Daily, we’re introduced to a lot of new terminologies, and it only makes sense to decrypt them. Let’s start with the basics, so below you’ll find some key terms for crypto newcomers and devotees.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, meaning that it’s a decentralized digital currency built on a blockchain that users can buy, sell or exchange without an intermediary (e.g., banks).
Blockchain
The term “blockchain” came from the vision of the transactions being built in blocks linkedin together to form a chain of past transactions. The blockchain is a technological structure which serves as a distributor to confirm transactions. The digital ledger of blockchain distributes a block that stores a set of transactions that each person has independently verified. There are so many platforms now, like Steemit. A blockchain-based blogging and social media platform where users can gain a cryptocurrency, STEEM, for publishing and curating content.
CeFi
Centralized finance (CeFi) refers to the crypto banking companies like Coinbase, Binance and Huobi which are owned by a unique entity or corporation. In CeFi you need to go through a sign-up and know everything about your customer process. Trust in every part is the key to transparency and is necessary to make an exchange.
Creator Economy
A creator economy is a new form of business that allows independent creators to earn revenue from their online creations. These creators are musicians, writers, podcasters, video makers, social media sensations and everything online-related who leverage digital platforms like Instagram, YouTube, Twitch, Substack, Patreon or TikTok to grow their influence and monetize their content creations directly.
Cryptocurrency
The cryptocurrency also called crypto is a digital payment system which doesn’t have any traditional bank system to verify transactions. It was originally a peer-to-peer system that can enable anyone and anywhere to send and receive money. The name “cryptocurrency” came from the encryption to verify transactions and it means advanced coding between wallets and public ledgers. With encryption, you provide security and trust safety to everyone. Once you transfer cryptocurrency funds you store the money in digital wallets. Back in the day, the first cryptocurrency was Bitcoin, which was founded in 2009 and still remains the best known today.
Decentralization
The concept of decentralization is the shift of ecosystems and well-controlled platforms to permissionless structures. The essence is shifting to be out of control and power to a more distributed and democratized network. The common context gave rise to decentralization and allows the peer-to-peer transaction of the assets.
DAO
The concept of a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is a fully flat system which provides members with a safe and trusted space to collaborate and work in an open-source, governed by the users themselves with full transparency rules. Each DAO is based on a well-structured organization focused on a specific project who don’t have a controlling leadership by any traditional platform.
dApps
The concept of a decentralized application (dApp) is a digital application built on a decentralized blockchain space. Mostly used on blockchain-based games, NFT marketplaces or financial dashboards, the current most popular platforms include Ethereum, Solana, Opensea and TraderJoe to name a few. Each dApp is combined with a property of a smart contract with a front-end interface which is familiar to use, but very different from the common ones.
DeFi
The concept of decentralized finance (DeFi) is a form of a financial ecosystem with products and services built on blockchain systems. The main goal is to be independent of a whole range of financial applications that can make users autonomous of banks, insurance and other institutions and also, to some extent, states. Unlike traditional finance, which depends on central financial intermediaries, DeFi aims to disintermediate the traditional centralized model so that peer-to-peer transactions and payments can occur without a central authority.
ETH
(ETH) is the short term for the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum.
Ethereum
Ethereum is a blockchain platform that creates a secure peer-to-peer network to execute and verify smart contracts and decentralized applications (dApps). It also serves as a digital currency via its native cryptocurrency, Ether.
FOMO “Fear of Missing Out”
In the NFT space, you might also FOMO into buying an expensive NFT artwork, fearing that you might miss out on the next big thing. Keep that FOMO in check! DYOR It reiterates that before you give in to FOMO, you must Do Your Own Research.
Gas fees
In the context of the Ethereum platform, the gas refers to the fee necessary to perform a transaction or execute a smart contract on the blockchain network. A gas fee is a term for the amount of ether (ETH). These fees are used to compensate Ethereum miners for the energy required to verify a transaction and for providing a layer of security to the Ethereum network by making it too expensive for malicious users to spam the network.
GM or GN
Good Morning or Good Night both are mostly used by communities.
IYKYK
If You Know, You Know is a light form of FOMO in general, but not all usages.
LFG
Let’s Fucking Go. Used when you are excited about something. Best used with rocket emojis.
Mint
The action of mint is something like an NFT for example. We called them miners and digital mining.
Mirrorworld
A digital version of the real world with virtual avatars who’re equivalents of people, places and objects.
NFT
Usually blockchain-based, an NFT can really be anything digital and creative. The real name is Non-Fungible Tokens and is a unique asset that gives ownership commonly being used in the metaverse by people. NFTs can represent many different items like song music, real estate or digital art for example.
Raid
Mostly used for a massive movement on the internet to get attention on something and show a community’s motivation on Twitter, Discord or Reddit
Seems legit
Short for ”seems legitimate”. This means that the project looks serious and potentially with good prospects. It can be used straight in a conversation on Discord.
Token
A token is a non-fungible token (NFT) and non-interchangeable unit of data stored on a blockchain that can be sold and traded.
Wallet
A digital wallet is stored on a platform that isn’t connected to the Internet. The term cold storage is commonly used to protect the wallet from unauthorized access, cyber hacks and other vulnerabilities systems. A hot wallet can also be called a software wallet. It’s a form of digital storage that you can access on your computer or phone and is connected to the internet. A cold wallet also called a hardware wallet or cold storage is a physical device that keeps your cryptocurrency completely offline.
WAGMI
WAGMI is the short term for “We’re All Gonna Make It” which is expressed when there is good news. Based on the asset we have, its price, and the supply-demand picture, we are either gonna make it or not. However, the term isn’t specific to a particular NFT project. It can also represent the whole community of NFT owners. Sometimes you can read ”Gonna Make It” or ”Not Going To Make It”.
