ACADEMY
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Basics

Glossary

Glossary

Academy

One of our main focuses is providing a step-by-step guide for everyone that is new to cryptocurrency and would like to expand their knowledge and understand every aspect of it. Because the crypto space is evolving at such a rapid pace, there is a lot of confusion and misinformation around it. To help steer the newcomers into the right direction and combat misinformation, we created the NewsCrypto academy, which covers all important topics of cryptocurrencies: from the basics on what a blockchain is and how it works, to all the other topics you need to know about, such as security, privacy, NFTs, DeFi and much more.

 

Account

An account is an arrangement with an exchange or other service provider that allows you to deposit, withdraw and trade specific assets.

 

Account Balance

Account balance refers to the amount in a bank/cryptocurrency account that can be accessed immediately. On the other hand, in accounting, account balance refers to the sum obtained from the difference between all debit and credit transactions posted to a company’s account.

 

Account Number

An account number is a string of numbers (and sometimes letters) that is used to identify a specific bank account and the account holder (in the case of exchanges, this is referred to as the User ID (UID)).

 

Accounting Token

Accounting tokens are essentially tokenized credit or debit entries (IOU/UOM), just like any spreadsheet-based accounting system.

 

Accumulation Phase

The accumulation phase is a stage in the market cycle right after a downtrend, where larger investors slowly buy large amounts, signaling a positive uptrend soon.



Accumulation/Distribution Indicator
Ambassador Program
Atomic Swap
Edge Nodes
P2P bridge
QR Code
Saige (AI Price Sentiment Tool)
Validator
Wallet
x86 Virtual Machine (Qtum)
Zero Confirmation Transaction

The accumulation/distribution indicator determines the supply and demand level of a stock/asset/cryptocurrency by multiplying the closing price of a specific period with volume.

 

Acquisition

An acquisition is buying out another company by purchasing a controlling stake.



Acquisition Premium

Acquisition premium refers to the price difference between the price paid for a company and its assessed market value.

 

Active Management

Active management requires a manager, or a team of managers, to actively manage a portfolio.


Activist Investor

An activist investor is an individual or institution seeking to gain a controlling stake in a company to instigate changes.


Adaptive State Sharding

Used by Elrond, Adaptive State Sharding is an approach that combines all types of sharding into one to improve communication and performance.

Address

A place where cryptocurrency can be sent to and from, in the form of a string of letters and numbers. The address is derived from the public key of a wallet, and functions like an email address: if you know someone's wallet address, you can send them coins or tokens, but in order to access the wallet yourself and spend from it, you need the private key (which is analogous to the password of an email account). NEVER give out your private key to anyone, regardless of what they say or who they claim to be.

Adoption Curve

Adoption curve indicates the pace of adoption of a new technology by people. It may also involve segregation of the target audience to understand the market's willingness.

 

Advance/Decline Line (A/D Line)

The A/D line is a technical indicator that plots the difference between the advancing and declining issues in the stock market on a daily basis

 

Aeternity Blockchain

A blockchain network that works on a hybrid consensus approach; both Proof of Work and Proof of Stake.

   

Affiliate

An affiliation is a connection between two firms where one company has a small stake in the other company. The concept also applies to the connection between two companies that are owned by the same parent company.

 

Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is a kind of promotion technique where a business pays a person or entity a commission for promoting their goods and services in order to increase sales.

 

Agent

An agent is a third party that has been given the legal right to represent a business (the "principal") and enter into contracts on that business' behalf.

 

Aggregate Demand

In an economy, aggregate demand is the total demand for all finished services and goods produced by that economy.

 

Aggressive Investment Strategy

An aggressive investment strategy is a high-risk investment strategy that aims to generate the maximum possible returns in financial markets.

 

Air Gap

If data cannot be accessed, then it cannot be infected or corrupted — this is the concept of an air gap.

 

Airdrop

A marketing campaign that distributes a specific cryptocurrency or token to an audience.

 

Airnode

Airnode is an oracle node and API blockchain gateway that is readily deployed by API providers who want to engage in the API3 blockchain protocol and put their data feeds on-chain.

Algo-Trading (Algorithmic Trading)

Algo-trading is an automated trading system where buy and sell orders are placed according to the rules of a computer program or algorithm.

 

Algorithm

A process or set of rules to be followed in problem-solving or calculation operations, usually by a computer.

 

Algorithmic Market Operations (AMOs)

Algorithmic Market Operations (AMOs) automatically control the supply of algorithmic stablecoins in order to improve scalability, decentralization, and transparency.

 

Algorithmic Stablecoin

An algorithmic stablecoin actually uses an algorithm underneath, which can issue more coins when its price increases and buy them off the market when the price falls.

 

All Risks Coverage

It refers to a type of insurance coverage that automatically covers any risk that the contract does not explicitly omit.

 

All-Time-High (ATH)

The highest point (in price, in market capitalization) that a cryptocurrency has been in history.

All-Time-Low (ATL)

The lowest point (in price, in market capitalization) that a cryptocurrency has been in history.

Allocation

Allocation is the allotment of equity or tokens that may be earned, bought, or reserved for a specific team, group, investor, institution, or another similar entity.

 

Allocation Efficiency

Allocation efficiency is allocating resources in a manner to optimize the efficiency of the organization

 

Allotment

Allotment refers to the systematic distribution or assignment of resources in a business to various entities over time.

 

Alpha

Alpha is a financial tool indicating an investment’s performance relative to the benchmark index in the market.

 

Alpha Version

Alpha version is typically a preliminary version of the software, released to test its usability and interface.

 

Alphanumeric

Alphanumeric phrases consist of both letters and numerals, or characters.

 

Altcoin

As Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency that captured the world’s imagination, all other coins were subsequently termed “altcoins,” as in “alternative coins.”

 

Altcoin Trader

A person who trades cryptocurrencies other than Bitcoin.

 

Alternative Investments

Alternative investments are assets that have low correlation and can achieve different risk-adjusted returns than traditional equity and fixed income investments.

 

Amalgamation

An amalgamation is the merging of two or more organizations that should be recognized as separate legal entities by the jurisdiction’s laws.

 



Newscrypto ambassadors are vital to the growth of our community and the crypto space in general. Whether you are a social media guru, community manager, language expert, content creator, marketing wizard, business advisor, translator, or someone who is spending your time talking about crypto to others, you fit our Ambassador program!

 

AMLD5

The European Union’s 5th Anti-Money Laundering Directive (AMDL5) is an update to the union’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework.

 

Anarcho-capitalism

A political philosophy originally conceived by American economist Murray Rothbard that has now been embraced by many members of the crypto community.

 

aNFT (Autonomous NFT)

aNFTs (autonomous NFTs) are non-fungible tokens that can be programmed to initiate their own transactions. Every aNFT is a self-contained, self-executing entity that can be designed to do any on-chain action in response to any on and off-chain condition.

 

Angel Investor

A person who financially backs a new business venture or startup.

 

Annual Percentage Rate (APR)

The amount of interest a borrower must pay each year is known as the annual percentage rate (APR). The annual percentage rate (APR) is determined by multiplying the periodic interest rate by the number of periods in a year that the periodic rate is used.

 

Annual Percentage Yield (APY)

Annual percentage yield (APY) is the rate of return gained over the course of a year on a specific investment. Compounding interest, which is computed on a regular basis and applied to the amount, is factored into the APY.

 

Anonymous

Anonymity is when someone's identity is not known or named.

 

Anti-Fragile

A quality attached to an asset that means it performs better when exposed to volatility and shocks.

 

Anti-Malware

Anti-Malware is a type of application software that prevents, detects, and removes malware from computers & electronic devices.

 

Anti-Money Laundering (AML)

A set of international laws enacted to curtail criminal organizations or individuals laundering money through cryptocurrencies (or other means).

 

Antivirus

A piece of software designed to protect against malicious software and cyber attacks in general.

 

Apeing

Apeing is when a cryptocurrency trader buys a token shortly after the token project launch without conducting thorough research.

 

API

API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. APIs specify how software components should interact, such as what data to use and what actions should be taken.

 

Application Layer

The top-most layer of a multi-layered software model.

 

AR Token (Arweave)

AR is Arweave’s native token.


Arbitrage

While buying and selling the cryptocurrency simultaneously on two exchanges can be done fairly easily, spotting such opportunities manually is extremely tough as it requires a lot of your precious time and attention. Additionally, such opportunities don’t last long and you need to be able to act quickly on the market differences. To solve this challenge we offer an arbitrage analysis tool that enables you to profit on these opportunities without having to manually do all the hard work.

 

Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT)

The arbitrage pricing theory (APT) offers a framework for evaluating market efficiency and identifying arbitrage opportunities in financial markets.

 

Arbitrageur

An arbitrageur is a type of investor who exploits pricing inefficiencies between two different markets.

 

Arm Virtual Machine (Qtum)

Qtum’s arm virtual machine allows users to execute applications in a decentralized manner.

 

Aroon Indicator

Aroon Indicator is used to identify the existence, changes, and corrective retracements and gauge the strength of an ongoing trend in financial markets.

 

Ashdraked

The complete loss of a trader's total invested capital, specifically as a result of shorting Bitcoin.

 

ASIC

An acronym for application-specific integrated circuit — a device designed for the sole purpose of mining cryptocurrencies.

 

ASIC-Resistant

This term usually applies to blockchains and mining algorithms, designed to give no benefit for ASICs over consumer grade hardware.

 

Ask Price

The minimum price that a seller is willing to accept for an asset. The ask price is also sometimes referred to as the offer price.

 

Asset-Backed Tokens

Asset-backed tokens are digital claims on a physical asset and are backed by that asset.

 

Assets Under Management (AUM)

Assets under management measures the total market values of all the funds controlled by an individual or financial institution on behalf of their clients.

 

Astroturfing

The practice of disguising marketing campaigns or otherwise sponsored messaging as the unprompted views of genuine community members.

 

Asynchronous

Events that do not occur simultaneously or at the same rate are referred to as asynchronous.

 


The transfer of cryptocurrency from one party to another, without the use of an exchange or other intermediary.

 

AtomicDEX

AtomicDEX offers a cryptocurrency wallet and DEX in one application that is available for multiple platforms.

 

Attestation Ledger

An attestation ledger is an account book designed to provide evidence of individual transactions. It is generally used to “attest” that a financial transaction took place, or to prove authenticity of transactions or products.

 

Auction

An auction is a public sale through a bidding process where an asset is sold to the highest bidder.

 

Audit

An audit is a process where developers inspect the underlying code and/or algorithm that compose systems and applications.

 

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented Reality (AR) is an immersive experience that improves the value and usage of real-world items using computer-generated intuitive information sent through a variety of sensory modalities such as sound, touch, smell, and sight.

 

Authentication

Authentication is a process that confirms a user's identity using passwords, SMS codes, fingerprints, and other forms of ownership proofs before granting access to sensitive and/or personal information.

 

Authority Masternode (VeChain)

An authority masternode (AM) is a network-connected server that runs the VeChainThor full node program.

 

Automated Market Maker (AMM)

An automated market maker (AMM) is a system that provides liquidity for trades in decentralized exchanges that don't use orderbooks.

 

Autonomous Economic Agent (AEA)

A solution (software entity) by Fetch.ai and IOTA foundation that can take actions without external input using its own intelligence for the economic benefit of the owner.

 

Average Annual Growth Rate (AAGR)

It is the mean return of an individual investment, portfolio, asset or cash flow on an annual basis.

 

Average Annual Return (AAR)

Average Annual Return (AAR) refers to a percentage derived when reporting the historical return.

 

Average Directional Index (ADX)

The average directional index (ADX) is a technical indicator that measures how strong a market trend is by using price moving averages and is represented by figures ranging between 1 and 100, where a larger value suggesting a stronger trend.

 

Average Return

The average return is the mean value of a sequence of returns generated over a specified period of time.

 

Backtesting Bot

The Backtesting Bot uses our own proprietary algorithms to automatically detect the most important patterns on the price charts of top cryptocurrencies. Apart from simply detecting the patterns, it also calculates the technical price target and looks at how many of the patterns hit it, giving you a success rate expressed as a percentage. Next to these data you can also see the historical success rates for the chosen pattern and trading pair, which lets you see how the probability of trades taken based on the pattern changes over time.

Bag

Crypto slang for a large quantity of a specific cryptocurrency. Alternatively (but less frequently) used to refer to the contents of an individual's crypto portfolio.

 

Bagholder

An investor who continues to hold large amounts of a specific coin or token, regardless of its performance.

 

Bakers

Baking is the process that Tezos uses in order to append new blocks of transactions to its blockchain.

 

Baking

Baking is a process that is used by Tezos in order to append new blocks of transactions onto its blockchain.

 

Bandwidth

The quantity of data capacity available for transactional activity on a network is known as bandwidth.

 

Bank for International Settlements (BIS)

The BIS is an international financial institution that aims to promote global monetary stability.

 

Banking as a Service (BaaS)

BaaS platforms provides a higher level of financial transparency options by letting banks open up their APIs for third parties in order to develop new services.

 

Banking Secrecy Act (BSA)

The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) was implemented in the United States in 1970 to prevent criminals from concealing or laundering their illegal gains.

 

Basket

A basket, when used in the cryptocurrency space, refers to a collection of digital currencies managed as a single asset.

 

Batch Auctions

Batch auctions are a trading mechanism in which individual orders are grouped together and executed simultaneously.

 

Beacon Chain

A blockchain that coordinates shard chains, manages staking and the registry of validators in a PoS cryptocurrency, such as Ethereum 2.0.

 

Bear

Someone who believes that prices in a given market will decline over a given period. Such a person might be referred to as “bearish.”

 

Bear Market

When prices of are in a consistent downtrend, it is called a bear market. As a result, investor confidence is low, and the economy and market turn pessimistic.

 

Bear Trap

The attempted manipulation of a specific cryptocurrency’s price, based on the coordinated activity of a group of traders, in order to encourage bearish traders to open short positions, only for the price to sting higher and liquidate them.

 

Bearwhale

A bearwhale is a person who has a high number of cryptocurrencies and uses their massive account to drive the price down and profit out of it. 

 

Benchmark

Benchmarking is a method of comparing the performance of your asset or investment portfolio to that of similar assets to see whether there is a gap that can be bridged by increasing performance indicators.

 

Benchmark Index

A benchmark index is a popular index security that is used as a gauge or benchmark, against which the progress of the broader market may be tracked.

 

BEP-2 (Binance Chain Tokenization Standard)

A technical standard for tokens on Binance Chain.

 

BEP-20

BEP-20 is a Binance Smart Chain token standard created with the intention of extending ERC-20.

 

BEP-721

BEP-721 is a Binance Smart Chain (BSC) token standard that enables the generation of non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It is considered to be an extension of ERC-721 that is one of the most popular NFT standards.

 

BEP-95 (Bruno Hard Fork Upgrade)

Binance Evolution Protocol (BEP-95) is the Bruno hard fork upgrade that aims to speed up the BNB token burning process.

 

Beta (Release)

A software pre-release stage where its access is offered to a set number of users & third-party software testers for testing it under real-world settings.

 

Bid Price

The cost that someone is willing to pay for a security, asset, commodity, service, or contract is referred to as a bid price.

 

Bid-Ask Spread

Bid-ask spread is the difference between the highest price which a buyer is willing to pay for an asset and the lowest price that a seller is willing to accept.

 

Big Tech

The biggest technological corporations, for example Facebook, Apple, Google, and Amazon, are referred to as "Big Tech" as they enjoy the biggest shares in their respective industries.

 

Binance Labs

Binance Labs is a project to nurture, invest in, and develop blockchain and cryptocurrency businesses, initiatives, and communities, as well as a social impact fund.

 

Binance Launchpad

Binance Launchpad offers crypto startups a platform to raise capital and market their projects to millions of crypto investors in the Binance ecosystem.

 

Binary Code

Binary code is a two-symbol system that is based on numbers, "0" and "1," to represent text, computer processor commands, or any other type of data.

 

Bit

A bit is a basic unit of information in computing, equal to either a “1” or a “0” in binary code.

 

Bitcoin

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.

 

Bitcoin ATM (BTM)

An automated teller machine (ATM or cashpoint) that allows the user to buy and sell Bitcoin.

 

Bitcoin DApps

Decentralized applications (DApps) running on Bitcoin-powered blockchains while benefiting from the core features of the Bitcoin network are known as Bitcoin DApps.

 

Bitcoin Dominance (BTCD)

Bitcoin Dominance is a metric that determines how much share of the overall crypto market share is owned by Bitcoin.

 

Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)

The standard format for documents proposing changes to Bitcoin.

 

Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI)

The Bitcoin Misery Index (BMI) is used by investors as an investment tool that ranges from 0 to 100.

 

Bitcoin NFTs

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) minted on Bitcoin-powered blockchains and secured by the Bitcoin network are known as Bitcoin NFTs.

 

Bitcoin Pizza

Bitcoin Pizza refers to the infamous transaction where a guy, named Laszlo Hanyecz, paid 10,000 Bitcoins for two pizzas making it the first business transaction of Bitcoin in the real world.

 

Bitcoiner

A person who is bullish on Bitcoin and/or believes that it will become much more important in global finance.

 

Bitcointalk

Bitcointalk is the most popular online forum dedicated to Bitcoin, cryptocurrency and blockchain technology.

 

BitLicense

A business license permitting regulated virtual currency activities, issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services.

 

BitPay

BitPay is a crypto payment service provider.

 

Black Hat Hacker

Black hat hackers usually use malware to penetrate into computerized networks and systems to steal data.

 

Black Swan Event

A black swan event, also known as black swan occurrences, is a metaphor for an unexpected event that has a significant impact.

 

Block

A file containing information on transactions completed during a given time period. Blocks are the constituent parts of a blockchain.

 

Block Explorer

An application enabling a user to view details of blocks on a given blockchain. Also known as a blockchain browser.

 

Block Header

A block header is a unique identifier for a block on a blockchain that is hashed on a continuous basis to supply proof-of-work for mining incentives.

 

Block Height

A value describing the number of blocks preceding a given block in the blockchain.

 

Block Producer

A block producer (BP) is a person or group whose hardware is chosen to verify a block's transactions and begin the next block on most Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains.

 

Block Reward

The coins awarded to a miner or group of miners for solving the cryptographic problem required to create a new block on a given blockchain.

 

Block Size

In blockchain technology, block size refers to the amount of data about transactions a single block in the chain can carry.

 

Block Time

Block time refers to the approximate time it takes for a blockchain-based system to produce a new block.

 

Block Trade

A block trade is a large-scale purchase or sale of securities that occur outside of an open market. It uses blockhouse as a financial intermediary to aid investors with risk management.

 

Blockchain

A distributed ledger system. A sequence of blocks, or units of digital information, stored consecutively in a public database. The basis for cryptocurrencies.

 

Blockchain 1.0

Blockchain 1.0 is the first generation of blockchain technology, which focuses on cryptocurrency and decentralization.

 

Blockchain 2.0

Blockchain 2.0 is an extension to blockchain 1.0 as it introduced the concept of decentralization of business and markets through smart contracts and improved security and transparency.

 

Blockchain 3.0

Blockchain 3.0 is the final developmental stage of blockchain technology, which predicts global, institutional and enterprise adoption.

 

Blockchain Explorer

A blockchain explorer is simply a search engine allowing users to browse through blockchain records.

 

Blockchain Mutual Credit

Blockchain mutual credit is a framework within which stable cryptocurrencies can be derived from multilateral exchange networks.

 

Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP)

Blockchain Transmission Protocol (BTP) enables isolated blockchains to operate as a fully decentralized settlement layer by securely anchoring transactions using a protocol that is universal.

 

Blockchain Trilemma

The blockchain trilemma is the set of three issues that plague blockchains: decentralization, security and scalability.

 

Blockchain-Enabled Smart Locks

Blockchain-enabled smart locks solve many security issues and can be locked or unlocked based on the state of a variable that is embedded in a smart contract.

 

Bollinger Band

A tool developed by Bollinger to help in the recognition of systemic pattern recognition in prices; it is a band that is plotted two standard deviations away from the simple moving average, or exponential moving average in some cases.

 

Bonding Curve

A bonding curve is a mathematical curve that defines the relationship between the price and the supply of a given asset.

 

Bot

Automated software that can carry out tasks such as cryptocurrency trades.

 

Bounty

A cryptocurrency bounty is a reward users receive for performing tasks assigned by a given blockchain or project.

Bridges

A blockchain bridge allows the transfer of data or tokens between two different blockchain networks.

 

Browser Extension

A browser extension is a plugin for an internet browser that adds additional features.

 

Brute Force Attack (BFA)

An attempt to crack a password or key through automated trial and error.

 

Bubble

When an asset is traded at a price exceeding that asset's intrinsic value.

 

Bug Bounty

A reward offered for the identification of vulnerabilities in software.

 

Bug Exploit

A bug exploit is an attack that takes advantage of a system's vulnerabilities.

 

Bull

A person that is optimistic and confident that market prices will increase, this person is also known to be "bullish" about the market or price.

 

Bull Market

A bull market in crypto and stock markets refers to a time during which the prices of assets grow dramatically. These markets act as a source of motivation for both investors and purchasers. This is not a permanent state, although it can linger for months or even years.

 

Bull Run

A bull run (also known as a bull trend) is a period of time in the financial market during which the values of certain assets are constantly rising.

 

Bull Trap

A bull trap occurs when a steadily declining asset appears to reverse and go upward, but soon resumes its downward trend.

 

Burn/Burned

Cryptocurrency tokens or coins are considered “burned” when they have been purposely and permanently removed from circulation.

 

Buy The (F*******) Dip (BTD/BTFD)

An enthusiastic exclamation by supporters of a cryptocurrency to buy while prices are at a low point.

 

Buy Wall

A buy wall is a disproportionately large buy limit order placed on a cryptocurrency exchange.

 

Byron Phase

Byron Phase is the first phase of Cardano that was released in September 2017.

 

Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT)

Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) is the property of a computer system that allows it to reach consensus regardless of the failure of some of its components.

 

Byzantine Generals’ Problem

A situation where communication that requires consensus on a single strategy from all members within a group or party cannot be trusted or verified.

 

Byzantium Fork

The Byzantium hard fork was geared towards making Ethereum's smart contracts suitable for usage in the commercial space and to increase the speed of the transactions with an enhancement in the security on its blockchain

 

C++

C++ is an extension of the C programming language that allows cross-platform developments and capabilities.

 

Call Options

Call options are financial contracts that give an option buyer the right, but not the obligation, to purchase a stock, bond, commodity or other asset at a specific price.

 

Candlesticks

A candlestick chart is a graphing technique used to show changes in price over time. Each candle provides 4 points of information opening price, closing price, high, and low. Also known as “candles” for short.

 

Capital

Capital is most commonly defined as the sum of money you would use to invest.

 

Capital Efficiency

Capital efficiency is the ratio that compares the spending of a company on their revenue and how much they are receiving in return in the way of profits. In crypto, it refers to the extent to which yield is maximized by allocating capital in the most efficient manner.

 

Capital Funds

Capital funding is the money provided in the form of debt or equity to operate a company.

 

Capitulation

Capitulation is the process of selling assets or cryptocurrencies at a significant loss because you have lost hope or belief that it will ever increase in price.

 

Cascading Liquidations

Cascading liquidation refers to an event where liquidations pile on top of each other, resulting in a sudden price change.

 

Cash

Cash is the most liquid form of money: physical coins and banknotes in the narrowest sense of the term. Sometimes it refers to fiat money in general.

 

CeDeFi

CeDeFi, or centralized decentralized finance, combines traditional centralized financial services with decentralized applications, merging conventional regulatory policies with modern financial products and infrastructure.

 

Censorship

Censorship is the act of altering, suppressing, or prohibiting speech, writing or other activities (such as financial transactions) that are considered detrimental by a government.

 

Censorship Resistance

Censorship resistance refers to the idea that no party can prevent anyone from participating in a given platform or network.

 

Central Bank

In contemporary economies, the central bank is responsible for the formulation and transmission of monetary policy, as well as for the regulation of member banks.

 

Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)

CBDCs are digital currencies issued by a central bank whose status as legal tender depends on government regulation or law.

 

Central Ledger

A central ledger is a physical book or a computer file used to record transactions in a centralized manner.

 

Central Processing Unit (CPU)

A central processing unit (CPU) is the part of a computer that is in charge of interpreting and executing programs and coordinating the work of all other components.

 

Centralized

A centralized organizational structure is one in which a single entity or a small number of them are in control of an entire network.

 

Centralized Exchange (CEX)

Centralized exchanges (CEXs) are a type of cryptocurrency exchange that is operated by a company that owns it in a centralized manner.

 

Centre (Consortium)

A member-based consortium by Coinbase and Circle to manage USD Coin (USDC).



Chain Reorganization

Chain reorganization is a process in blockchain technology that allows node operators to replace blocks and adopt new ones, in order to alter the order of transactions.

 

Chain Split

Chain splits are another term used to describe cryptocurrency forks — the separation of a single original coin into several independently managed projects.

 

Change

Change — a concept relevant to cryptocurrencies that use the UTXO model — is the number of coins sent back to a user after they use their unspent outputs to initiate a transaction.

 

Change Address

In cryptocurrencies, a change address is where the change from a transaction is temporarily stored before it is returned to the sender wallet.

Chargeback

A chargeback is the return of money to the payer of a certain transaction, most commonly one that was made with a credit or debit card.

 

Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME)

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) is one of the largest exchanges dealing in the trading of futures and options in the United States.

 

Chunk (NEAR)

Chunk is a fraction of each block produced as a result of sharding in the NEAR protocol.

 

Cipher

A cipher is any algorithm that can be used to encrypt and decrypt information.

 

Ciphertext

Ciphertext is a result of encryption that has been performed on plaintext through the usage of an algorithm

 

Circle

Circle is the Fintech firm behind USDC.

 

Circulating Supply

The best approximation of the number of coins that are circulating in the market and in the general public’s hands.

 

Client

A client is software that can access and process blockchain transactions on a local computer. A common application of this is a cryptocurrency software wallet.

 

Close

Refers to the closing price; similar to the same term used in stock trading.

 

Cloud

Cloud servers are used to store data and run programs, and they’re typically located throughout different data centers all over the world.

 

Cloud Mining

Cryptocurrency mining with remote processing power rented from companies.

 

Co-Signer

A person or entity that has partial control and access over a cryptocurrency wallet.

 

Code

The action of coding is to write programming statements for a program.

 

Coin

A coin can refer to a cryptocurrency that can operate independently or to a single unit of such cryptocurrency.

 

Coin Mixer

Coin mixers allow users to mix up transactions between different cryptocurrency addresses, so they become untraceable and cannot be followed back to the initial sender or receiver of the assets.

 

Coinbase

In mineable cryptocurrencies, a coinbase is the number of coins that are generated from scratch and awarded to miners for mining every new block. Coinbase is also the name of a prominent US-based cryptocurrency exchange.

 

Coinbase Transaction

The first transaction in a new block is a coinbase transaction in which the miner receives the block reward.

 

Cold Storage

Offline storage of cryptocurrencies, typically involving hardware non-custodial wallets, USBs, offline computers, or paper wallets.

 

Cold Wallet

A cryptocurrency wallet that is in cold storage, i.e. not connected to the internet.

 

Collateral

Collateral is any asset that a lender accepts as a form of security to ensure that the borrower repays a loan.

 

Collateral Cap

Collateral cap is a security feature designed to diversify protocol-wide lending risk away from any one asset.

 

Collateral Factor

Collateral Factor is the maximum amount a user can borrow, represented in percentages, based on the total amount of assets supplied.

 

Collateral Tokens

In cryptocurrency, collateral tokens are used as a risk mitigation asset when borrowing other types of crypto tokens.

 

Collateralization

Collateralization is the process of using one asset as insurance for securing a loan in a different asset.

 

Collateralized Debt Obligation

A collateralized debt obligation (CDO) represents a mixture of loans and assets that are offered to big investment firms with a lot of capital.

 

Collateralized Debt Position (CDP)

A collateralized debt position is held by locking collateral in smart contracts to generate stablecoins.

 

Collateralized Mortgage Obligation (CMO)

A collateralized mortgage obligation (CMO) is essentially a bundle of numerous mortgages combined in a package and sold to investors.

 

Collateralized Stablecoin

A “collateralized stablecoin” is a stablecoin that is entirely or almost entirely backed by collateral held in a reserve.

 

Commingling

Commingling of funds is a method of combining all funds from different investors into a single investment in order to maximize the benefits.

 

Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is an independent federal regulatory agency responsible for regulation the U.S. derivatives market.

 

COMP Token

The native asset of the Compound protocol.

 

Composable DeFi

Composable DeFi refers to the interoperability between different DeFi protocols. It enables a multitude of DeFi applications to work along and create a wide range of new use cases and financial products.

 

Composable Token

A composable token is an ERC-998 token, a standard extension to any non-fungible token, adding the ability for non-fungible tokens to own other non-fungible (ERC-721) and fungible (ERC-20) tokens.

 

Concentrated Liquidity

Concentrated liquidity allows traders to provide liquidity only to a specified price range of a trading pair; it greatly improves the capital efficiency for LPs and opens up the door to a whole number of liquidity provision strategies in the process (for example in Uniswap V3).

 

Confirmation

In cryptocurrency, a confirmation is a measure of how many blocks have actually passed since a transaction was added to a blockchain.

 

Confirmations

A cryptocurrency transaction is considered confirmed when it is included in a block on the blockchain. Each new block after the first one is an additional confirmation for that transaction.

 

Consensus

Consensus is achieved when all participants of the network agree on the order and content of the blocks in the blockchain.

 

Consensus Mechanism

A consensus mechanism is an underlying technology behind the main functionalities of all blockchain technology, which makes them an essential operating feature of all cryptocurrencies.

 

ConsenSys

ConsenSys is a blockchain technology company that offers developer tools alongside enterprise solutions.

 

Consortium Blockchain

A privately owned and operated blockchain where a consortium shares information not readily available to the public, while relying on the immutable and transparent properties of the blockchain.

 

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

A Consumer Price Index (or CPI) is a type of index where the prices of a basket of goods and services are tracked to gain insights into market segments.

 

Contract

In traditional finance, a contract is a binding agreement between two parties. In cryptocurrencies, smart contracts execute functions on the blockchain.

 

Contract Account

A contract account is an account that has a crypto balance and associated code.

 

Contract for Difference (CFD)

A contract for difference (CFD) outlines a buyer’s obligation to pay any price difference that might occur due to the shifting valuation of an asset.

 

Coordinator

In blockchain technology, a coordinator is a specialized client that allows nodes to verify the validity of their copy of the ledger against specific transactions.

 

Copy Trading

Copy Trading lets you automatically copy all of the trades of your favorite professional traders. With just a few clicks, you can follow their strategies and make the same profits as the pros, without having to do any work of your own. While the professional traders execute trades on your behalf, you can also learn from the best by observing their trading system.

 

Correlation

Correlation is a statistic that measures how much two cryptocurrencies or securities move price-wise in relation to each other, which can be used to your advantage. Figure out how much influence the price moves of gold or indices like the S&P 500 have on the cryptocurrency market – use it to predict crypto price movements based on the movements of traditional industries, or analyze the correlations between different sectors within crypto. This tool can also help you determine your total exposure to the market so that you can hedge your risks accordingly.

 

Core Wallet

A core crypto wallet is able to contain the entire blockchain, rather than just a piece of a blockchain.

 

Corporate Treasury

A corporate treasury is formed to manage and control the liquidity, risk, funds, capital reserves, and other resources of a company to align with its short and long-term strategies.

 

Correction

A correction is a pullback of an asset’s price to adjust for over-valuation.

 

CPU Miner

Since mining requires computing power, the process of generating or mining cryptocurrency using a central processing unit (CPU) is called CPU mining (or central processing unit mining).

 

Credit Rating

Credit rating is a measure that allows banks and lending institutions to predict how capable you are of repaying your debt.

 

Credit Risk

Crest risk is the number representing the possibility that a bank or lending institution will lose money because a borrower cannot repay their loan.

 

Cross Margin

Cross Margin, also known as "Spread Margin" is a margin method that utilizes the full amount of funds in the available balance to avoid liquidations. Any realized profit & loss statement (P&L) from other positions can aid in adding margin on a losing position.

 

Cross-Border Trading

Cross-border trading in financial markets and trade finance represents the opportunity to trade globally using a local currency.

 

Cross-Chain

Cross-chain is a technology that enhances the interconnection between blockchain networks by allowing the exchange of information and value.

 

Cross-Chain Communication

Cross-chain communication between blockchains allows different protocols to verify data and transactions without the intervention of a centralized third-party service.

 

Cross-chain Contract Calls

Cross-chain contract calls allow information, cryptocurrencies or NFTs, which would otherwise be constrained to their own network, to move freely between blockchains via smart contracts.

 

Crowdfunding

Crowdfunding enables fundraisers to collect money from a large number of people through a variety of different platforms.

 

Crowdloan

The practice of new projects to raise funds through DOT or KSM tokens for slots on Kusama or Polkadot network.

 

Crypto Debit Card

A crypto debit card is a type of debit card that allows its holder to pay for goods and services using cryptocurrencies.

 

Crypto Invoicing

Crypto invoicing is the process of creating invoices for goods and services that need to be paid in cryptocurrencies.

 

Crypto Loan

A crypto loan is a type of secured loan, similar to an auto or student loan, in which you commit to an asset as collateral in order to secure financing.

 

Crypto Winter

Crypto winter is a period in the crypto market when prices of major coins fall dramatically from all-time highs.

 

Cryptoasset

A cryptoasset is any digital asset that uses cryptographic technologies to maintain its operation as a currency or decentralized application.

 

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrencies are digital currencies that use cryptographic technologies to secure their operation.

 

Cryptocurrency Money Laundering

Cryptocurrency money laundering is a method criminals use to legitimize and enshroud funds by changing fiat to digital currency and then routing it through many pathways. It is an attempt to lose any authorities who may be tracing the money.

 

Cryptocurrency Pairs

Exchanges utilize cryptocurrency pairs in order to facilitate the trade between different tokens. Most coins and tokens are paired with stablecoins (such as USDT) and/or Bitcoin.

 

Cryptographic Hash Function

Cryptographic hash functions produce a fixed-size hash value from a variable-size transaction input. They’re one-way operations, meaning that they can’t be reversed except by a brute force attack.

 

Cryptography

A field of study and practice to secure information, preventing third parties from reading information to which they are not privy.

 

Cryptojacking

The use of another party’s computer to mine cryptocurrency without their consent.

 

Cryptology

Cryptology is the scientific study of cryptography as well as cryptanalysis.

 

CryptoPunks

A collection of Ethereum-based non-fungible tokens.