Crypto Glossary
The A–Z vocabulary of the on-chain economy.
Altcoin
Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. Short for 'alternative coin'.
AMM
Automated Market Maker — a smart contract that holds token reserves and lets users swap at an algorithmically-set price. Uniswap is the canonical example.
Bear Market
A prolonged period of falling prices and negative sentiment.
Bridge
A protocol that moves tokens between two blockchains. Historically one of the most-attacked pieces of crypto infrastructure.
Bull Market
A prolonged period of rising prices and optimistic sentiment.
Cold Wallet
A wallet kept offline (typically a hardware device) for maximum security on long-term holdings.
DAO
Decentralized Autonomous Organization — a group governed by on-chain rules and token-holder votes rather than a traditional management hierarchy.
DEX
Decentralized Exchange — a platform that lets users trade directly from their wallets via smart contracts, with no custodian.
DYOR
Do Your Own Research — a reminder to verify claims independently before investing.
Fork
A change to a blockchain's rules. A soft fork is backward-compatible; a hard fork creates a separate chain.
Gas
The fee paid to execute a transaction on a blockchain like Ethereum, denominated in gwei (a billionth of an ETH). Higher gas means faster inclusion.
HODL
To hold an asset through volatility rather than selling. Originally a typo of 'hold', now slang for long-term conviction.
ICO
Initial Coin Offering — an early fundraising method where a project sells tokens to the public, often before a product exists.
Layer 2
A secondary network that settles transactions on a main chain. Arbitrum, Optimism, and Base are L2s on Ethereum — cheaper and faster, with L1 security.
Liquidity Pool
A smart-contract reserve of two or more tokens that powers swaps on an AMM. Providers earn a share of trading fees.
Market Cap
The total value of a coin's circulating supply (price × circulating supply). A rough measure of size.
Mining
Using computing power to validate transactions and secure a Proof-of-Work blockchain, earning newly-issued coins as a reward.
Node
A computer that runs a blockchain's software, validates transactions, and stores a copy of the ledger.
Oracle
A service that feeds real-world data (like prices) to smart contracts, which cannot access off-chain data on their own. Chainlink is the largest.
Proof of Stake
A consensus mechanism where validators lock up (stake) coins to earn the right to produce blocks. More energy-efficient than Proof of Work.
Proof of Work
A consensus mechanism where miners compete to solve a cryptographic puzzle to add blocks. Used by Bitcoin; energy-intensive but battle-tested.
Rug Pull
A scam where developers abandon a project and drain its liquidity, leaving holders with worthless tokens.
Seed Phrase
A list of 12–24 words that can restore a non-custodial wallet. Anyone with it controls the funds — never share or store it digitally.
Slippage
The difference between a trade's expected price and its executed price, larger in low-liquidity markets.
Smart Contract
Self-executing code deployed on a blockchain that runs exactly as written, without intermediaries.
Staking
Locking up coins to help secure a Proof-of-Stake network in exchange for rewards.
Token
A digital asset issued on an existing blockchain (e.g. an ERC-20 on Ethereum), as opposed to a network's native coin.
TVL
Total Value Locked — the aggregate value of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol, a common gauge of adoption.
Validator
A participant in a Proof-of-Stake network that proposes and attests to blocks, earning rewards and risking slashing for misbehavior.
Volume
The total amount of an asset traded over a period — a measure of activity and liquidity.
Whale
An entity holding a very large amount of a cryptocurrency, capable of moving the market.
Yield Farming
Moving crypto between DeFi protocols to chase the highest returns from fees, interest, and token incentives.
