The Basic Terms Used in Web3
- 51% Attack: A deliberate conspiracy by over 50% of miners to attack a blockchain through double spending or rejecting transactions.
- Airdrop: Free crypto handouts, usually used to introduce a new coin by rewarding early adopters.
- Altcoin: Bitcoin was the first digital coin, so anything else that was and is created after BTC is referred to as an altcoin, derived from “alternative coin.”
- AMA (Ask Me Anything): This word is commonly used within the crypto community to invite a set of questions from a person or a team, mostly during discussions around virtual currencies.
- ATL (All-Time Low): All-time-low could be used to talk about the lowest level the price of a coin has ever reached, or to simply mean that one’s portfolio is at its lowest value.
- ATH (All-Time High): All-time high is the opposite of ATL. When talking about a coin’s price, it refers to the highest price that crypto has ever reached since its launch. It could also mean one’s portfolio has risen to the highest value ever.
- Bagholder: A person who continues holding onto a crypto asset even when the value is dropping dramatically. they could hold on even when the price falls to near zero.
- Bear/Bearish: Borrowed from the stock market, it means prices are falling, or showing signs of a downtrend.
- Block: A complete set of verified and hashed data.
- Blockchain: A set of many blocks digitally connected in a chain-like fashion. Blockchain facilitates decentralized data storage.
- Bounty: The developers behind a certain project might issue simple jobs to community members and reward them for completing them. These tasks are called bounties.
- Bounty campaign: As it sounds, these are promotional activities by different contributors on behalf of the company behind a blockchain project
- Bull/Bullish: The opposite of “Bear/Bearish.” Simply means the price is rising, or showing signs of an uptrend.
- Buy the dip: Investing in an asset when the price has fallen to gain maximum profit.
- Cold storage: This crypto lingo refers to storing digital assets offline. Could be on a paper or hardware wallet.
- Consensus: Unanimous agreement of the community involved in a certain blockchain.
- Correction: When a price that was moving in a certain direction (up or down), pulls back for a short distance before resuming with the trend.
- Crypto: Refers to a trader who is obsessed with digital coins and is overly committed to learning. Also called “Cryptosis”.
- Cryptocurrency: Simply, a blockchain-based digital currency secured by cryptographic technology.
- DCA (Dollar-Cost Averaging): A risk management strategy where you buy small amounts of assets at regular price intervals rather than investing at once. The strategy spreads the risk over a broad time interval.
- Decentralized: This means authority is distributed across a network rather than being in the hands of a single entity (individual or group).
- Diamond hands: These are traders with a high-risk appetite and mostly hold swing positions for as long as their target has not been reached.
- Digital Currency: As it sounds, it’s any form of money that exists in an electronic form.
- Distributed Ledger: Digital record-keeping system that stores transaction details in multiple files simultaneously.
- DYOR: An acronym for “Do Your Own Research.” Common among crypto discussions.
- Exchange: A place or website that offers crypto trading services (buying and selling).
- Exit scam: An organization that promotes a blockchain project until it hits a high monetary value then disappears.
- FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out): Refers to investors that are afraid of missing out on a potentially high-paying opportunity hence acting impulsively.
- Fork: A technical phenomenon where a blockchain splits into two and goes independent.
- Frens: Short form for “friends.” Refers to fellow traders/ investors in the crypto community.
- FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt): FUD is a crypto lingo meaning “deliberately stroke “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” to drive prices down.
- Gas: The price you have to pay for digital coin transactions to complete on the blockchain. It’s usually paid to blockchain validators as an incentive.
- GM: Stands for “Good Morning.” A quick way to start a conversation with your crypto “frens.”
- HODL: Acronym for “Hold on for dear life.” An investor who buys an asset and keeps holding until prices hit a certain target.
- ICO (Initial Coin Offering): It’s the cryptocurrency counterpart of an initial public offering (IPO), and refers to the selling of coins to the general public for the first time.
- KYC (Know Your Customer): Verification of users’ identities. Usually involves confirmation of one’s identity documents and residential address.
- Lambo: Used to inquire as to when the price will increase much to enable one to purchase a Lamborghini or a similar car. Typically, it reads: “When Lambo? Or “When Moon?
- Long: A slang word to mean buy an asset. Commonly used as “going long!”
- Market Cap: Short form for market capitalization, which is the total value of all mined coins at the prevailing price.
- Mining: Process of creating new coins by solving complex mathematical problems.
- Moon/Mooning: Means to describe an asset whose price is skyrocketing. Lazy word for “Going to the moon.”
- Node: A computer linked to a blockchain network that participates in maintaining the latest records by verifying and approving new transactions.
- P2P (Peer-to-Peer): Refers to a form of trading where buyers and sellers interact directly without middle agents.
- Paper hands: The opposite of diamond hands. An investor who panic-sells on seeing a slight price decline.
- Paper wallet: A type of cold storage where public keys are recorded on paper.
- Pre-sale: The phase where a crypto project allows investors to buy coins at discounted prices before its listed on exchanges.
- Private key: Alphanumeric code similar to a password and used to authorize crypto transactions.
- Proof of Stake (PoS): Blockchain consensus mechanism where miners are randomly selected based on a combination of factors including the amount of crypto they have staked.
- Proof of Work (PoW): Consensus mechanism where new coins are created through mining (solving complex mathematical problems).
- Pump and dump: A scam where the value of an asset is artificially inflated through misleading info, and once enough buyers jump on board, the original buyers sell all their coins at maximum profits and abandon the project
- Rekt: A situation of severe financial loss due to bad crypto investment. Lazy word for “wrecked.”
- Satoshi: The smallest unit of BTC, also called “Sats”. Named after the creator. 1 Bitcoin comprises 100 million Sats.
- Scamcoin: A type of crypto created to defraud investors.
- Sharding: Splitting a blockchain company into several small units that stand out independently. The small units are called shards.
- Short: A slang word for “sell.” Opposite of “Going long.”
- Shill: Entities that promote certain projects because they have vested interests.
- Smart contract: Blockchain-related computer program that autonomously executed instructions based on predefined rules.
- Stablecoin: Digital coins backed by a stable reference asset, usually a fiat currency like the dollar.
- Support/Resistance: Support is a strong level where bearish movement is expected to pause, while resistance is a price level where bullish trends tend to pause.
- Token: A coin without its own native blockchain. Usually launched on an existing one like Ethereum.
- Wallet: Software for digitally storing cryptocurrencies in an encrypted form. It could be hot, meaning it stores private keys online, or cold.
- Whale: An investor who owns a significantly large amount of a certain digital coin. Should be massive enough to impact the price. Traders commonly follow the whale movement in the market.
- White paper: A document containing comprehensive details about a blockchain project. Explains how it works, and the future plans.
- Yield farming: Generating passive income by putting your virtual currencies to work. Involves lending or staking your coins into a liquidity pool through a DeFi platform in order to earn interest.
Expert Conclusion
There you have it! Feel free to utilize some of these terminologies the next time you’re around Bitcoin aficionados. It does not stop there. Let’s keep things fun while we study. Read through all of our helpful articles to learn more about this topic. We are here to grow with you as a community. So consider yourself invited. Remember to always trade with money you can afford to lose. This industry can be messy at times.
Written by Eugene Abungana 
167 Articles
Reviewed and Fact Checked by Will Wood , Crypto Gambling Expert