1.
Cryptocurrency
A digital or virtual currency
secured by cryptography, making it nearly impossible to counterfeit or
double-spend. Most cryptocurrencies are decentralized networks based on
blockchain technology.
2.
Blockchain
A distributed ledger technology
where data is stored in “blocks” linked in chronological order. It's
transparent, immutable, and secure — the backbone of cryptocurrencies.
3.
Bitcoin (BTC)
The first cryptocurrency,
created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. It uses a decentralized peer-to-peer
network and proof-of-work consensus mechanism.
4.
Ethereum (ETH)
A decentralized platform that
introduced smart contracts. Ethereum allows developers to build
decentralized applications (dApps) on its blockchain.
5.
Altcoin
Any cryptocurrency other than
Bitcoin. Examples: Ethereum, Litecoin, Cardano. Altcoins may offer improved
features like faster speed or lower fees.
6.
Token
A crypto asset created on another
blockchain. For example, USDT is a token on Ethereum. Tokens can
represent assets, access rights, or utility.
7.
Coin
A digital currency that runs natively
on its own blockchain, like Bitcoin or Ethereum.
8.
Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
A financial system built on
blockchain that removes the need for banks or brokers. It uses smart contracts
to provide lending, borrowing, trading, and insurance services.
9.
Centralized Exchange (CEX)
A crypto trading platform controlled
by a central company (like Binance or Coinbase) that manages users' funds and
order books.
10.
Decentralized Exchange (DEX)
A peer-to-peer exchange that allows
users to trade directly with each other via smart contracts. Examples: Uniswap,
PancakeSwap.
11.
Smart Contract
Self-executing code on a blockchain
that automatically enforces agreements. No intermediaries are needed, reducing
cost and risk.
12.
Wallet
A tool for storing and managing
crypto assets. It can be software-based (hot) or hardware-based
(cold). Examples: MetaMask, Trust Wallet, Ledger.
13.
Private Key
A secret code that gives full access
to your crypto wallet. Anyone with your private key can spend your coins. Keep
it secure.
14.
Public Key
A cryptographic address used to
receive cryptocurrency. It's safe to share, unlike your private key.
15.
Exchange
A platform that facilitates buying,
selling, and trading of cryptocurrencies. Can be centralized or decentralized.
16.
NFT (Non-Fungible Token)
A unique digital asset stored on the
blockchain that represents ownership of digital or physical content (art,
music, real estate). Each NFT is unique and non-interchangeable.
17.
Stablecoin
A cryptocurrency pegged to a stable
asset like USD to reduce volatility. Examples: USDT, USDC, DAI.
18.
Market Cap
The total value of a cryptocurrency,
calculated as:
Market Cap = Current Price × Circulating Supply
Used to compare size across cryptocurrencies.
19.
Supply (Circulating, Total, Max)
- Circulating Supply:
Coins actively in the market.
- Total Supply:
All coins currently created.
- Max Supply:
The maximum that will ever exist (e.g., Bitcoin: 21 million).
20.
Mining
The process of validating blockchain
transactions and adding them to the ledger. Miners are rewarded with crypto
(e.g., BTC) for their work.
21.
Staking
Locking up crypto to support a
network's operations (like transaction validation) in exchange for rewards.
Common in Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains.
22.
Proof of Work (PoW)
A consensus mechanism where miners
solve complex math problems to validate transactions. Used by Bitcoin.
23.
Proof of Stake (PoS)
A consensus mechanism where
validators are chosen based on how much crypto they "stake." It’s
energy-efficient compared to PoW.
24.
Liquidity
How easily an asset can be bought or
sold without affecting its price. High liquidity means better trade execution.
25.
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
The fear that others are profiting
from a trade and you’re missing out. Often leads to irrational buying at market
peaks.
26.
FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt)
Negative information (real or fake)
that causes panic selling in the market.
27.
HODL
A misspelled version of
"hold." Now a meme and strategy for holding crypto long-term despite
volatility.
28.
DYOR (Do Your Own Research)
A common reminder in crypto
communities to investigate before investing or trading in any asset or project.
29.
Whale
A wallet or investor holding large
amounts of cryptocurrency. Their trades can influence market prices
significantly.
30.
Pump and Dump
A manipulative scheme where a coin’s
price is artificially inflated (pumped), attracting buyers, then rapidly sold
off (dumped) by insiders.
31.
Airdrop
Free distribution of crypto tokens
to wallet holders. Usually used to promote new projects or reward users.
32.
ICO (Initial Coin Offering)
A fundraising method where a crypto
project sells tokens to raise capital, similar to an IPO in traditional
finance.
33.
IDO (Initial DEX Offering)
A token sale that takes place on a decentralized
exchange (DEX). Faster, cheaper, and more accessible than traditional ICOs.
34.
Token Burn
Permanently removing tokens from
circulation by sending them to an unusable address. Reduces supply and may
increase price.
35.
Governance Token
Tokens that give holders voting
rights in project decisions, upgrades, or funding allocations. Example: UNI,
MKR.
36.
DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)
A blockchain-based organization
governed by smart contracts and community voting rather than central
leadership.
37.
Whitepaper
A detailed document explaining a
project’s purpose, technology, tokenomics, and roadmap. Essential for
evaluating a crypto investment.
38.
Roadmap
A timeline outlining a project’s
future development goals and milestones.
39.
Bull Market
A market trend where prices are
rising, and investor confidence is high.
40.
Bear Market
A market condition where prices are
falling, and pessimism prevails.
41.
ATH (All-Time High)
The highest price a cryptocurrency
has ever reached.
42.
ATL (All-Time Low)
The lowest recorded price of a
cryptocurrency.
43.
Slippage
The difference between the expected
price of a trade and the actual executed price, often due to low liquidity or
fast-moving markets.
44.
Yield Farming
The process of earning rewards by
lending or staking crypto in DeFi protocols. Often involves moving funds
between platforms for better returns.
45.
APY (Annual Percentage Yield)
The real rate of return on an
investment over a year, accounting for compound interest. Commonly used in DeFi
staking and lending.
46.
APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
The annual interest rate without
compounding. Also used in staking, lending, and borrowing.
47.
Lending Protocol
A DeFi service that allows users to
lend and borrow crypto assets without a middleman. Examples: Aave, Compound.
48.
Collateral
Assets pledged as security for a
loan. If the borrower fails to repay, the collateral is seized.
49.
Liquidation
Occurs when the value of collateral
falls below a safe threshold, triggering automatic repayment by selling
collateral.
50.
Leverage
Borrowing funds to increase the size
of a trade. For example, 10x leverage means a 1% move equals a 10% gain or
loss. High risk involved.
51.
Gas (Ethereum)
Gas refers to the fee required to
conduct a transaction or execute a smart contract on the Ethereum network. It's
priced in gwei, a small fraction of ETH. Complex transactions cost more
gas. Gas helps prevent spam and ensures fair use of resources.
52.
Gwei
A denomination of Ether (ETH), where
1 ETH = 1,000,000,000 gwei. Used to measure gas prices. For example, a
gas fee might be 50 gwei per unit.
53.
Hard Cap
The maximum amount of funds a
project aims to raise during an ICO or token sale. Once the hard cap is
reached, no more tokens will be sold.
54.
Soft Cap
The minimum amount of funds a
project needs to raise to proceed. If the soft cap isn’t reached, the project
might return funds to investors.
55.
Halving
A process by which the rewards for
mining new blocks are cut in half. For example, Bitcoin halving occurs
roughly every 4 years and affects supply, which can impact price.
56.
Testnet
A test version of a blockchain used
by developers to simulate real-world blockchain activity without using real
assets or value. Ethereum and Bitcoin both have testnets.
57.
Mainnet
The live version of a blockchain
that carries real value. For instance, Ethereum Mainnet is where actual ETH is
transacted.
58.
Fork (Hard & Soft)
A hard fork is a radical
change to a protocol that makes previously invalid blocks/transactions valid
(or vice-versa), requiring all users to upgrade. A soft fork is backward
compatible. Example: Bitcoin Cash forked from Bitcoin.
59.
Genesis Block
The first-ever block of a
blockchain. For Bitcoin, Block 0 (or Block #0) was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on
January 3, 2009.
60.
Public Key
A cryptographic code shared publicly
to receive cryptocurrencies. It’s paired with a private key, which is
kept secret and used to authorize outgoing transactions.
61.
Private Key
A secret code that proves ownership
of a crypto wallet and authorizes transactions. Anyone with access to your
private key has control over your assets.
62.
Seed Phrase
A set of 12–24 words that represents
your wallet's private key in human-readable form. It allows you to recover your
crypto wallet. Never share it.
63.
Smart Contract
Self-executing code on the
blockchain that performs actions when certain conditions are met. Used in DeFi,
NFTs, DAOs, and more.
64.
Gas Limit
The maximum amount of gas you're
willing to spend on a transaction. If a transaction runs out of gas, it fails,
but gas is still consumed.
65.
Gas Price
The amount of gwei you're willing to
pay per unit of gas. Higher gas prices mean faster transaction confirmation.
66.
Decentralization
A system where control is
distributed among multiple participants rather than a single centralized
entity. Blockchains achieve this via nodes.
67.
Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP)
A cryptographic method that allows
one party to prove to another that something is true without revealing any
information. Used in privacy coins like Zcash.
68.
Proof of Authority (PoA)
A consensus algorithm where trusted
validators (authorities) are pre-approved and known. Used in private or
permissioned blockchains.
69.
Hot Wallet
A crypto wallet connected to the
internet. Easy for frequent use but more vulnerable to hacking (e.g., MetaMask,
Trust Wallet).
70.
Cold Wallet
Offline wallets used for long-term
storage of crypto. More secure than hot wallets (e.g., hardware wallets like
Ledger, Trezor).
71.
Ledger
- A record of all blockchain transactions.
- A popular brand of hardware wallet for crypto storage.
72.
Hash
A fixed-length alphanumeric string
generated by a hash function from data input. Used to maintain data integrity
and secure blocks.
73.
Hash Rate
The speed at which a computer can
compute hashes. Higher hash rates mean more mining power and network security.
74.
SHA-256
A cryptographic hash function used
by Bitcoin. It produces a 256-bit output and is crucial for mining and block
creation.
75.
Wrapped Token
A tokenized version of a crypto
asset from another blockchain. For example, Wrapped BTC (WBTC) is
Bitcoin represented as an ERC-20 token on Ethereum.
76.
Interoperability
The ability of different blockchains
to communicate and work together. Projects like Polkadot and Cosmos aim to
enable this.
77.
Multisig Wallet
A wallet that requires multiple
private keys to authorize a transaction. Used for increased security or shared
ownership.
78.
Custodial Wallet
A wallet where a third party (e.g.,
exchange) holds your private keys. Easier to use but less secure than
non-custodial wallets.
79.
Non-Custodial Wallet
A wallet where only the user has
control over the private keys. Gives full control and responsibility to the
user.
80.
Stablecoin
Cryptocurrencies pegged to stable
assets like USD. Examples include USDT, USDC, DAI. Used
for trading, remittances, and DeFi.
81.
Fiat-Crypto Gateway
Services (like Coinbase or Binance)
that let users exchange fiat currencies (USD, PKR) for crypto and vice versa.
82.
Slippage
The difference between the expected
price of a trade and the price at which it is executed. Happens due to low
liquidity or volatility.
83.
Liquidity
The ease with which an asset can be
bought or sold without affecting its price. High liquidity means tighter
spreads and easier trading.
84.
Liquidity Pool
Funds locked in smart contracts to
facilitate decentralized trading and lending. Users provide liquidity and earn
rewards (e.g., Uniswap).
85.
Impermanent Loss
A temporary loss experienced when
providing liquidity to a pool due to price fluctuations between paired tokens.
86.
Order Book
A list of buy and sell orders on an
exchange, showing price levels and volume. Used in centralized exchanges to
match trades.
87.
Automated Market Maker (AMM)
A type of DEX that uses smart
contracts and liquidity pools to price and execute trades without an order book
(e.g., Uniswap, PancakeSwap).
88.
Tokenomics
The economic model of a
cryptocurrency, including supply, distribution, inflation, deflation, staking
rewards, and utility.
89.
Flash Loan
A type of uncollateralized loan in
DeFi that must be borrowed and repaid within a single transaction block.
90.
Rug Pull
A scam where developers of a crypto
project withdraw all liquidity or funds and disappear, leaving investors with
worthless tokens.
91.
Honeypot
A smart contract that appears
exploitable but traps malicious actors, or in scams, a token that can be bought
but not sold.
92.
Whale Watching
Monitoring large wallet addresses
(whales) because their actions (buy/sell) can heavily influence market prices.
93.
On-Chain Data
All data recorded directly on the
blockchain, including transactions, wallet balances, and smart contract
interactions.
94.
Off-Chain Data
Data stored outside the blockchain
(e.g., centralized exchanges or external APIs) used by dApps or oracles.
95.
Oracle
A service that provides real-world
data to smart contracts, such as asset prices, weather, or sports scores (e.g.,
Chainlink).
96.
Sharding
A scalability technique where the
blockchain is divided into smaller pieces (shards) that process transactions in
parallel.
97.
Layer 1
The base blockchain architecture
(e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum). Layer 1 solutions focus on improving the core
protocol.
98.
Layer 2
Secondary protocols built on top of
Layer 1 to improve scalability and reduce costs (e.g., Lightning Network,
Optimism).
99.
zk-Rollup
A Layer 2 scaling solution that
bundles hundreds of transactions into one, using zero-knowledge proofs to
ensure validity.
100.
MEV (Maximal Extractable Value)
The profit miners or validators can
earn by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block. A
controversial issue in blockchain ethics.