Address
The identifier of a crypto wallet. Similar to banks, all different crypto wallets have their unique
addresses. Be careful to send only Bitcoins to bitcoin addresses, and Ethereum to ether addresses!
Altcoin
Other cryptocurrency than Bitcoin. Derived from word alternative cryptocurrencies.
Arbitrage
Buying and selling simultaneously for profit. Arbitrage is based on market inefficiencies.
ATH
All time high, meaning the highest price of a crypto or portfolio so far.
Bagholder
A person who has bought crypto at a high price and is holding onto their tokens, waiting to sell once
they can reach break/even.
Block
A batch of transactions which are recorded on the blockchain.
Blockchain
Digital ledger that holds the records of all transactions. Most cryptocurrencies are based on
blockchain technology.
Bitcoin Maximalist
A person with strong belief that Bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency worth caring about.
Bitcoin to the moon
A phrase used to describe future rise of Bitcoin price to new ATH.
Block reward
Amount of crypto you get when successfully mining a block of the currency.
Bollinger Band
A margin around the price of some specific crypto that is used for indicating whether the coin is
overbought or oversold.
Bullish
Expecting that price will increase.
Bearish
Expecting that price will decrease.
CEX – Centralized Crypto Exchange
A crypto exchange operated by an entity which has full control over the operations of the exchange.
Cold Storage
Storing crypto offline for increased security.
DAO
Decentralized Autonomous Organization. This type of organization operates without a central
authority, and the rules of the organization are encoded on a computer program.
dApps
Decentralized apps built on top of blockchain technology. No central authority operates these apps.
DEX
Decentralized exchange. Operates without a central authority.
DeFi
Decentralized Finance is a monetary system based on public blockchain and has no involvement of a
centralized party.
Digital Address
Digital addresses are used represent crypto wallets. You can send crypto to anyone if you know their
digital address. All addresses consist of 27 to 34 letters and numbers.
Digital Wallet
A wallet that is used for storage of digital currencies, usually installed on a PC, mobile app or some
remote server.
Exchange
A place where you can buy & sell crypto, for example Coinbase.
FIAT
A currency issued by a government, such as the Euro.
Flippening
A potential future event where an altcoin overtakes Bitcoin as the largest cryptocurrency measured
by market capitalization.
FOMO
Fear of Missing Out. Often leads to chasing a pump of some crypto.
Fork
A blockchain diverging into two potential paths forward is called a fork.
FUD
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. FUD is often spread on social media or mass media.
Gas
A unit in Ethereum blockchain that measures the amount of computational effort that it will take to
execute certain operations
Going long
A margin trade that profits if the price increases.
Going short
A margin trade that profits if the price decreases.
Hash Rate
The speed of computer being used for maining a specific coin.
Halving
An event that halves the rate at which new Bitcoins are created. Halving occurs once every four
years.
HODL
Hold On for Dear Life. A state of mind for many crypto investors who never want to sell their
holdings.
ICO
Initial Coin Offering. The first public event for putting a coin or a token on the market for purchase.
IEO
Initial Exchange Offering. Same as ICO but administered by an exchange on behalf of a crypto
company.
Limit order
Order placed by a crypto trader to be executed once the price meets a certain measure.
KYC
Know Your Customer. Required from customers by ICOs and exchanges for regulatory reasons.
Market Cap
Total circulating supply times price of each coin
Market order
Purchase or sale on an exchange at the current price.
MEW
MyEtherWallet. A free open-source wallet for Ethereum users.
Mining
The process of attempting to solve the next block of a crypto. Typically requires a huge amount of computing power.
Mining rig
A computer designed for mining cryptos.
Mooning
A price of the crypto going up heavily.
Node
A computer that possesses a copy of the blockchain and is in the process of maintaining it.
Proof-of-stake (PoS)
The proposed future consensus algorithm that will be used by Ethereum.
Proof-of-work (PoW)
The current consensus algorithm that is in use by Ethereum.
Private Key (Seed)
A sort of password used for accessing funds in a crypto wallet.
Pumping
An extraordinary large increase in a price of a crypto.
Pump & Dump
A scheme where the price of the coin is artificially inflated over a short time period before selling it
quickly. Usually happens with low market cap cryptos only.
ROI
Return on investment. Tells the percentage of how much money was made compared to original
investment. 100% ROI means you have doubled your money.
Satoshi
The cent unit of Bitcoin, named after the Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto.
Software wallet
Storage for crypto-currency that exists only as software files on a computer.
Sharding
A scaling solution for blockchains.
Shilling
Desperately advertising some specific crypto, usually in the hopes of making their own bags rise in
value.
Shitcoin
An altcoin that may lose it’s value because the altcoin itself was not created in good faith, or because
the price of the coin was based purely on speculation.
Smart contract
A computer protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify or enforce the negotiation or performance
of a contract to happen automatically once predetermined conditions are met.
Solidity
A language tool that takes human-readable code and turns it into implementable smart contracts on
blockchain platforms, such as Ethereum.
Stablecoin
A class of cryptocurrencies that offer price stability and are backed by a reserve asset, such as US
dollar.
TA
Technical Analysis. Is used for analyzing historic price and volume trends to predict the future price
movements of crypto.
Tokens
A unit of value based on a blockchain.
Total Market Cap
The sum of all cryptocurrency market caps.
Trezor
A secure vault for digital assets, where you can store Bitcoins, Litecoins, passwords, logins and keys.
Wei
The smallest denomination of ether.
Whale (Bitcoin Whale)
Someone that owns huge amounts of cryptocurrency. Usually a whale is an early adapter of crypto.
Whitepaper
A comprehensive report or guide designed to inform readers about the specifications of a specific
crypto project.