- Blockchain – A distributed ledger technology that maintains a permanent and tamper-proof record of transaction data.
- Cryptocurrency – Digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography for security and operates independently of a central bank.
- Bitcoin – The first and most well-known cryptocurrency, invented by an anonymous person or group of people under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto.
- Ethereum – A decentralized platform that enables smart contracts and decentralized applications (DApps) to be built and run without any downtime, fraud, control, or interference.
- Smart Contract – Self-executing contracts with the terms of the agreement between buyer and seller being directly written into lines of code.
- Decentralized Finance (DeFi) – An ecosystem of financial applications built on top of blockchain networks that operates without central financial intermediaries.
- Non-Fungible Token (NFT) – A type of cryptographic token on a blockchain that represents a unique asset or good, often used for digital art and collectibles.
- Mining – The process by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger (blockchain) and also the means through which new coins are released.
- Proof of Work (PoW) – A consensus mechanism that requires a participator in the network to expend effort solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle to prevent malicious uses of computing power.
- Proof of Stake (PoS) – A consensus mechanism that selects validators in proportion to their quantity of holdings in the associated cryptocurrency.
- Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) – An organization represented by rules encoded as a computer program that is transparent, controlled by the organization members, and not influenced by a central government.
- Wallet – A digital wallet that allows users to store and manage their cryptocurrency addresses.
- Exchange – A platform where cryptocurrencies can be traded for other digital currencies or traditional fiat currencies.
- Tokenization – The process of converting rights to an asset into a digital token on a blockchain.
- Initial Coin Offering (ICO) – A fundraising mechanism in which new projects sell their underlying crypto tokens in exchange for bitcoin and ether.
- Stablecoin – A type of cryptocurrency that is pegged to a stable asset, such as gold or fiat currencies like the US dollar, to minimize volatility.
- Layer 1 and Layer 2 – Layer 1 refers to the underlying main blockchain architecture, while Layer 2 is a network built on top of the blockchain to enhance scalability and efficiency.
- Gas Fees – Transaction fees on a blockchain network, paid to network validators or miners for processing transactions.
- Fork – A change to the protocol of a blockchain network that results in two versions, one that follows the new protocol and one that follows the old.
- Whale – An individual or entity that holds a large amount of cryptocurrency, potentially having the ability to influence market movements.
