Ll
Ledger: T his is a (digital) record book of all transactions on a cryptocurrency network, also known as the blockchain. The records are updated in real-time & show a history of all transactions from the day of inception to present making verification of data easy.
Leverage: R efers to funds loaned from crypto exchanges to increase a trader’s trading power.
Lightning Network: Layer two payment protocols on top of the blockchain. Its goal is to solve Bitcoin scalability issues by enabling faster, scalable transactions between and across nodes.
Light Node: Light nodes refer to downloaded wallets connected to a full node to help in the validation of transactions on a blockchain.
Liquidity: An indication of how easily cryptocurrency can be bought and sold.
Liquidity Pools: T hese are created to provide consistent liquidity in a market by enabling the trade of trading pairs on a decentralized exchange.
Liquidity Provider: This refers to active participants on a decentralized exchange platform that provide funds to fund a liquidity pool.
Long/ Long Position: A trading strategy in which you purchase cryptocurrencies with the expectation that the value would increase so you can sell for a higher profit in future.
Mm
Mainnet: A blockchain that is running on its own technology and protocol.
Margin Call: A notification from an exchange which loaned leverage informing a trader that their position is running at a loss. The trader may be asked to either provide more collateral or the account would be closed and liquidated.
Margin Trading: It refers to a trading strategy that helps increase a trader’s trading capital by taking a loan from an exchange.
Market: A gathering of people in an area, either physical or virtual, where trades and similar transactions are completed.
Market Capitalization: This is calculated by multiplying the total amount of coins of a cryptocurrency in circulation and its price. It is also used to rank cryptocurrencies.
Market signal: Refers to an indication or information passed across passively or intentionally among traders in a given market.
Marlin Protocol: High-performance network infrastructure for modern decentralized networks.
Max supply: T he total amount of coins of a cryptocurrency that would exist in a lifetime.
MetaMask: A cryptocurrency wallet that allows you to interact on the Ethereum Network and participate in DeFi projects.
Microtransaction: Tiny payments that are made in exchange for digital products or services. An example would be purchasing something in a video game, which could be in-game currency or upgrades.
Mining: Using GPU power to solve PoW equations that add blocks to the blockchain and verify transactions.
Miner Fee: Also called transaction fees, users of a cryptocurrency who send out coins on the cryptocurrency blockchain/network pay small amounts of their coins to miners whose work is to verify the authenticity of transactions on the network and are paid according to the size of value being sent.
Mining Contract: A mining initiative in which the hashing power of a mining hardware is loaned out for a certain amount of time. It may also be referred to as cloud mining.
Mining Reward (Block Reward): T he reward received from contributing your computation power to process transactions.
Mining Pool: Grouping together computational power to gain an advantage in finding the next block on the blockchain.
Mining Rig: A computer used for mining. It is usually composed use multiple GPUs to get the highest hash rate.
Mnemonic Phrase: A phrase or list of words used to access and recover cryptocurrency assets.
Mnemonics: A learning technique or memory aid that helps to aid retention and retrieval of information.
Mobile Wallet: A virtual wallet that operates on a mobile device, stores payment information and can be used to complete transactions.
Money Laundering: An evasive strategy employed by criminals to hide their funds from the government.
Moon: A crypto slang used to describe continuous upward price movement of a cryptocurrency.
Multi Signature: More than one key is required to authorise a transaction, that way if a single key is compromised one or more keys are still required to approve the transaction.
Nn
Network: All active nodes of a blockchain at any time.
Newb/Newbie: Describes an individual who is new to a particular industry or just started participating in an activity. Such an individual may also be referred to as a beginner or novice.
No-coiner: A person who has strong convictions that cryptocurrencies would fail and holds no cryptocurrencies.
Node: It refers to a device or system connected to a network.
Non-custodial: The users directly hold their private keys to their wallets.
Non-Fungible Token (NFT): Refers to tokens that cannot be duplicated or replicated.
Noobs: An individual who is new and doesn’t have much experience in an industry.
Oo
Offline Storage: Storing cryptocurrency on a device that is not connected to the internet.
Online Storage: The storage of cryptocurrencies in a device or wallet that is connected to the internet.
Open Source: The open-source model is a decentralized software development style in which the source code is available to the general public for use, audit & modification from its original design free of charge.
Over the Counter (OTC): Over the counter trading is an activity done directly between two parties without using a regular exchange.
Pp
Pair: The trade or exchange of one cryptocurrency for another.
Paper wallet: A paper wallet is an offline mechanism for storing cryptocurrency. The process involves printing the private keys and Bitcoin addresses onto paper. Whatever can happen to cash can happen to a paper wallet so safekeeping is advised.
Password Manager: A software application or tool that helps you manage passwords for different applications and software.
Peer to Peer(P2P): An interaction between decentralized parties in a distributed network.
Peg: A fixed price or exchange rate between two assets.
Phishing: A fraudulent cybercrime in which an attacker disguises as a trusted entity to steal your information through emails, SMS, social media platforms.
Ponzi scheme: A fraudulent investment scheme in which the investments of an individual is used to pay existing investors.
Portfolio: A collection of cryptocurrencies held by an individual or a fund.
Private Key: A code generated from the encryption process, which can be paired with the public key to decrypt information.
Priority: The speed at which your transaction will be included in a block. The higher the priority the faster the transfer.
Proof-of-Authority: A consensus algorithm that uses identity as a stake in validating transactions and running the blockchain network.
Proof of Stake(PoS): A blockchain consensus mechanism in which the creator of the next block is chosen by various variables.
Proof of Work(PoW): A blockchain consensus mechanism that involves solving computational intensive equations to validate transactions and create new blocks.
Protocol: A rule set that defines interactions on a network.
Public Address: A cryptographic hash of a public key, this address allows you to receive cryptocurrency.
Pseudonymous: A false name used to identify a person.
Public Blockchain: A blockchain network that can be accessed by anyone from a computer system.
Public Key: A cryptographic system that uses pairs of keys: the public key which can be circulated widely and private key which is only known by the owner.
Public Ledger: A ledger in which anyone can access or view every transaction ever made on the blockchain network.
Pump and Dump (P&D) Scheme: A fraudulent scheme that involves the artificial inflation of the price of a cryptocurrency, which the intention of selling the once low priced currency at a higher amount.
Pyramid Scheme: A fraudulent scheme that undertakes a hierarchical structure and pays the top tier members with funds from new members.
Qq
QR Code: A label that shows information encoded into a graphical black and white patter. Ofter used to share wallet address.
Rr
Rank: The position a crypto asset holds by value of its market capitalisation.
Regulation: A set of rules implemented by an authority or government that guides an activity.
Rekt: A crypto slang for “wrecked” that represents a bad trade.
Relative Strength Index (RSI): A trading tool that is used to measure the price movement of a crypto asset to determine the strength of its market.
Ring Signature: A signature in a cryptographic set up, which a set of participants that have access to unique keys can create. It is used to obscure the identities of participants in a transaction.
ROI: “ Return on Investment”, the ratio between the net profit and cost of investing.
Ss
Satoshi: A satoshi is the smallest unit of a bitcoin. It is equal to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin, or .00000001 BTC. A satoshi are to Bitcoin what cents are to the dollar.
Satoshi Nakamoto: A n individual or group of individuals that are responsible for creating Bitcoin. The identity of Satoshi Nakamoto has never been confirmed.
Scalability Limitation: Refers to the limitation of a blockchain that limits the speed of its transactions and the quantity of transactions it can process in a time frame.
Scalability Solution: A proposed solution with the aim of solving the scalability limitations of a blockchain network.
Scam: A cryptocurrency that is known to be deceptive or fraudulent.
Scammer: A person who participates in a fraudulent scheme to steal people’s funds or crypto assets.
Security Token: A digital token that validates or authenticates a person’s identity by storing their personal information.
Security Token Offering: A public offering in which digitised security tokens are offered on sale to the public.
Seed: A list of random words which store all the information needed to recover a Bitcoin wallet.
Segregated Witness (SegWit): A Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) that is geared towards solving bitcoin scalability problems.
Shilling: Promoting a cryptocurrency.
Short: A trading technique in which a trader sells an asset with the expectation that it would decline in price so he can make a purchase when it drops and sell for a higher price later.
Signal: An indicator that informs traders on whether they should buy or sell an asset.
Smart Contract: A software protocol intended to digitally facilitate, verify, or enforce the negotiation or performance of a contract. Smart contracts allow the performance of credible transactions without third parties. These transactions are trackable and supposedly irreversible.
Shitcoin: The term crypto traders give to some coins which they perceive to be of little or no value.
Soft Fork: A software upgrade, similar to updating an app on a mobile device that occurs on the blockchain. It renders previous transactions invalid and miners may have to upgrade their software to continue the mining process.
Software Wallet: A computer program that allows you access to your cryptocurrencies and helps to secure its transactions.
Spyware: A software that infiltrates your system to steal sensitive information.
Stablecoin: A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency that has a fixed price with the intention of offering stability to those who want little to no volatility while dealing with cryptocurrencies. They are often backed by a reserve asset like the USD or gold.
Stake: A n amount of crypto funds set aside as collateral
Store of Value: A feature of an asset that allows it to be stored, exchanged and retrieved.
Symbol: A distinct mark or character used to identify an item, function, or activity.
Tt
Technical Analysis: A trading method or strategy that allows a trader to forecast the price movement of an asset by studying the past market trends.
Testnet: The testnet is an alternative blockchain, to be used for testing software upgrades & improvement protocols to work out errors & bugs before being moved to the main blockchain.
Think Long Term (TLT): An investment mindset that convinces you to store an asset for an extended time frame (months or years) to maximise profit.
Time Lock: Also referred to as Lock-time, a feature that determines the time frame in which a transaction should be processed.
Timestamp: A timestamp is a sequence of characters or encoded information identifying when a certain event occurred, usually giving date and time of day. Entries in decentralized ledgers are timestamped.
Token: Created it for its utility of providing access to a larger crypto economic system. They are made so the software can be developed around them.
Tokenize: The process of giving digital value to real assets for the purpose of offering ownership.
Token Swap: Refers to the direct exchange of a token for another. It could also refer to the migration of a token to another blockchain.
TOR: An open source decentralized software that anonymises a user’s web activities such that it is difficult to track.
Total supply: T he total amount of cryptocurrencies in existence with exceptions of cryptocurrencies that have been burned.
Trading Tournament: A trading campaign employed by crypto exchanges to encourage traders to trade more to earn a reward.
Trading Volume: The amount of cryptocurrencies traded within 24 hours
Transaction (TX): The exchange of an asset
Transaction ID (TXID): E very cryptocurrency transaction comes with a transaction ID the same way every bank transaction comes with a transaction ID. This ID is a unique string of letters & numbers that makes a transaction trackable on the blockchain of the cryptocurrency.
Transaction Fee: Also called miners’ fees, users of a cryptocurrency who send out coins on the cryptocurrency blockchain/network pay small amounts of their coins to miners whose work is to verify the authenticity of transactions on the network and are paid according to the size of value being sent.
Trust-less: This is a system of distributing trust among different actors in a system via an economic game that incentives participants in the system to cooperate with the rules defined by the protocol. The Bitcoin blockchain is an example.
Two Factor Authentications (2FA): A digital security measure that necessitates a user to provide two proofs of identity before they can access a website or application.
Uu
Unbanked: Refers to a group of people that do not have access to banking service or choose not to because of certain limitations.
Underbanked: A grouping of people who have limited access to banking services.
Unconfirmed: This is when a transaction hasn’t been verified on the blockchain by miners.
Unpermissioned Ledger: A digital record-keeping software that anyone can download, run and add entries into it according to the preset rules to achieve consensus without license or restriction from a central source.
UTC Time: Referred to as “Coordinated Universal Time,” which is the standard through which time in the world is regulated.
Utility Token: A token purchased with the expectation that it would offer the buyers certain privileges to consumer products.
Vv
Validator: A participant who takes part in the validation of blocks on the Proof-of-Stake Consensus Algorithms.
Vaporware: A product that is announced to the public, but is never actually created.
Venture Capital: A form of private equity provided to fund start-ups with potential of growth.
Virgin Bitcoin: Refers to bitcoins that have never been spent.
Vitalik Buterin: Co-founder of Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency.
Volatility: The degree of variation in trading prices over a period of time, measured by using the standard deviation of returns.
Volume: The amount of cryptocurrency that has been traded over a period of time, the supply and demand play a role in determining this.
Ww
Wallet: A software system that stores a user’s information, transaction details and funds.
Wash Trade: A market manipulation strategy that involves purchasing and selling assets through different identities to create false activity in the market.
Weak Hands: A trader who has the tendency to sell an asset at slightest inclination of a price decline.
Website: A set of web pages with related contents under a domain name registered to an individual or entity.
Wei: The smallest denomination of Ethereum. 1 Eth = 1,000,000,000,000,000,000 Wei
Whale: An investor who has a large amount of crypto, enough to manipulate the market.
When Lambo: A crypto slang referring to a time frame in which crypto traders would get rich enough to purchase a Lamborghini. It is often used along with the phrase “When Moon” suggesting a time in which cryptocurrencies would explode in value.
Whitelist: A list of participants who indicate interest in participating in an Initial Coin Offering (ICO).
Whitepaper: A document prepared for investors that outlines the vision, cryptocurrency use, crypto-economic design, technical information, and a roadmap.
Xx
Xylyl: A univalent radical.
Yy
Yield Farming: Yield farming involves the practice of staking or lending your crypto funds to generate profit.
Zz
Zero Confirmation Transaction: Another name for an unconfirmed transaction.