38 terms
- Address
- A string derived from a public key that others send funds to. Safe to share. Different networks use different address formats.
- Airdrop
- A distribution of tokens to many wallets, often as a promotion or reward. Outcomes are decided by the project running it and are never guaranteed.
- AMM (Automated Market Maker)
- A smart contract that prices trades against pooled tokens instead of matching buyers and sellers on an order book. The pricing model behind most DEXs.
- Bitcoin
- A decentralised digital currency and the peer-to-peer network that records its transactions. Supply is capped at 21 million BTC.
- Block
- A batch of transactions added to a blockchain, cryptographically linked to the block before it.
- Blockchain
- A shared, append-only ledger kept in identical copies across many computers, so no single party controls it.
- Bridge (cross-chain)
- A service that moves value between separate blockchains, usually by locking an asset on one chain and releasing or minting an equivalent on another.
- Cold wallet
- A wallet that keeps keys offline (a hardware device or paper). Best for larger, long-term holdings.
- Confirmation
- A transaction has one confirmation when it is included in a block; each later block adds another and makes reversal exponentially less likely.
- Custodial
- A setup where a third party (such as an exchange) holds your private keys, and therefore controls your funds, on your behalf.
- DeFi
- Decentralised finance: trading, lending and borrowing services built as smart contracts on public blockchains instead of run by banks.
- DEX (Decentralised Exchange)
- A smart-contract app that lets you swap tokens directly from your own wallet, with no account and no custody.
- Faucet
- A site that pays out tiny amounts of cryptocurrency, historically for testing or promotion. Payouts are set by the operator and can change or stop.
- Fee (network)
- A payment to the miners or validators who include your transaction in a block. You set it; it is not refundable once confirmed.
- Gas
- Ethereum’s unit for measuring computational work. Your fee is gas used multiplied by the gas price you are willing to pay.
- Gwei
- One billionth of an ETH (0.000000001 ETH). Gas prices are usually quoted in gwei.
- Hash
- A short fixed-length fingerprint of some data. Changing the data changes the hash, which is how blocks are chained together.
- Hot wallet
- A wallet whose keys are on an internet-connected device. Convenient for small amounts; larger attack surface.
- KYC
- “Know Your Customer” identity verification, required by most centralised exchanges.
- Liquidity pool
- A pot of two or more tokens supplied by users that a DEX or bridge draws on to fill trades or transfers.
- Mempool
- The waiting area of unconfirmed transactions that nodes hold before they are mined into a block.
- Mining
- The proof-of-work process by which a miner assembles a block, solves a computational puzzle, and earns newly issued coins plus fees.
- Node
- A computer running a blockchain’s software that validates transactions and keeps its own copy of the ledger.
- Non-custodial
- A setup where you hold your own private keys, so no third party can move or freeze your funds — and no one can recover them for you.
- Private key
- The secret number that authorises spending from an address. Anyone who has it controls the funds.
- Proof of stake
- A consensus method where validators are chosen to produce blocks based on the amount of cryptocurrency they lock up.
- Proof of work
- A consensus method where miners compete to solve a computational puzzle to add the next block. Used by Bitcoin.
- RBF (Replace-by-fee)
- A Bitcoin feature that lets the original sender rebroadcast a stuck transaction with a higher fee.
- Satoshi
- The smallest unit of Bitcoin: 0.00000001 BTC. There are 100 million satoshis in one BTC.
- Seed phrase
- 12 or 24 words that can regenerate every key in a wallet. Anyone with the words controls the funds; never share or type it into a website.
- Slippage
- The difference between a quoted price and the executed price on a swap, caused by the market moving or by limited liquidity.
- Smart contract
- Code stored on a blockchain that runs automatically when called. The chain guarantees it ran, not that it is bug-free.
- Stablecoin
- A token designed to track the value of a reference asset, usually a fiat currency such as the US dollar.
- Swap
- Exchanging one cryptocurrency directly for another in a single transaction, without converting to cash first.
- TXID
- Transaction ID: the unique identifier of a blockchain transaction, used to look it up in a block explorer.
- Wallet
- Software or a device that stores the private keys controlling your crypto and signs transactions. The coins live on the blockchain, not in the wallet.
- Wei
- The smallest unit of ETH: 0.000000000000000001 ETH (10^-18).
- Wrapped token
- A token on one chain that represents an asset held or locked on another. Only as sound as the reserves and code backing it.
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