Circulating supply, Max supply. Learn more →
Total value locked Intermediate also: TVL: The total value of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol or chain. It's a popular activity measure but can be inflated by double-counting and rising token prices. See also: DeFi, Liquidity pool. Learn more →
Transaction fee Beginner also: network fee, fees: The payment you attach to a transaction so miners or validators will process it. Fees rise and fall with network demand and are separate from any fee an app or exchange charges. See also: Gas, Mempool. Learn more →
Transaction hash Beginner also: TXID, transaction ID: A unique ID for a blockchain transaction. Paste it into a block explorer to check its status. See also: Block explorer, Hash. Learn more →
Travel rule Advanced: A rule requiring financial institutions to pass along certain sender and recipient details with transfers above a threshold, which regulators also apply to crypto businesses. In the US, the threshold is $3,000. See also: Anti-money laundering, KYC, FinCEN. Learn more →
Two-factor authentication Beginner also: 2FA, MFA: A login protection that asks for a second proof beyond your password, such as a code from an authenticator app or a physical security key. App- or key-based 2FA is much stronger than text-message codes, which can be intercepted in a SIM swap. See also: Passkey, SIM swap, Phishing. Learn more →

U

Unbonding period Intermediate also: unstaking period, cooldown: The waiting time after you stop staking before your tokens can be moved again. During it you usually earn no rewards, and on some networks your stake can still be slashed. See also: Staking, Delegation, Liquid staking. Learn more →
Utility token Beginner: A token meant to be used inside a product, for example to pay fees or access a service. Having a use doesn't guarantee anyone will want it. See also: Token, Tokenomics. Learn more →
UTXO Advanced also: unspent transaction output: The model Bitcoin uses to track balances: your wallet holds a set of unspent chunks from past transactions, which are combined and split when you spend. See also: Bitcoin, Dust.

V

Validator Intermediate: A participant in a proof-of-stake network that stakes tokens and runs software to propose and vote on blocks. Validators earn rewards and can be slashed for misbehavior. See also: Proof of stake, Staking, Slashing. Learn more →
Validity proof Advanced: A cryptographic proof showing that a batch of transactions was processed correctly, so the base chain can accept it without re-running every transaction. ZK rollups rely on validity proofs. See also: ZK rollup, Zero-knowledge proof, Fraud proof. Learn more →
Vesting Intermediate also: vesting schedule, cliff: A schedule that releases tokens to team members, investors, or contributors gradually over time, often after an initial waiting period called a cliff. See also: Token unlock, Tokenomics. Learn more →
Volatility Beginner: How much and how quickly an asset's price moves. Crypto is known for high volatility, meaning large gains and losses can happen in short periods. See also: FOMO, Leverage, Diversification. Learn more →

W

WAGMI Beginner also: we're all gonna make it: Online slang for "we're all gonna make it," used to express group optimism. It's a mood, not a forecast. See also: FOMO, HODL.
Wallet Beginner also: crypto wallet: Software or a device that manages the keys to your crypto and lets you send, receive, and sign transactions. Your coins stay on the blockchain; the wallet holds the keys that control them. See also: Private key, Seed phrase, Hot wallet, Cold wallet. Learn more →
Wallet address Beginner also: receiving address: Another name for a crypto address: the string you share so others can send you funds on a specific network. Each network has its own address format, so make sure the sender is using the right one. See also: Address, Test transaction, Address poisoning. Learn more →
Wash sale Intermediate: Selling an asset at a loss and buying it back soon after to claim the loss for taxes. The federal wash-sale rule is written for stocks and securities, and because the IRS treats crypto as property it has generally not applied to most crypto, though lawmakers have proposed changing that. Check current rules with a tax professional. See also: Capital gains, Cost basis. Learn more →
Whale Beginner: Someone holding a very large amount of a cryptocurrency, enough that their trades can move the market. See also: Market capitalization, Governance token.
Whitepaper Beginner: A document explaining a project's goals, design, and token, like the Bitcoin paper Satoshi Nakamoto published in 2008. Quality varies widely, and a polished whitepaper doesn't prove a working product. See also: DYOR, Tokenomics, Satoshi Nakamoto. Learn more →
Withdrawal allowlist Beginner also: address whitelist: An account setting that limits withdrawals to addresses you've approved in advance, often with a waiting period before new ones work. See also: Centralized exchange, Two-factor authentication. Learn more →
Wrapped token Intermediate also: wrapped asset: A token on one blockchain that represents an asset from another, such as wrapped bitcoin on Ethereum. It's only as safe as the custodian or bridge holding the original. See also: Bridge, Interoperability.

Y

Yield Beginner: Income earned on crypto, such as staking rewards, lending interest, or trading fees. Higher yield almost always means higher risk. See also: APR, APY, Staking, Yield farming. Learn more →
Yield farming Intermediate also: liquidity mining: Moving tokens between DeFi protocols to collect rewards and fees. Returns are often paid in volatile reward tokens and stack up smart contract risk. See also: Yield, Liquidity pool, APY. Learn more →

Z

Zero-knowledge proof Advanced also: ZK proof, ZKP: Cryptography that lets you prove a statement is true without revealing the data behind it, such as proving you're over 18 without showing your birthdate. See also: ZK rollup, Privacy coin.
ZK rollup Advanced also: zero-knowledge rollup, validity rollup: A rollup that posts a cryptographic validity proof with each batch, showing its transactions were processed correctly. See also: Zero-knowledge proof, Rollup, Optimistic rollup. Learn more →

Crypto glossary: plain-English definitions

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