Free distribution of tokens to wallet addresses, usually as a marketing strategy or reward for early adopters.

Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. Short for 'alternative coin'.

Automated Market Maker — a DEX mechanism that uses liquidity pools and mathematical formulas instead of order books.

Annual Percentage Yield — the rate of return on an investment including compound interest over a year.

All-Time High — the highest price an asset has ever reached.

All-Time Low — the lowest price an asset has ever reached.

A prolonged period of declining prices, typically 20% or more from recent highs.

A group of transactions bundled together and added to the blockchain.

A tool for viewing all transactions, addresses, and blocks on a blockchain (e.g., Etherscan).

A protocol that enables transferring assets between different blockchains.

A prolonged period of rising prices, characterized by optimism and investor confidence.

Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to a dead address.

A chart element showing open, high, low, and close prices for a time period.

Centralized Exchange — a trading platform operated by a company (e.g., Coinbase, Binance).

A cryptocurrency wallet not connected to the internet, offering maximum security.

The method by which a blockchain network agrees on the current state of the ledger (e.g., PoW, PoS).

Decentralized Autonomous Organization — an organization governed by smart contracts and token holder votes.

Decentralized Application — an application running on a blockchain network.

Dollar Cost Averaging — investing a fixed amount at regular intervals regardless of price.

Decentralized Finance — financial services built on blockchain without traditional intermediaries.

Decentralized Exchange — a peer-to-peer trading platform without a central authority (e.g., Uniswap).

Slang for holding an asset through volatility without selling.

Do Your Own Research — a reminder to personally verify claims before investing.

The standard token format on Ethereum, defining basic transfer and approval functions.

Government-issued currency not backed by a physical commodity (e.g., USD, EUR).

An uncollateralized loan that must be borrowed and repaid within a single transaction block.

Fear Of Missing Out — anxiety that an opportunity will be missed, leading to impulsive buying.

A change to a blockchain's protocol. Hard forks create a new chain; soft forks are backward-compatible.

Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt — negative information spread to drive prices down.

The fee paid for computational operations on Ethereum and similar blockchains.

The very first block in a blockchain.

A periodic event where the block reward for miners is cut in half (Bitcoin halves ~every 4 years).

A fixed-length output produced by a cryptographic function, used to verify data integrity.

Hold On for Dear Life — a misspelling of 'hold' that became crypto slang for long-term holding.

A cryptocurrency wallet connected to the internet, convenient but more vulnerable.

The temporary loss of value experienced by liquidity providers when token prices diverge.

Know Your Customer — identity verification required by regulated exchanges.

Layer 1 — the base blockchain (e.g., Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana).

Layer 2 — a scaling solution built on top of an L1 (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism, zkSync).

A DeFi platform where users can lend and borrow crypto assets (e.g., Aave, Compound).

An order to buy or sell at a specific price or better.

The ease with which an asset can be bought or sold without significantly affecting its price.

A pool of tokens locked in a smart contract that enables trading on a DEX.

Total value of a cryptocurrency: current price multiplied by circulating supply.

An order to buy or sell immediately at the best available current price.

Maximal Extractable Value — profit extracted by reordering or inserting transactions in a block.

Using computational power to validate transactions and secure a Proof of Work blockchain.

A wallet requiring multiple private keys to authorize a transaction (e.g., 3-of-5).

Non-Fungible Token — a unique digital asset representing ownership of art, collectibles, etc.

A computer that maintains a copy of the blockchain and validates transactions.

A service that provides real-world data to smart contracts (e.g., Chainlink).

Slang for selling an asset too early due to fear or panic.

A secret cryptographic key that proves ownership and allows spending of cryptocurrency.

A consensus mechanism where validators stake tokens as collateral to secure the network.

A consensus mechanism where miners solve puzzles to validate transactions (used by Bitcoin).

A cryptographic key that serves as your address for receiving cryptocurrency.

A scam where developers abandon a project and run away with investor funds.

A 12-24 word recovery phrase that can restore a crypto wallet and all its accounts.

The difference between the expected price and the actual execution price of a trade.

Self-executing code stored on a blockchain that runs when predetermined conditions are met.

A cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset (usually USD), e.g., USDC, USDT, DAI.

Locking cryptocurrency to support network operations in exchange for rewards.

An order that automatically sells an asset when it reaches a specified lower price.

Total Value Locked — the total amount of assets deposited in a DeFi protocol.

A node that verifies transactions and creates new blocks in a Proof of Stake network.

A schedule that gradually releases tokens to holders over a set period.

Software or hardware that stores private keys and allows interaction with blockchains.

An individual or entity that holds a very large amount of cryptocurrency.

Earning returns by providing liquidity or staking tokens across DeFi protocols.