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Crypto glossary

Plain-word definitions of the terms you meet when you discover, buy and hold crypto tokens, with what to check before you trust a project.

Basics

Blockchain
A blockchain is a shared ledger of transactions grouped into linked blocks, verified by many independent computers so past records are hard to alter.
Cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency is a digital asset recorded on a blockchain, held with private keys, and transferable between wallets without a bank in the middle.
Token
A token is a digital asset issued by a smart contract on an existing blockchain, as opposed to a coin, which is the native currency of its own chain.
Altcoin
An altcoin is any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin, from major networks like Ethereum to tokens that one person launched yesterday.
Stablecoin
A stablecoin is a crypto token built to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar, so you can park funds or price other tokens without wild swings.
Crypto wallet
A crypto wallet holds the private keys that let you sign transactions and control your tokens on a blockchain. The coins themselves stay on-chain.
Private key
A private key is the secret number that proves you control a crypto address and signs its transactions. Whoever has it controls the funds.
Seed phrase
A seed phrase is a 12- to 24-word backup that lets a compatible wallet rebuild the private keys and accounts derived from it.
Hot wallet
A hot wallet is a crypto wallet whose private keys are accessible from an internet-connected device, like a phone app or browser extension.
Cold wallet
A cold wallet keeps your private keys offline, usually on a hardware device or a paper backup, so transactions are signed away from internet-connected machines.
Gas fee
A gas fee is the payment you make in a blockchain's native coin to have your transaction processed and recorded by the network's validators.
Smart contract
A smart contract is a program stored on a blockchain that runs exactly as written when called, holding funds and enforcing rules without a middleman.
dApp
A dApp is an app whose core logic runs as smart contracts on a blockchain, so users interact through a wallet instead of an account on a company's server.
Web3
Web3 is a loose term for apps built on public blockchains and smart contracts, often alongside normal servers, where a wallet replaces the login.
Mainnet
A mainnet is the live version of a blockchain, where fees are paid in real coins and tokens carry real value, unlike a testnet.
Testnet
A testnet is a separate copy of a blockchain where developers deploy and test code using tokens that have no real value.
Block explorer
A block explorer is a website for searching a blockchain's public data: transactions, wallet balances, token transfers, and smart contracts.
Market cap
Market cap is a token's price multiplied by its circulating supply, a quick measure of relative size that says little about real liquidity.
Fully diluted valuation (FDV)
Fully diluted valuation (FDV) is token price times max supply: the project's value if every token that will ever exist were already circulating.
Circulating supply
Circulating supply is the number of a token's units that are in public hands and free to trade, excluding locked, unvested, reserved, or burned tokens.
Total supply
Total supply is how many tokens currently exist, including locked and team-held ones but not burned ones. It is not circulating or max supply.
Max supply
Max supply is the hard cap on how many units of a coin or token can ever exist, set by protocol rules or the token's smart contract.

Trading

DEX
A DEX (decentralized exchange) lets you swap tokens from your own wallet through smart contracts, so you keep custody of your funds while trading.
CEX
A CEX is a centralized crypto exchange run by a company that holds your funds, matches orders, and handles listings, accounts, and identity checks.
Liquidity pool
A liquidity pool is a smart contract holding two tokens that traders swap against directly, with the price set by the ratio of the reserves.
Slippage
Slippage is the gap between the price quoted for a trade and the price it actually executes at, caused by price moves between quote and execution.
Limit order
A limit order buys or sells at a price you set or better and waits until the market reaches it. You control price, but a fill is never certain.
Bid-ask spread
The bid-ask spread is the gap between the best buy offer and the best sell offer for a pair on one venue, a built-in cost of trading at market.
Trading volume
Trading volume is the total value of a token bought and sold in a period, usually 24 hours. It measures trading activity, not how easily you can exit.
All-time high (ATH)
An all-time high (ATH) is the highest price a token has ever reached since it started trading, a reference point rather than a prediction.
FOMO
FOMO, or fear of missing out, is the urge to buy a fast-rising token because you fear being left behind, which often leads to poorly timed entries.
FUD
FUD stands for fear, uncertainty, and doubt: negative claims, true or false, that push people to sell a token or avoid it.
HODL
HODL is crypto slang for holding a token through price swings instead of selling. It comes from a 2013 forum typo and now means buy-and-keep.
Whale
A whale is a wallet holding enough of a token that its buys or sells can visibly move the price, especially in small, thinly traded markets.
Pump and dump
A pump and dump is a scheme that inflates a token's price with coordinated buying and hype, then sells into that demand, leaving late buyers with the losses.
Bull market
A bull market is a sustained period of rising prices and growing optimism, applied to a single token, a sector, or the whole crypto market.
Bear market
A bear market is a sustained period of falling prices and weak sentiment, usually defined as a drop of 20% or more from a recent peak.
Volatility
Volatility is how much and how fast a token's price swings. Higher volatility means bigger moves up and down, so gains and losses come quickly.
Dollar-cost averaging
Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) means buying a fixed dollar amount of an asset at regular intervals, whatever the price, to spread out your entry timing.
Stop-loss
A stop-loss is a preset order that sells a position once its price falls to a chosen level, aiming to limit how much a single trade loses.
Leverage
Leverage is trading a position larger than your own capital, through borrowing or margin, which magnifies both gains and losses.
Liquidation
Liquidation is the forced closing of a leveraged position when losses eat the collateral backing it, usually by an exchange or lending protocol.
Short selling
Short selling is a bet that a token's price will fall: you borrow it, sell it now, and buy it back later, profiting if the price dropped.
Arbitrage
Arbitrage is profiting from a price gap for the same asset across markets by buying where it is cheaper and selling where it is more expensive.
Sniper bot
A sniper bot is automated software that tries to buy a new token the moment it becomes tradable, ahead of ordinary traders.
MEV (Maximal extractable value)
MEV is the profit that block producers and bots capture by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions inside a block, often at traders' expense.

DeFi

DeFi (Decentralized finance)
DeFi is the set of financial apps, like exchanges, lending, and derivatives, that run on smart contracts instead of banks or brokers.
Automated market maker
An automated market maker is a smart contract that prices and swaps tokens from a pool using a formula, so trades need no order book or counterparty.
Impermanent loss
Impermanent loss is the value a liquidity provider gives up when pool token prices diverge, compared with simply holding the same tokens in a wallet.
Yield farming
Yield farming is putting crypto into DeFi protocols to earn fees, interest, or reward tokens, in exchange for taking smart contract and price risk.
Staking
Staking means locking crypto in a network or smart contract to help secure it or earn rewards, usually with a lock-up period and risks beyond price moves.
Liquid staking
Liquid staking lets you stake proof-of-stake coins and get a tradable receipt token back, so your staked funds can still be used in DeFi.
APY (Annual percentage yield)
APY is the yearly return on a deposit including compounding, so it assumes earnings are reinvested; APR is the simple rate without compounding.
TVL
TVL (total value locked) is the dollar value of all crypto deposited in a DeFi protocol's smart contracts, used as a rough measure of its size and liquidity.
Lending protocol
A lending protocol is a set of smart contracts that lets users lend crypto to earn interest or borrow against collateral, with no bank or credit check.
Flash loan
A flash loan is an uncollateralized DeFi loan that must be borrowed and repaid within a single transaction, or the whole transaction is reversed.
Oracle
An oracle is a service that feeds outside data, usually asset prices, into a blockchain so smart contracts can use it. Bad oracles cause real losses.
Governance token
A governance token gives holders voting power over a protocol's decisions, such as fee changes, treasury spending, and contract upgrades.
DAO
A DAO is a group that manages funds or a protocol through smart contracts and token-holder votes. Learn how voting works and what to check before trusting one.
Wrapped token
A wrapped token is a token issued against another asset, usually 1:1, so that asset can be used in a different format or on a different blockchain.
Cross-chain bridge
A cross-chain bridge moves value between blockchains by locking or pooling tokens on one chain and releasing equivalent tokens on another.
Liquidity provider
A liquidity provider deposits tokens into a DEX pool so others can trade against it, earning a share of swap fees in return.
Perpetual futures
Perpetual futures are leveraged contracts that track a crypto's price with no expiry date, kept close to spot through regular funding payments.

Security and scams

Honeypot
A honeypot is a token whose contract lets people buy but blocks or cripples their sells, trapping holders while the deployer cashes out.
Rug pull
A rug pull is when a project's creators drain liquidity or sell hidden supply, leaving buyers holding tokens that can no longer be sold for anything.
Liquidity lock
A liquidity lock puts a token's DEX pool shares into a time-locked contract so the creator cannot withdraw the paired funds until the lock ends.
Token tax
A token tax is a fee coded into a token's contract that takes a percentage of each buy, sell, or transfer and sends it to a set wallet or mechanism.
Renounced ownership
Renounced ownership means a token contract's owner role was given up, usually set to the zero address, so owner-only functions can no longer be called.
Proxy contract
A proxy contract forwards calls to a separate logic contract, letting developers change a token's code later without changing its address.
Mint function
A mint function is code in a token contract that creates new tokens; if a privileged wallet can call it freely, supply can be inflated at will.
Smart contract audit
A smart contract audit is a security review of a project's contract code by independent specialists, looking for bugs, exploits, and risky admin powers.
KYC (Know your customer)
KYC is the identity check regulated crypto services require; for token projects it can also mean the team verified its identity with a third party.
Phishing
Phishing is a scam that tricks you into revealing your seed phrase or signing a malicious transaction through fake sites, messages, or support agents.
Token approval
A token approval is permission you give a smart contract to move a set amount of a token from your wallet, often needed before swapping or depositing.
Blacklist function
A blacklist function is token contract code that lets an owner block specific wallets from transferring or selling their tokens.
Wallet drainer
A wallet drainer is malicious code, usually behind a fake site, that tricks you into signing transactions or approvals that empty your wallet.
Dusting attack
A dusting attack sends tiny amounts of crypto or junk tokens to many wallets to track their owners or lure them into scams.
Multisig
A multisig is a wallet that needs several separate keys to approve a transaction, such as 3 of 5 signers, instead of one private key.
Anti-whale
Anti-whale rules are token contract limits, like a max wallet or max transaction size, meant to stop single buyers from holding or dumping too much.

Tokens and launches

Meme coin
A meme coin is a token driven mainly by an internet joke, mascot, or community culture rather than by a product or cash flow.
Utility token
A utility token is a crypto token designed to be used inside a product or network, for example to pay fees, access features, or vote.
Presale
A presale is a round where a project sells its tokens to early buyers, usually at a fixed price, before they trade publicly on any exchange.
ICO
An ICO, or initial coin offering, is a public token sale where a project raises money by selling new tokens directly to buyers.
IDO
An IDO, or initial DEX offering, is a token sale run through a decentralized launchpad, with trading starting on a DEX right after.
Fair launch
A fair launch releases a token to everyone at the same time and terms, with no presale, private round, or team allocation before trading.
Airdrop
An airdrop is a free distribution of tokens to wallets, usually to reward early users, build a community, or spread out ownership.
Vesting
Vesting locks tokens given to teams, investors, or presale buyers and releases them gradually over time instead of all at once.
Token burn
A token burn permanently removes tokens from circulation, usually by sending them to an address nobody can spend from, reducing supply.
Tokenomics
Tokenomics is the economic design of a token: how much supply exists, who holds it, how new tokens enter circulation, and what drives demand.
Whitelist
A whitelist is a list of approved wallet addresses allowed to do something others cannot, such as buying early in a presale or minting an NFT first.
Launchpad
A launchpad is a platform that helps new crypto projects raise funds and distribute tokens, usually through a presale or IDO before trading starts.
Exchange listing
An exchange listing is when a centralized exchange adds a token for trading, giving it new buyers, new trading pairs, and usually deeper liquidity.
Stealth launch
A stealth launch is when a token goes live on a DEX with no presale and no advance announcement, so nobody knows the exact time or contract beforehand.
Deflationary token
A deflationary token is designed so its supply shrinks over time, usually by burning a share of tokens on each transaction or through regular buybacks.
Reflection token
A reflection token charges a fee on each transaction and automatically redistributes part of it to all holders in proportion to their balance.
NFT
An NFT (non-fungible token) is a unique blockchain token that represents ownership of a specific item, such as artwork, a collectible, or an in-game asset.
GameFi
GameFi combines blockchain games with decentralized finance, letting players own in-game items as tokens or NFTs and earn crypto rewards.
Metaverse
In crypto, the metaverse means shared virtual worlds where land, avatars, and items are owned as tokens or NFTs and can be traded on-chain.
Play-to-earn
Play-to-earn (P2E) is a blockchain game model where players earn tokens or NFTs with market value for playing, winning, or completing tasks.
Real-world assets (RWA)
Real-world assets (RWA) are tokens that represent off-chain assets such as government bonds, real estate, gold, or private credit on a blockchain.

Blockchain technology

Proof of work
Proof of work is a consensus mechanism where miners spend computing power solving puzzles to add blocks, making it costly to rewrite the chain's history.
Proof of stake
Proof of stake is a consensus mechanism where validators lock up tokens as collateral to propose and confirm blocks, and can lose part of them for cheating.
Layer 1
A Layer 1 is a base blockchain, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Solana, that orders, validates, and finalizes its own transactions with its own native coin.
Layer 2
A Layer 2 is a network built on top of a base blockchain that processes transactions off the main chain and settles them back to it for lower fees.
Rollup
A rollup is a Layer 2 that executes transactions off-chain, then posts their data and a proof or claim to a base chain, inheriting much of its security.
EVM
The EVM, or Ethereum Virtual Machine, is the runtime that executes smart contracts on Ethereum and on many compatible chains like BNB Chain and Base.
ERC-20
ERC-20 is the standard set of functions that fungible tokens on Ethereum and EVM chains implement so wallets, exchanges, and DEXs can handle them.
BEP-20
BEP-20 is the token standard on BNB Smart Chain, essentially the same as ERC-20, with fees paid in BNB instead of ETH.
SPL token
An SPL token is a token on Solana created through the shared SPL Token Program, with each holder's balance kept in a separate token account.
Consensus mechanism
A consensus mechanism is the set of rules a blockchain's nodes use to agree on which transactions are valid and in what order, without a central party.
Validator
A validator is a node operator in a proof-of-stake blockchain that stakes coins to propose and vote on blocks, earning rewards and risking penalties.
Halving
A halving is a scheduled cut that halves the new coins miners earn per block, most famously in Bitcoin, where it happens every 210,000 blocks.
Hard fork
A hard fork is a blockchain rule change that old software rejects, so every node must upgrade or end up following a separate chain.
Node
A node is a computer running blockchain software that stores the ledger, checks transactions and blocks against the rules, and relays them to peers.
Mempool
The mempool is the waiting area where valid but unconfirmed transactions sit until a miner or validator includes them in a block.

Educational content, not investment advice. Crypto-assets are volatile: you can lose all the money you put in.

Crypto-assets are volatile and high risk: you can lose all your money. Coinvote is an information and community platform, not investment advice. Rankings reflect votes, and promoted listings are paid ads. Disclaimer Impersonation or content removal