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The European Union's 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMDL5) is an update to the union's Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework.
API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. APIs specify how software components should interact, such as what data to use and what actions should be taken.
An acronym for application-specific integrated circuit — a device designed for the sole purpose of mining cryptocurrencies.
This term usually applies to blockchains and mining algorithms, designed to give no benefit for ASICs over consumer grade hardware.
An account is essentially a whose purpose is to track the financial activities of a specific asset/
Adam Back is a world-renowned British cryptographer, cypherpunk and crypto industry figure from the United Kingdom.
A place where cryptocurrency can be sent to and from, in the form of a string of letters and numbers.
If data cannot be accessed, then it cannot be infected or corrupted — this is the concept of an air gap.
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, although humans tend to follow steps algorithmically as well (let's say doing math or following a recipe).
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).
The lowest point (in price, in market capitalization) that a cryptocurrency has been in history. *see All-Time-High (ATH).
As Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency that captured the world's imagination, all other coins were subsequently termed "altcoins," as in "alternative coins."
A political philosophy originally conceived by American economist Murray Rothbard that has now been embraced by many members of the crypto community.
A quality attached to an asset that means it performs better when exposed to volatility and shocks.
A set of international laws enacted to curtail criminal organizations or individuals laundering money through cryptocurrencies into real-world cash.
A piece of software designed to protect against malicious software and cyber attacks in general.
Apeing is when a cryptocurrency trader buys a token shortly after the token project launch without conducting thorough research.
Arbitrage is the practice of quickly buying and selling the same asset in different markets to take advantage of price differences between the markets.
The complete loss of a trader's total invested capital, specifically as a result of shorting Bitcoin.
The minimum price that a seller is willing to accept for an asset. The ask price is also sometimes referred to as the offer price.
Asset-backed tokens are digital claims on a physical asset and are backed by that asset.
The practice of disguising marketing campaigns or otherwise sponsored messaging as the unprompted views of genuine community members.
The transfer of cryptocurrency from one party to another, without the use of an exchange or other intermediary.
An attestation ledger is an account book designed to provide evidence of individual transactions. It is generally used to "attest" that a financial transaction took place, or to prove authenticity of transactions or products.
BEP-20 is a Binance Smart Chain token standard created with the intention of extending ERC-20.
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.
Baking is the process that Tezos uses in order to append new blocks of transactions to its blockchain.
Baking is a process that is used by Tezos in order to append new blocks of transactions onto its blockchain.
The BIS is an international financial institution that promotes global monetary stability.
BaaS platforms provides a higher level of financial transparency options by letting banks open up their APIs for third parties in order to develop new services.
A basket, when used in the cryptocurrency space, refers to a collection of digital currencies managed as a single asset.
Batch auctions are a trading mechanism in which individual orders are grouped together and executed simultaneously.
A blockchain that coordinates shard chains, manages staking and the registry of validators in a PoS cryptocurrency, such as Ethereum 2.0.
Someone who believes that prices in a given market will decline over an extended period. Such a person might be referred to as "bearish."
The attempted manipulation of a specific cryptocurrency's price, based on the coordinated activity of a group of traders.
A bearwhale is a person who has a high number of cryptocurrencies and uses their massive account to drive the price down and profit out of it.
Bid-ask spread is the difference between the highest price which a buyer is willing to pay for an asset as well as the lowest price that a seller is willing to accept.
A business license permitting regulated virtual currency activities, issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
An automated teller machine (ATM or cashpoint) that allows the user to buy and sell Bitcoin.
Bitcointalk is the most popular online forum dedicated to Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.
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.
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 distributed ledger system. A sequence of blocks, or units of digital information, stored consecutively in a public database. The basis for cryptocurrencies.
Blockchain 1.0 is the first generation of blockchain technology, which focuses on cryptocurrency and decentralization.
Blockchain 3.0 is the final developmental stage of blockchain technology, which predicts global, institutional and enterprise adoption.
A blockchain explorer is simply a search engine allowing users to browse through blockchain records.
The blockchain trilemma is the set of three issues that plague blockchains: decentralization, security and scalability.
A tool developed by Bollinger to help in the recognition of systemic pattern recognition in prices; it is a band that is plotted two standard deviations away from the simple moving average, or exponential moving average in some cases.
A bonding curve is a mathematical curve that defines the relationship between the price and the supply of a given asset.
A cryptocurrency bounty is a reward users receive for performing tasks assigned by a given blockchain or project.
In the world of cryptocurrencies, breaking the forward compatibility of cryptoassets is seen in hard forks of a cryptocurrency.
Brian Armstrong is the founder of Coinbase, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States.
A blockchain bridge allows the seamless transfer of data or tokens between two different blockchain projects.
A browser extension is a plugin for an internet browser that adds additional features.
A person that is optimistic and confident that market prices will increase, this person is also known to be "bullish" about the market or price.
A bull trap occurs when a steadily declining asset appears to reverse and go upward, but soon resumes its downward trend.
Cryptocurrency tokens or coins are considered "burned" when they have been purposely and permanently removed from circulation.
An enthusiastic exclamation by supporters of a cryptocurrency to buy while prices are at a low point.
A buy wall is a disproportionately large buy limit order placed on a cryptocurrency exchange.
C++ is an extension of the C programming language that allows cross-platform developments and capabilities.
Call options are financial contracts that give an option buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase a stock, bond, commodity or other asset at a specific price.
A candlestick chart is a graphing technique used to show changes in price over time. Each candle provides 4 points of information opening price, closing price, high, and low. Also known as "candles" for short.
Capital funding is the money provided in the form of debt or equity to operate a company.
A physical unit of Bitcoin that comes in the form of brass, silver or gold-plated coins.
Cash is the most liquid form of money: physical coins and banknotes in the most narrow sense of the term.
CeDeFi, or centralized decentralized finance, combines traditional centralized financial services with decentralized applications, merging conventional regulatory policies with modern financial products and infrastructure.
Censorship resistance refers to the idea that no party can prevent anyone from participating in a given platform or network.
In contemporary economies, the central bank is responsible for the formulation and transmission of monetary policy, as well as for the regulation of member banks.
CBDCs are digital currencies issued by a central bank whose status as legal tender depends on government regulation or law.
A central ledger is a physical book or a computer file used to record transactions in a centralized manner.
A central processing unit (CPU) is the part of a computer that is in charge of interpreting and executing programs and coordinating the work of all other components.
A centralized organizational structure is one in which a single node or a small number of them are in control of an entire network.
Centralized exchanges (CEXs) are a type of cryptocurrency exchange that is operated by a company that owns it in a centralized manner.
Chain splits are another term used to describe cryptocurrency forks — the separation of a single original coin into several independently managed projects.
Change — a concept relevant to cryptocurrencies that use the UTXO model — is the number of coins sent back to a user after they use their unspent outputs to initiate a transaction.
A chargeback is the return of money to the payer of a certain transaction, most commonly one that was made with a credit or debit card.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is one of the largest exchanges dealing in the trading of futures and options in the United States.
Ciphertext is a result of encryption that has been performed on plaintext through the usage of an algorithm
The best approximation of the number of coins that are circulating in the market and in the general public's hands.
A client is software that can access and process blockchain transactions on a local computer. A common application of this is a cryptocurrency software wallet.
A coin can refer to a cryptocurrency that can operate independently or to a single unit of such cryptocurrency.
Coin mixers allow users to mix up transactions between different cryptocurrency addresses, so they become untraceable and cannot be followed back to the initial sender or receiver of the assets.
In mineable cryptocurrencies, a coinbase is the number of coins that are generated from scratch and awarded to miners for mining every new block.
Offline storage of cryptocurrencies, typically involving hardware non-custodial wallets, USBs, offline computers, or paper wallets.
A collateralized debt position is held by locking collateral in smart contracts to generate stablecoins.
A "collateralized stablecoin" is a stablecoin that is entirely or almost entirely backed by collateral held in a reserve.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent federal regulatory agency responsible for regulation the U.S. derivatives market.
In cryptocurrency, a confirmation is a measure of how many blocks have actually passed since a transaction was added to a blockchain.
A cryptocurrency transaction is considered confirmed when it is included in a block on the blockchain. Each new block after the first one is an additional confirmation for that transaction.
ConsenSys is a blockchain technology company that offers developer tools alongside enterprise solutions.
Consensus is achieved when all participants of the network agree on the order and content of the blocks in the blockchain.
A consensus mechanism is an underlying technology behind the main functionalities of all blockchain technology, which makes them an essential operating feature of all cryptocurrencies.
A privately owned and operated blockchain where a consortium shares information not readily available to the public, while relying on the immutable and transparent properties of the blockchain.
A core crypto wallet is able to contain the entire blockchain, rather than just a piece of a blockchain.
A correction is a pullback of an asset's price of at least 10% to adjust for over-valuation.
Craig Wright is an Australian computer scientist that has publicly claimed to be Bitcoin inventor Satoshi Nakamoto.
Cross-border trading in financial markets and trade finance represents the opportunity to trade globally using a local currency.
Cross-chain is a technology that enhances the interconnection between blockchain networks by allowing the exchange of information and value.
Cross-chain communication between blockchains allows different protocols to verify data and transactions without the intervention of a centralized third-party service.
Crowdfunding enables fundraisers to collect money from a large number of people through a variety of different platforms.
A crypto debit card is a type of debit card that allows its holder to pay for goods and services using cryptocurrencies.
A cryptoasset is any digital asset that uses cryptographic technologies to maintain its operation as a currency or decentralized application.
Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use cryptographic technologies to secure their operation.
Exchanges utilize cryptocurrency pairs in order to facilitate the trade between different tokens.
Cryptographic hash functions produce a fixed-size hash value from a variable-size transaction input.
A field of study and practice to secure information, preventing third parties from reading information to which they are not privy.
DYCO (dynamic coin offering) is a new crowdfunding model developed by DAO Maker that employs utility tokens that are backed by USD.
The acronym of Do Your Own Research — encouraging investors to complete due diligence into a project before investing.
A portion of the internet existing on darknets not indexed by search engines, that can only be accessed with specific software, configurations or authorizations.
Data privacy refers to the area of data protection and security that is responsible for the handling of sensitive data.
Day trading is the practice of frequently buying and selling assets in order to make a profit on intraday changes in their price.
A DeFi aggregator brings together trades across various DeFi platforms into one place.
DeFi degenerates. A subculture associated with a disreputable corner of decentralized finance known for pump and dump schemes.
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.
A type of application that runs on a decentralized network, avoiding a single point of failure.
A method for decentralized funding of projects that introduces a form of governance in the ICO process, allowing backers to vote for the return of their funds if certain conditions are met.
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.
A decentralized identifier, or DID, refers to an ID that can be issued by an autonomous, independent, and decentralized platform that acts as a proof of ownership of digital identity.
A decentralized payment network refers to a system where users, customers and vendors can exchange money without having to trust any third party to keep the network secure and operational.
Decentralized social media is a social media platform that is based on blockchain.
The process of transforming encrypted data back into a format that is readable by a user or machine.
An alternative to the Proof-of-Stake and Proof-of-Work consensus algorithms.
A denial-of-service attack aims to temporarily make a computer or network service unavailable to its intended users.
A graph that plots the requests to buy (bids) and the requests to sell (asks) on a chart, based on limit orders. The chart shows the point at which the market is most likely to accept a transaction.
A public market for derivatives, instruments such as futures contracts or options, which are derived from other forms of cryptocurrency assets.
A type of cryptocurrency wallet in which keys and addresses are created from a single seed.
DEX aggregators are a relatively new type of blockchain-based service that allow cryptocurrency traders to benefit from a large variety of financial tools in a single interface, often providing better liquidity and prices on different crypto pairs.
Digital technologies are these electronic tools that have the ability to generate, store or even process data.
A digital asset custodian is responsible to look after digital assets on behalf of an investor or client.
A currency that exists only in digital form, as opposed to traditional physical currencies.
Information used by a person or entity to identify themselves to a computer or network.
No, not that. The red or green "candles," or vertical lines, on graphs showing cryptocurrency market data.
A way of structuring data, often used for data modelling, and increasingly as a consensus tool in cryptocurrencies.
An attempt by a bad actor to disrupt the operation of an application, server or network by flooding it with traffic.
Distributed ledgers are ledgers in which data is stored across a network of decentralized nodes. A distributed ledger does not necessarily involve a cryptocurrency and may be permissioned and private.
A database that is shared by multiple participants, in multiple places. The basis for blockchains.
A network in which the data and applications are dependent on multiple sources, as opposed to one location.
Diversification is a risk-management strategy that mixes a wide variety of investments within a portfolio.
Dorian Nakamoto is a Japanese-American physicist who some believe to be Satoshi Nakamoto.
A collective market sell-off that occurs when large quantities of a particular cryptocurrency are sold in a short period of time.
An electronic signature, or e-signature, is any electronic mark (sign, sound, symbol, etc.) used in the palace of a physical signature in signing a document or contract.
Short for "explain like I'm five" — a plea for simplicity when crypto concepts are being explained.
A token standard for non-fungible Ethereum tokens. An Ethereum Improvement Proposal introduced in 2017, it enables smart contracts to operate as tradeable tokens similar to ERC-20 tokens.
The Elliott Wave Theory is an essential tool for many stock and crypto market traders.
Email spoofing is a technique that is used in order to trick users into thinking that a message actually came from a different person.
A group of organizations and companies working together to further develop the Ethereum network.
A financial instrument where assets or cash are held by a third party while a buyer and a seller complete a deal.
The form of payment used in the operation of the distribution application platform, Ethereum, in order to incentivize machines into executing the requested operations.
Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) describe standards for the Ethereum platform, including core protocol specifications, client APIs, and contract standards.
Ethereum transaction are cryptographically signed instructions to initiate a transaction to update the state of the Ethereum network.
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.
The FATF Travel Rule requires virtual asset service providers to regulate information sharing for certain large transactions.
An acronym that stands for "Fear of Missing Out" and in the context of investing, refers to the feeling of apprehension for missing out on a potentially profitable investment opportunity and regretting it later. *see JOMO.
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.
A cryptocurrency reward system usually on a website or app, that rewards users for completing certain tasks. It is mostly a technique used when first launching an altcoin to interest people in the coin.
Fiat currency is "legal tender" backed by a central government, such as the Federal Reserve, and 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.
Also known as "pegged cryptocurrency," it is a coin, token or asset issued on a blockchain that is linked to a government- or bank-issued currency. Each pegged cryptocurrency is guaranteed to have a specific cash value in reserves at all times.
The FATF is a global organization that sets global standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing (AML/CFT).
The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) is a federal regulatory bureau of the United States Treasury.
The Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre (FINTRAC) of Canada is the nation's financial intelligence agency.
First in, First Out (FIFO) is an inventory method used to specify your cost-basis when calculating your taxes.
A fish, or minnow, is someone who holds insignificant amounts of cryptocurrencies, often at the mercy of whales who move the market up and down. *see Dolphin and Whale.
A flash crash is a market condition where an asset's price falls very rapidly within a very brief time interval.
Flash loans are a type of uncollateralized lending used in decentralized finance (DeFi).
A situation hoped for by Ethereum fans, where the total market cap of Ethereum surpasses the total market cap of Bitcoin.
An investment strategy (mostly popularized by real estate investing) where you buy something with the goal of reselling for a profit later, usually in a short period of time. In the context of ICOs, flipping refers to the strategy of investing in tokens before they are termed on exchanges, then quickly reselling them for a profit when they start trading on exchanges in the secondary market.
Forks, or chain splits, create an alternate version of the blockchain, leaving two blockchains to run simultaneously. An example is Ethereum and Ethereum Classic, which was forked after the DAO hack.
A software fork, also known as a project fork, is when developers take the technology (source code) from one existing software project and modify it to create a new project. An example is Litecoin, which was a software fork of Bitcoin.
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.
Nodes that download a blockchain's entire history in order to observe and enforce its rules.
A method in which you research the underlying value of an asset by looking at the technology, team, growth prospects and other indicators. Some people perform fundamental analysis as part of an investment strategy called "value investing."
In cryptocurrency, fungibility is when a coin or token can be replaced by any other identical coin or token.
A term used on the Ethereum platform that refers to a unit of measuring the computational effort of conducting transactions or smart contracts, or launch DApps in the Ethereum network. It is the "fuel" of the Ethereum network. *see Gas Limit and Gas Price.
A term used on the Ethereum platform that refers to the maximum amount of gas the user is willing to spend on a transaction.
A term used on the Ethereum platform that refers to the price you are willing to pay for a transaction.
Gavin Wood is the co-founder of Parity Technologies, and one of the founders of Ethereum.
Gem is a term for relatively unknown low-cap coins that have immense potential or are grossly undervalued.
The first block of data that is processed and validated to form a new blockchain, often referred to as block 0 or block 1.
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.
GitHub is one of the most popular code hosting platforms, allowing developers to collaborate on various projects.
A coin or token issued that represents a value of gold; for example, one physical gram of gold equals one coin.
In the world of cryptocurrencies, governance is defined as the people or organizations that have decision-making powers regarding the project.
A governance token is a token that can be used to vote on decisions that influence an ecosystem.
A type of passive investment strategy where you hold an investment for a long period of time, regardless of any changes in the price or markets. The term first became famous due to a typo made in a Bitcoin forum, and the term is now commonly expanded to stand for "Hold On for Dear Life."
Hacking is the process of using a computer to manipulate another computer or computer system in an unauthorized fashion.
Hal Finney was a cryptographer and programmer who pioneered Bitcoin's development and worked with Satoshi Nakamoto.
A type of protocol change that validates all previously invalid transactions, and invalidates all previously valid transactions.
A hardware security module is a type of computing device that secures digital keys and encrypts data.
A hardware wallet is a wallet for cryptocurrencies that usually resemble a USB stick.
The act of performing a hash function on input data of arbitrary size, with an output of fixed length that looks random and from which no data can be recovered without a cipher. An important property of a hash is that the output of hashing a particular document will always be the same when using the same algorithm.
Any function used to map data of arbitrary size to data of a fixed size. *see Cryptographic Hash Function.
A unit of measurement for the amount of computing power being consumed by the network to continuously operate.
Hidden cap is an unknown limit to the amount of money a team elects to receive from investors in its initial coin offering (ICO). The purpose of a hidden cap is to even the playing field by letting smaller investors put in money, without the large investors forming an accurate understanding of the total cap and adjusting their investment as a result.
A wallet that uses Hierarchical Deterministic (HD) protocol to support the generation of crypto-wallets from a single master seed using 12 mnemonic phrases. *see Deterministic Wallet.
The online storage of private keys allowing for quicker access to cryptocurrencies. *see Cold Storage.
A cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet for hot storage of cryptoassets, as opposed to an offline, cold wallet with cold storage. *See Cold Wallet.
Impermanent loss is when a liquidity provider has a temporary loss of funds because of volatility in a trading pair.
In-the-money and out-of-the-money are options trading mechanisms that allow investors to benefit from additional tools to work with the market.
Pre-approving smart contracts to enable the platform to spend any amount of your coins.
An infinite mint attack occurs when an unwanted entity or hacker mints an absurd ("infinite") amount of tokens within a protocol.
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 terming through an exchange.
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.
When a large portion of a coin's total supply is distributed to investors shortly after launch.
A time-dependent charge or return made in proportion to the amount of money deposited, borrowed or lent.
A person or entity that acts as the go-between different parties to bring about agreements or carry out directives.
A keylogger or keystroke logging software is a spying tool often used by hackers to record keystrokes made by users.
Short for Know Your Customer, these are checks that crypto exchanges and trading platforms must complete to verify the identity of their customers.
Slang for the type of car that many crypto enthusiasts aspire to buy when their digital assets "moon" — or rise in value substantially.
Layer 0 is a network framework running beneath the blockchain. It is made up of protocols, connections, hardware, miners, and everything else that forms the foundation of the blockchain ecosystem.
Layer 2 is the name given to a scaling solution that enables high throughput of transactions whilst fully inheriting the security of the underlying blockchain that it is built on.
A record of financial transactions that cannot be changed, only appended with new transactions.
Money that a trader borrows from a brokerage, enabling them to gain far greater exposure to a position than what their capital allows.
Light nodes are typically downloaded wallets and are connected to full nodes to further validate the information that is stored on the blockchain.
A second-layer protocol that is designed to solve Bitcoin's scalability problem by allowing transactions to be processed more quickly.
A limit order is a type of order to purchase or sell a security at a specified price or a better one.
Tools that enable traders to automatically buy or sell cryptocurrencies on a trading platform when a certain price target is reached.
Liquidation refers to the conversion of an asset or cryptocurrency for fiat or its equivalents.
How easily a cryptocurrency can be bought and sold without impacting the overall market price.
A liquidity bootstrapping pool is essentially a contract that manages a core pool containing tokens to be used on an exchange.
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.
An independent blockchain running its own network with its own technology and protocol. It is a live blockchain where its own cryptocurrencies or tokens are in use, as compared to a testnet or projects running on top of other popular networks such as Ethereum.
Malware or malicious software refers to harmful programs utilized by bad actors to illegally access and/or compromise a computer, network or server.
a man-in-the-middle attack (MITM) attack is a general term for a cyberattack where a perpetrator positions himself in a conversation between two parties either to secretly eavesdrop.
When an investor's account value falls below the margin maintenance amount. The broker will then demand that the investor deposit additional money or securities to meet the minimum required maintenance amount to continue trading.
A practice where a trader uses borrowed funds from a broker to trade a cryptocurrency, which forms the collateral for the loan from the broker. It can be relatively risky for inexperienced traders who may receive a margin call if the market moves in the opposite direction of their trades. * Margin Bear Position The position you are taking if you are going "short" on margin. * Margin Bull Position The position you are taking if you are going "long" on margin.
An area or arena, online or offline, in which commercial dealings are conducted. Usually referred to as the "crypto market," which refers to the cumulative cryptocurrencies and projects operating within the industry.
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)
A purchase or sale of a cryptocurrency on an exchange at the current best available price. Market orders are filled as buyers and sellers are willing to trade. This is in contrast with limit orders at which a cryptocurrency is sold only at a specified price.
Through signaling, market participants are essentially creating a volatile market which can help to point out the opportunities to the investors.
Masternodes are a server maintained by its owner, somewhat like full nodes, but with additional functionalities such as anonymizing transactions, clearing transactions, and participating in governance and voting. It was initially popularized by Dash to reward owners of these servers for maintaining a service for the blockchain.
The best approximation of the maximum amount of coins that will ever exist in the lifetime of the cryptocurrency. *see Circulating Supply and Total Supply.
A medium of exchange can be seen as an intermediary instrument or system that is used to facilitate a sale, purchase or even trade of goods between parties.
A tree structure in cryptography, in which every leaf node is labelled with the hash of a data block and every non-leaf node is labelled with the cryptographic hash of the labels of its child nodes. Hash trees allow efficient and secure verification of the contents of blockchains, as each change propagates upwards so verification can be done by simply looking at the top hash.
An online digital wallet that allows users to manage, transfer and receive Ethereum, operating as an extension to a regular browser.
One millionth of a bitcoin or 0.000001 of a bitcoin. Often confused as a fork of Bitcoin.
A micropayment is essentially a small transaction that is carried out online and can be as small as a fraction of a cent.
A business model where very small payments can be made in exchange for common digital goods and services, such as pages of an ebook or items in a game.
Some cryptocurrencies have a system through which miners can be rewarded with newly-created cryptocurrencies for creating blocks through contributing their hash power. Cryptocurrencies with this ability to generate new cryptocurrencies through the process of confirmation is said to be mineable. * Not Mineable Some cryptocurrencies are generated only through other mechanisms, such as annual inflation through staking. These cryptocurrencies are said to be not mineable.
Minecraft is a video game where players can essentially create and break apart different kinds of blocks in a three-dimensional world.
Miner extractable value (MEV) is a measure of the profit a miner can make through their ability to arbitrarily include, exclude, or re-order transactions within the blocks they produce.
Contributors to a blockchain taking part in the process of mining. They can be professional miners or organizations with large-scale operations, or hobbyists who set up mining rigs at home or in the office.
A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product that has enough features to attract early-adopter customers and validate a product idea.
A process where blocks are added to a blockchain, verifying transactions. It is also the process through which new bitcoin or some altcoins are created.
Another term for cloud mining, where users can rent or invest in mining capacity online.
The mining difficulty of a cryptocurrency is how difficult it is to find the right hash for the next block.
A mining farm is when a group of miners mine together for a variety of advantageous reasons, like energy use.
A setup where multiple miners combine their computing power to gain economies of scale and competitiveness in finding the next block on a blockchain. Rewards are split according to different agreements, depending on the mining pool. Another term for this is Group Mining.
The reward resulting from contributing computing resources to process transactions. Mining rewards are usually a mix of newly-minted coins and transaction fees.
Mining rewards are the rewards that crypto miners receive for mining a new block on the blockchain.
A computer being used for mining. A mining rig could be a dedicated piece of hardware for mining, or a computer with spare capacity that can be used for other tasks, only mining part time.
A mnemonic phrase (also known as mnemonic seed, or seed phrase) is a term of words used in sequence to access or restore your cryptocurrency assets. It should be kept secret from everyone else. It is a standard in most HD wallets.
Mnemonics are memory aids with a system such as letters or associations that help in recall. *see Mnemonic Phrase.
Money laundering is a technique used for illegal businesses to hide their money from the authorities.
In the legal code of the United States, a money transmitter or money transfer service is a business entity that provides money transfer services or payment instruments, whether it is real currency, cryptocurrency or any other value. Money transmitters in the US are part of a larger group of entities called money service businesses or MSBs.
A situation where there is a continuous upward movement in the price of a cryptocurrency. Often used in communities to question when a cryptocurrency will experience such a phenomenon, saying "When moon?" It is usually combined with "When Lambo?"
Moore's Law states that computers' speed and capability will increase every year, even as cost goes down.
A technical analysis method, it is a trend-following momentum indicator that shows the relationship between two price moving averages. The calculation is done by subtracting the 26-day exponential moving average (EMA) from the 12-day EMA.
Mtgox or Mt. Gox was one of the first websites where users could take part in fiat-to-bitcoin exchange (and vice versa). In 2014, Mt. Gox was shut down after about 850,000 bitcoin was declared lost or stolen. Mt. Gox was created in 2006 by Jed McCaleb who named it after Magic The Gathering Online Exchange where users could use the cards like stocks. Jed later sold Mt. Gox to Mark Karpelès in 2011.
Multi-party computation (MPC) is a cryptographic mechanism that distributes computation operations across several parties where no singular entity can see the other parties' data.
A no-coiner is someone who has no cryptocurrency in his or her investment portfolio and firmly believes that cryptocurrency in general will fail.
Nominators are one of two main actors who are involved in a blockchain network that uses the nominated proof-of-stake (NPoS) consensus algorithm.
Usually referring to the storage of keys, in relation to wallets or exchanges, a non-custodial setup is one in which private keys are held by the user directly.
A currency that is created (minted) outside of the specified blockchain ledger but is accepted or used.
The Office of the Comptroller (OCC) is a U.S. Treasury branch that regulates all national banks, federal savings associations, federal branches and foreign bank agencies
The act of storing cryptocurrencies in devices or systems not connected to the internet.
Transactions that are recorded on the blockchain itself and shared with all of the participants are done on-chain.
A currency that is both minted on the blockchain ledger and also used on the blockchain ledger, such as Bitcoin.
A situation where two orders for cryptocurrency are placed simultaneously, with a rule in place to enforce that if one is accepted, the other is cancelled.
Open source is a philosophy, with participants believing in the free and open sharing of information in pursuit of the greater common good.
The price at which a cryptocurrency opens at a time period or the programming principle of software parts being extendable.
An optimistic rollup is a type layer 2 scaling solution that relies on off-chain computation to trustlessly record transactions that happen in the layer 2.
A contract giving the buyer the right, but not the obligation, to buy or sell an underlying asset or instrument at a specified strike price.
A public market for options, giving the buyer an option to buy or sell a cryptocurrency at a specific strike price, on or before a specific date.
An agent that finds and verifies information, bridging the real world and the blockchain by providing data to smart contracts for execution of said contracts under specified conditions.
Over-the-counter is defined as a transaction made outside of an exchange, often peer-to-peer through private trades.
Over-the-counter refers to the process of how securities are traded through a broker-dealer network as opposed to a centralized exchange.
Parachains are application-specific data structures that run in parallel to each other within Polkadot.
A password manager is a tool or software that stores all sorts of passwords needed for online applications and services.
Paul Le Roux is a criminal kingpin that many believe could be the founder of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto.
The decentralized interactions between parties in a distributed network, partitioning tasks or workloads between peers.
A stablecoin is a currency whose value is pegged to a real-world asset, such as a fiat currency.
A ledger designed with restrictions, such that only people or organizations requiring access have permission to access it.
Often used to describe blockchains, a system is said to be permissionless when there is no entity that can regulate who can use it and how it can be used.
When a scammer pretends to be a trusted institution or person to trick people into revealing sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, passwords, banking details, etc., often through a malware link disguised as legitimate.
Phone phishing, also known as a telephone scam or vishing (voice phishing), refers to the practice of using fraudulent and malicious phone calls to extort money or sensitive information from victims.
A physical Bitcoin is a physical token that usually has an intricate design, as well as a public key and private key.
On CoinMarketCap, platform refers to the parent blockchain of tokens. It may also refer to a cryptocurrency exchange on which you may trade cryptocurrencies.
Player payouts is a new way of automatically paying online gaming participants immediately after the tournament ends.
A fraudulent investment involving the payment of purported returns to existing investors from funds contributed by new investors.
A collection of cryptocurrencies or crypto assets held by an investment company, hedge fund, financial institution or individual.
The retroactive creation of new coins following a cryptocurrency's launch, before public mining is possible.
When some or all of a coin's initial supply is generated during or before the public launch.
A private blockchain is a type of blockchain in which only a single organization has authority over the network.
A piece of code generated in asymmetric-key encryption process, paired with a public key, to be used in decrypting information hashed with the public key.
A blockchain consensus mechanism that delivers comparatively fast transactions using identity as a stake.
Proof-of-burn is an attempt at creating a system that can prevent fraudulent transactions on a blockchain and can also improve the overall efficiency and functioning of the blockchain.
A blockchain consensus mechanism aiming to bootstrap one blockchain to another with increased energy efficiency, by verifying that a cost was incurred in "burning" a coin by sending it to an unspendable address.
Any verification that provides evidence of a real, living software developer who created a cryptocurrency, in order to prevent an anonymous developer from making away with any raised funds without delivering a working model.
Proof-of-donation refers to the integration of charitable donations into the functionality of a blockchain.
Proof-of-replication (PoRep) is the way that a storage miner proves to the network that they are storing an entirely unique copy of a piece of data.
In simplest terms, PoSt means that someone can now guarantee that they are spending a certain amount of space for storage.
A blockchain consensus mechanism involving choosing the creator of the next block via various combinations of random selection and wealth or age of staked coins or tokens. *see Proof-of-Work (PoW).
Proof-of-validation (PoV) is a unique proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus mechanism that works to achieve consensus through staked validator nodes.
A blockchain consensus mechanism involving solving of computationally intensive puzzles to validate transactions and create new blocks. *see Proof-of-Stake (PoS).
The set of rules that define interactions on a network, usually involving consensus, transaction validation, and network participation on a blockchain.
A public address is the cryptographic hash of a public key, allowing the user to use it as an address to request for payment.
A public key refers to a series of alphanumeric characters used to encrypt plain text messages into ciphertext.
A machine-readable label that shows information encoded into a graphical black-and-white pattern. For cryptocurrencies, it is often used to easily share wallet addresses with others.
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a type of technology that uses radio waves to passively identify a tagged item or individual.
An off-chain scaling solution aiming to enable near-instant, low-fee and scalable payments on the Ethereum blockchain, similar to Bitcoin's proposed Lightning Network.
Ransomware is a type of malware used by hackers to steal or encrypt their victims' files to extort them for a ransom in exchange for file decryption or restoration.
A token designed so that the circulating supply adjusts automatically according to price fluctuations.
A recovery seed is a cryptographically derived security code composed of a term of random words, typically ranging between 12 and 14.
Rehypothecation is the practice where banks, and even the brokers themselves, use assets that have been posted as collateral by their clients for their own purposes.
A form of technical analysis that serves as a momentum oscillator, measuring the speed and change of price movements.
Replay attacks are network security attacks where the comms between a sender and receiver is intercepted.
A copy of a distributed ledger in a network that is distributed to all participants in a cryptocurrency network.
A retargeting algorithm, also referred to as a difficulty adjustment algorithm, is used on proof-of-work blockchains, such as Bitcoin.
Revenue participation tokens are a two token system that uses one participation token and one payout token.
A person whom you may use as an indicator of how not to place buy or sell orders because they are always wrong at predicting price movements of cryptocurrencies.
A cryptographic digital signature that obfuscates the identities of two parties within a transaction.
A roadmap is a high-level visual summary that helps map out the vision as well as the direction of a specific product.
Roger Ver, also known as Bitcoin Jesus, has been a long-term proponent of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.
Roth IRAs are generally the best investment option when you think your taxes will be higher in retirement than they are now.
A shielded transaction is essentially a transaction that is between two shielded addresses.
A cryptographic hash function that generates a 256-bit signature for a text, used in Bitcoin proof-of-work (PoW).
A strong holder offering (SHO) is a fundraising mechanism where eligible investors are chosen based on their on-chain activities and other proprietary data sets.
SIM-swaps — sometimes referred to as port-out scams — have come into the spotlight as a major concern for cryptocurrency holders in recent years.
The individual or group of individuals that created Bitcoin. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has never been confirmed.
The scaling problem is the limitations of a blockchain's transaction throughout and ability to have fast and low cast transactions.
Coins that are created as "get rich quick schemes" by their developers are referred to as a scamcoin.
A computer script is a term of commands that are executed by a certain program or scripting language.
An alternative proof-of-work (PoW) algorithm to SHA-256, used in Bitcoin mining. Scrypt mining relies more heavily on memory than on pure CPU power, aiming to reduce the advantage that ASICs have and hence increasing network participation and energy efficiency.
A set of solutions built on top of a public blockchain to extend its scalability and efficiency, especially for micro-transactions or actions. Examples include Plasma, TrueBit, Lightning Network and more.
A secure element is a type of hardware chip that runs a specified number of applications.
SMPC is a subfield of cryptography that allows parties to compute a function while keeping the inputs private.
An independent agency of the United States federal government, responsible for enforcing federal securities laws, proposing securities rules, and regulating the securities industry, the nation's stock and options exchanges, and other related activities and organizations.
A security token offering (STO) is a public offering where tokenized digital securities are sold.
A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) that aimed to fix transaction malleability on Bitcoin.
A situation in which a miner mines a new block but does not broadcast this new block to the other miners.
A situation where a large limit order has been placed to sell when a cryptocurrency reaches a certain value.
The ambition of the Semantic Web is to enable computers to manipulate information on our behalf.
A settlement layer is a layer that essentially provides an anchor for an entire ecosystem.
Essentially, a shard is a portion of a blockchain network that has been split into multiple shards, which has its own data.
In the world of cryptocurrencies, sharding can reduce the network congestion as well as increase transactions per second through the creation of new chains
Sharding is a scaling approach that enables splitting of blockchain states into partitions containing states and transaction history, so that each shard can be processed in parallel.
A trading technique in which a trader borrows an asset in order to sell it, with the expectation that the price will continue to decline. In the event that the price does decline, the short seller will then buy the asset at this lower price in order to return it to the lender of the asset, making the difference in profit.
A blockchain ledger that runs in parallel to a primary blockchain, where there is a two-way link between the primary chain and sidechain.
An online black market that existed on the dark web, now shut down by the FBI. It had accepted bitcoins for transactions.
A lightweight client to verify blockchain transactions, downloading only block headers and requesting proof of inclusion to the blockchain in the Merkle Tree.
Slippage happens when traders have to settle for a different price than what they initially requested due to a price movement.
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.
A protocol upgrade where only previously valid transactions are made invalid, with most soft forks requiring miners to upgrade their mining software.
A contract or transaction buying or selling a cryptocurrency for immediate settlement, or payment and delivery, of the cryptocurrency on the market.
A public market in which cryptocurrencies are traded for immediate settlement. It contrasts with a futures market, in which settlement is due at a later date.
A cryptocurrency with extremely low volatility, sometimes used as a means of portfolio diversification. Examples include gold-backed cryptocurrency or fiat-pegged cryptocurrency.
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 block which was successfully mined but not included on the current longest blockchain, usually because another block at the same height was added to the chain first.
A second-layer scaling solution that reduces the total on-chain transactions necessary, moving the transactions off-chain and letting participants sign to the main chain after multiple off-chain transactions.
Decentralized storage refers to the concept of storing files online by splitting them into encrypted fragments and delegating these fragments to multiple nodes on a distributed network, e.g. a blockchain.
The Tangle is a blockchain alternative developed by IOTA, using directed acyclic graphs which only builds in one single direction and in a way that it never repeats, and is quantum-computing resistant.
Taproot is an instantiation of a soft fork for Bitcoin, intended to both improve privacy and improve other aspects tied to more complex transactions.
An evaluation method involving statistical analyses of market activity, such as price and volume. Charts and other tools are used to identify patterns to underpin and drive investment decisions.
Originally an error in writing the full "This is it, gentlemen". It is now used as an introduction for good news.
A condition for a transaction to only be processed at a certain time or block on the blockchain.
A form of identification for when a certain transaction occurred, usually with date and time of day and accurate to fractions of a second.
A digital unit designed with utility in mind, providing access and use of a larger crypto economic system. It does not have a store of value on its own, but is made so that software can be developed around it.
Token swaps can refer to one of two things: 1. Direct exchange of a certain amount of one cryptocurrency token for another between users facilitated by a special exchange service. 2. 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.
Tokenized securities are when the ownership of a security is materialized through the issuance of a token.
A toll bridge is a bridge powered by a smart contract where a monetary value called a toll fee unlocks access to extra functionalities.
Tor is a decentralized network that anonymizes users' web traffic by encrypting it and routing it through a series of relays before it reaches its final destination.
The total amount of coins in existence right now, minus any coins that have been verifiably burned. *see Circulating Supply and Max Supply.
?otal value locked represents the number of assets that are currently being staked in a specific protocol.
A crypto trading bot is essentially a program that is designed to automate cryptocurrency asset trading on the behalf of the trader.
Trading tournaments are unique crypto trading campaigns organized by cryptocurrency exchanges, encouraging users to trade more to win incentives, such as tokens, hardware wallets and more/
?rading volume refers to the total number of shares (or tokens/coins) that have been exchanged between buyers and sellers of a given asset during trading hours of a certain day.
A property of the blockchain, where no participant needs to trust any other participant for transactions to be enforced as intended.
The US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) is a financial intelligence and enforcement agency of the US Treasury Department.
Coordinated Universal Time. It is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time, kept using highly precise atomic clocks combined with the Earth's rotation.
Unbanked refers to those that are either unable to access banking services, or choose not to.
An output of a blockchain transaction that has not been spent, and can be used as an input for new transactions.
Unstoppable Domains is the name of a San-Francisco based company that provides blockchain-based domain names to users.
A participant on a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain, involved in validating blocks for rewards.
A cryptocurrency public address with custom letters and numbers, usually picked by its owner.
A form of private equity provided to fund small, early-stage firms considered to have high growth potential.
A verification code is a security protection method that is used to avoid internet bots from abusing or even spamming various online services.
Virtual reality (VR) technology is used to simulate an immersive artificial world that can mimic or transcend reality. V
Computers are usually infected with a virus when a user unknowingly installs it via a downloaded file.
Vitalik Buterin is one of the creators of Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin.
A statistical measure of dispersion of returns, measured by using the standard deviation or variance between returns from that same security or market index.
Wallstreetbets, otherwise known as /r/wallstreetbets or WSB, is a subreddit for participants to discuss stock and options trading.
WannaCry is a piece of ransomware that can infect and spread rapidly through a number of computer networks.
A form of market manipulation in which investors create artificial activity in the marketplace by simultaneously selling and buying the same cryptocurrencies.
A watchterm is a feature of the website where users can create their own terms of cryptocurrencies to follow. Alternative definition A watchterm is a set of pages a user has selected to monitor for changes.
Web 2.0 describes the current state of the web, which supports more user-generated content and stability for front-end users than its predecessor, Web 1.0
The Web3 Foundation was created to foster new technologies and applications in the field of decentralized web software protocols.
A term used to describe investors who have uncommonly large amounts of crypto, especially those with enough funds to manipulate the market.
A phrase referring to when cryptocurrency holders will become rich enough to afford the purchase of a Lamborghini.
A term of interested participants in an initial coin offering, who registered their intent to take part or purchase in a sale.
A document released by a crypto project that gives investors technical information about its concept, and a roadmap for how it plans to grow and succeed.
Yield farming involves earning interest by investing crypto in decentralized finance markets.
A zero confirmation or unconfirmed transaction is defined as an exchange that has not yet been recorded or verified on the blockchain
A zero knowledge rollup is a type of layer 2 scaling solution that relies on zero knowledge cryptography