The Ultimate Guide to Crypto Slang and Terms

Rahul Ravindran

If you are following along the conversation between people who have been into crypto for a while you would soon start noticing that they have their slang which can be seen a quite confusing at first. In this blog lets go through some of the most popular crypto slangs used by the community so can start shilling on crypto twitter right away!

Airdrop

An airdrop is an unsolicited distribution of a cryptocurrency token or coin, usually for free, to numerous wallet addresses.

All Time High (ATH)

All time high is highest price of an asset or coin since its inception.

Altcoin

Altcoin refers to cryptocurrencies that are an alternative to bitcoin, the first cryptocurrency.

Block

In blockchain several transactions bundled into what is known as a block which is then chained into the previous blocks of transactions. Hence the name blockchain you see.

Block Reward

The cryptocurrency reward given to the miner or mining pool which first proposes a new block once it is added to the chain.

BTD

Buy the dip is act of buying a coin or asset when the prices are down in hopes of future profit.

Cold Wallet/Cold Storage

A wallet that is completely offline like hardware wallet that are physical devices similar to a USB drive.

Decentralized Finance (DeFi)

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is an emerging financial technology based on blockchain similar to those used by cryptocurrencies.

Diamond Hands

DIAMOND HANDS is used to refer to investors who hold their position and refuse to sell.

Do Your Own Research (DYOR)

DYOR stands for Do Your Own Research and is a common phrase used by cryptocurrency enthusiasts. This highlights that the investors should do their own research before investing and not take anything at its face value.

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a computation engine which is the bedrock of Ethereum’s entire operating structure. It is the software platform that developers can use to create decentralized applications (DApps) on Ethereum.

Flippening

The term Flippening was colloquially coined in 2017 and refers to the possibility of the market capitalization of Ethereum (ETH) overtaking the market capitalization of Bitcoin (BTC).

FOMO

FOMO stands for Fear of Missing Out, although not limited to crypto, it is the psychological state in which someone feels they are missing out of something that everyone else knows or is part of.

Fork

When a blockchain’s users make changes to its rules. These changes to the protocol of a blockchain often result in two new paths — one that follows the old rules, and a new blockchain that splits off from the previous one. The newer path is refered to as the fork of the earlier one.

FUD

FUD stands for “fear, uncertainty, and doubt.” FUD, as it’s commonly exclaimed in crypto circles, is a psychological method of inspiring negative sentiment about a particular asset to prevent further buying or even instigate selling or short-selling.

Gas

A fee that developers have to pay to the Ethereum network in order to use the system. Gas is paid in ether, the native cryptocurrency of Ethereum.

HODL

Stands for “Hold On for Dear Life” though the term originated from a user typo on a Bitcoin forum in 2013. It refers to a passive investment strategy in which people buy and hold onto cryptocurrency — instead of trading it — in the hopes that it increases in value.

Hot Wallet

A software-based cryptocurrency wallet connected to the Internet. While more convenient for quickly accessing your crypto, these wallets are a bit more susceptible to hacking and cybersecurity attacks than offline wallets

Initial Coin Offering (ICO)

An initial coin offering (ICO) is an unregulated means by which funds are raised for a new cryptocurrency venture.

Market Capitalization

Market capitalization (or market cap) is the total value of all the coins that have been mined.

Mining

Mining is the process of validating cryptocurrency transactions on a blockchain network and adding them to a distributed ledger.

Mooning

Mooning refers to an event when the price of a certain cryptocurrency raising in price rapidly and sharply.

Non-fungible Tokens (NFTs)

Non-fungible Token or NFT is a token that represents a unique digital or real world asset that is not interchangeable.

Private Key

A private key is a lengthy that allows someone to authenticate themselves by using it sign transactions on the blockchain.

Proof-of-Stake

A consensus mechanism that reward block validators according to the amount of coins they have at stake.

Public Key

Public key or account address is string of text that denotes a particular wallet on the blockchain.

Rekt

A slang term used to define someone or something that has been destroyed or experienced catastrophic failure and a synonym for liquidated

Satoshi Nakomoto

The pseudonym of the creator or creators of the bitcoin protocol and whitepaper.

Seed Phrase

Seed phrase or menmonic seed is a collection of words that can be used to access your cryptocurrency wallet. It is yet another way of representing your private key.

Shill

A shill is a hustler or con-person who tries to convince other people to buy something or think something is great (shilling).

Shitcoin

A coin that has no real world use case or value.

Smart Contract

A program that is stored and and runs on the blockchain.

Stablecoin or Digital Fiat

A coin whose value is kept stable by linking it to a stable asset like the US dollar.

Token

Tokens are digital units issued on blockchain. Tokens can be used to represent anything from currencies to ownership.

Vitalik Buterin

The inventor of Ethereum.

Wallet

A physical device or computer interface that facilitates the storage of public and private keys. Your cryptocurrency is not stored in the wallet itself, it’s on the blockchain. It only manages your keys.

When Lambo?

When lambo means when is the price of a crypto assset going to increase so much that one could easily afford a Lamborghini.

0 Comments

Leave a Reply

More great articles

Understanding The Ethereum Virtual Machine

Once you write your first few solidity contracts, you may wonder how are contract actually executed? Sure, when you compile…

Read Story

How much blockchain developers REALLY make?

According to Hired, blockchain developers can command salaries between 140,000 USD to 180,000 USD. Sounds amazing, right? But is it…

Read Story

Scalable storage for your Dapps using Filecoin

Blockchain is primarily used to store state information. Storage of assets is one of the inherent problem that you as…

Read Story

Never miss a minute

Get great content to your inbox every week. No spam.
[contact-form-7 id="6" title="Footer CTA Subscribe Form"]
Arrow-up