Understanding crypto can feel like learning a new language—one full of confusing terms and acronyms and if you're not up with the lingo, you typically feel like a lone tourist pretty quickly. Demystifying the jargon is the first step to getting comfortable in this space, so park it and snuggle in!

Here is a fairly exhaustive list of key crypto terms we thought we'd break down in an effort to make the complex world of digital currency easier to grasp (bit like our app). Whether you're just dipping your toes in or eager to learn more, this guide will 'walk the talk', ensuring you're equipped with the knowledge to understand and navigate the world of crypto confidently...and so you should, you're an investor now!

Address

Pronunciation: "Address"

Meaning: Think of it as your crypto house address, but for digital coins! It's a string of random characters where people can send you money. Just make sure you get it right, or your coins might end up in the crypto void.

Airdrop

Pronunciation: "Air-drop"

Meaning: It’s like the Oprah show for crypto—“You get tokens! You get tokens!” Projects give away free cryptocurrency, often for promotion. Just keep your wallet open and your hopes high.

Altcoin

Pronunciation: "Alt-coin"

Meaning: If Bitcoin is the king, then altcoins are the quirky younger siblings, each with its own style and purpose. Examples? Ethereum, Litecoin, and the ever-entertaining Dogecoin.

ATH (All-Time High)

Pronunciation: "A-T-H"

Meaning: The point where you’re high-fiving yourself for HODLing (see below). It's the highest price a coin has ever hit—basically, peak celebration mode.

Bear Market 🐻

Pronunciation: "Bear Market"

Meaning: A long winter for your portfolio, where everything seems to be falling, and your dreams of Lambos are put on hold. But hey, it’s also when savvy folks buy the dip!

Bull Market 🎯

Pronunciation: "Bull Mar-ket"

Meaning: When prices are charging upwards like a raging bull. Everyone's excited, coins are mooning, and it feels like anything you touch turns to crypto gold.

Block

Pronunciation: "Block"

Meaning: It’s not something you use to build castles, but rather a group of transactions bundled together on the blockchain. Think of it as a digital book of receipts.

Blockchain

Pronunciation: "Block-chain"

Meaning: The magical technology that makes crypto possible. It’s a decentralized ledger of transactions, meaning no one owns it, and everyone can see it. It’s like a trust fund that everyone has access to, but no one can mess with.

Burn

Pronunciation: "Burn"

Meaning: No, it’s not like burning money for fun. Tokens are intentionally destroyed to reduce supply and increase value, kind of like creating artificial scarcity—but in a way that’s less wasteful than burning dollar bills.

Cold Wallet

Pronunciation: "Cold Wallet"

Meaning: A super-secure wallet that's as offline as your grandparent's flip phone. It keeps your crypto safe by storing it where hackers can’t reach—because it’s not connected to the internet.

Consensus Mechanism

Pronunciation: "Con-sen-sus Mech-a-nism"

Meaning: The system that gets everyone in the blockchain to agree on the same thing. Proof of Work? You solve puzzles. Proof of Stake? You lock up your coins. Either way, it’s how everyone stays on the same page.

Cryptography

Pronunciation: "Crypt-o-gra-fee"

Meaning: The secret sauce that makes crypto work. It’s like the super cool spy-level coding that ensures your transactions are secure and private.

DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)

Pronunciation: "Dow"

Meaning: Imagine a company where robots are the CEOs and decisions are made by code, not humans. Okay, maybe not robots, but DAOs run themselves using smart contracts and votes from the community.

Decentralization

Pronunciation: "De-cen-tral-i-zay-shun"

Meaning: Power to the people! No one entity controls the system. It’s all about distributing power to make things fair and transparent—so no shady business.

DeFi (Decentralized Finance)

Pronunciation: "Dee-Fi"

Meaning: Imagine if you didn’t need a bank to lend, borrow, or trade. That’s DeFi, where you’re your own bank, and the rules are coded into smart contracts.

dApp (Decentralized Application)

Pronunciation: "D-app"

Meaning: It’s like a regular app, but it runs on the blockchain instead of a centralized server. Think of it as the future of apps—without the middlemen.

Derivatives

Pronunciation: "De-riv-a-tives"

Meaning: These are like the betting slips of the crypto world. Their value is based on the price of another asset, kind of like betting on whether Bitcoin will go up or down.

DYOR (Do Your Own Research)

Pronunciation: "D-Y-O-R"

Meaning: A friendly (and important) reminder that in crypto, you need to do some homework. Because in this wild west, knowledge is your best weapon.

ERC-20

Pronunciation: "E-R-C Twenty"

Meaning: The gold standard for creating tokens on the Ethereum blockchain. If you’re making a new crypto, this is probably where you’ll start.

Fiat

Pronunciation: "Fee-at"

Meaning: Boring old government-issued money like USD or EUR. It’s what we’ve been using for centuries, but crypto is here to shake things up.

Fork

Pronunciation: "Fork"

Meaning: Not what you eat with, but when a blockchain splits into two, creating two different versions. It’s like a digital “choose your own adventure” story.

FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)

Pronunciation: "Fo-mo"

Meaning: That panicky feeling when you see prices mooning and you’re not in. FOMO leads to impulsive buying and sometimes bad decisions.

FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt)

Pronunciation: "Fudd"

Meaning: The three horsemen of crypto apocalypse. FUD is when negative news spreads, sending prices and moods crashing. Often, it’s exaggerated.

Gas

Pronunciation: "Gas"

Meaning: No, not the kind for your car. This is the fee you pay to make transactions on Ethereum. The busier the network, the higher the gas prices—just like rush hour traffic.

Halving

Pronunciation: "Hal-ving"

Meaning: It’s like Bitcoin’s birthday, but instead of cake, the block reward gets cut in half. Happens about every four years and often leads to price surges.

HODL

Pronunciation: "Hod-l"

Meaning: A typo-turned-mantra. It stands for "Hold On for Dear Life" and is the battle cry of long-term crypto believers who weather every storm.

Hot Wallet

Pronunciation: "Hot Wallet"

Meaning: A wallet that’s always connected to the internet, kind of like having cash in your pocket. It’s convenient, but not the safest for your life savings.

ICO (Initial Coin Offering)

Pronunciation: "I-C-O"

Meaning: Like an IPO, but for crypto. It’s how new coins raise funds from early investors, but beware—some can be more smoke than substance.

Immutable

Pronunciation: "Im-mu-ta-ble"

Meaning: Once it’s written on the blockchain, it’s there forever. No take-backs, no edits—just pure, unchangeable history.

Liquidity

Pronunciation: "Li-kwid-it-ee"

Meaning: The ability to convert crypto into cash without tanking the market. Basically, how easily you can get your hands on money when you need it.

Market Cap

Pronunciation: "Market Cap"

Meaning: The total value of a cryptocurrency. It's like the worth of the entire market, showing you how big (or small) a coin really is.

Mining

Pronunciation: "Mine-ing"

Meaning: No hard hats or shovels required! Mining in the crypto world is all about verifying transactions and adding them to the blockchain. Think of miners as digital detectives solving complex puzzles. Successfully cracking these puzzles rewards them with new cryptocurrency, making mining the closest thing to a high-tech treasure hunt.

Node

Pronunciation: "Nohd"

Meaning: Imagine every node as a diligent librarian in the vast library of blockchain. These computers validate and relay transactions, ensuring the blockchain runs smoothly. Without nodes, the blockchain would be like a library without books—pretty useless!

Nonce

Pronunciation: "Nonse"

Meaning: Not to be confused with "nonce" from British slang! In crypto, a nonce is a number used once in the cryptographic process, especially in mining. It’s like a secret handshake that miners tweak until they find the right combination to add a new block to the blockchain.

NFT (Non-Fungible Token)

Pronunciation: "En-Eff-Tee"

Meaning: Think of NFTs as the digital equivalent of one-of-a-kind collectibles. Whether it’s art, music, or even virtual real estate, NFTs represent unique ownership on the blockchain. It’s like owning a digital Picasso, but without worrying about it getting scratched.

Oracles

Pronunciation: "Oh-ruh-kuls"

Meaning: Oracles are the mystical seers of the blockchain world, providing real-world data to smart contracts. Whether it’s weather data for crop insurance or sports scores for betting apps, oracles bring the outside world into the blockchain, making smart contracts smarter.

P2P (Peer-to-Peer)

Pronunciation: "Pee-Two-Pee"

Meaning: No middlemen, no problem! P2P networks allow participants to interact directly, whether it’s sharing files or trading crypto. It’s like setting up a lemonade🍋 stand where you sell directly to your neighbors—fresh and without the extra fees.

Private Key

Pronunciation: "Private Key"

Meaning: Your secret password to the crypto kingdom. A private key is a string of characters that grants you access to your cryptocurrency. Keep it safe and never share it, unless you want someone else to throw a crypto party in your wallet without an invite.

Public Key

Pronunciation: "Public Key"

Meaning: Think of it as your crypto email address. A public key is a cryptographic code that allows others to send you cryptocurrency. It’s safe to share, unlike your private key, which is your crypto super-secret handshake.

Proof of Work (PoW)

Pronunciation: "Proof of Work"

Meaning: The original consensus mechanism that requires miners to solve complex puzzles to validate transactions. It’s like a brain workout for miners, proving they’ve done the heavy lifting before earning their crypto rewards.

Proof of Stake (PoS)

Pronunciation: "Proof of Stake"

Meaning: The eco-friendlier cousin of Proof of Work. Instead of solving puzzles, validators are chosen based on the number of tokens they hold and are willing to "stake" as collateral. It’s like earning VIP status by showing you’re a serious crypto fan.

Pump and Dump

Pronunciation: "Pump and Dump"

Meaning: The shady side of crypto trading where prices are artificially inflated (pumped) by hype, only for the orchestrators to sell off their holdings (dump), leaving unsuspecting investors with plummeting prices. It’s the crypto equivalent of hyping up a product just to sell it before everyone realizes it’s not worth much.

Satoshi

Pronunciation: "Sa-toh-shee"

Meaning: The smallest unit of Bitcoin, named after its mysterious creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. One Satoshi is 0.00000001 BTC. It’s like the crypto’s version of a penny, perfect for those who want to own a tiny slice of the Bitcoin pie without breaking the bank. When you hear the term 'stacking sats' - you have an idea of what they are talking about.

Smart Contract

Pronunciation: "Smart Contract"

Meaning: Imagine a vending machine that automatically dispenses your snack when you insert the right coins. Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the terms directly written into code on the blockchain. They ensure that agreements are automatically enforced without needing a middleman.

Stablecoin

Pronunciation: "Stey-bul-Koin"

Meaning: The calm in the volatile crypto storm. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies pegged to stable assets like the US dollar, minimising price volatility. They’re perfect for those who want to enjoy the benefits of crypto without the wild price swings—think of them as the yoga🧘🏼mats of the crypto world, bringing balance and stability. Namaste!

Staking

Pronunciation: "Stay-king"

Meaning: The act of locking up your tokens to support a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain, earning rewards in return. It’s like earning interest on your savings account, but instead of a bank, you’re helping secure the network and get paid for it. Talk about getting your money to work for you!

Token

Pronunciation: "Token"

Meaning: A versatile digital asset created on a blockchain, representing anything from a utility to an asset. Whether it’s access to a platform, ownership of a piece of art, or participation in a decentralized app, tokens are the Swiss Army knives of the crypto world—multi-functional and incredibly handy.

Validator

Pronunciation: "Val-i-day-ter"

Meaning: The trusted gatekeepers in a proof-of-stake (PoS) blockchain. Validators verify transactions and add them to the blockchain, earning rewards for their service. They are the digital bouncer's, ensuring everything runs smoothly and securely.

Wallet

Pronunciation: "Wallet"

Meaning: Your personal crypto vault. A wallet is a digital tool that allows you to store, send, and receive cryptocurrencies. Whether it’s a hot wallet for quick access or a cold wallet for extra security, think of it as your digital piggy bank—but clearly way cooler and way more secure. 

Whale 🐋

Pronunciation: "Whale"

Meaning: The big players of the crypto ocean. A whale is an individual or entity that holds a significant amount of cryptocurrency, capable of influencing market prices with their trades. They’re the heavyweight champions of the crypto world, making big moves that can ripple through the entire market. 

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This is just the tip of the iceberg. If you have more you'd like to add or ones you feel we may have missed, get in touch!!! We'll keep adding to the list to ensure the next in line is armed with all the lingo they need to 'get it' sooner than later 🙏🏼