You probably already know that it’s crypto world, and we are just living in it. Most of the latest technologies, including web 3.0, Metaverse and NFTs, have cryptocurrency or blockchain as their foundation. That tells you that – the earlier you familiarise yourself with crypto, the better for you.
This is especially important if you want to invest in crypto at some point. One of the terms you will come across in this list is DYOR (do your own research), and as the name implies, you should conduct your own research before investing in any cryptocurrency, irrespective of who gave the call. To do your research, you need to know the common crypto terms, so you don’t get confused by the jargon.
There are thousands of crypto terms and slangs today, and it will be hard for anyone to learn them all at once. However, I have put together this list of beginner-friendly, common terms in cryptocurrency for you to get started.
- DYOR
Do Your Own Research (DYOR) is regarded as one of the most important aspects of being a cryptocurrency investor. … It is also often used as a kind of disclaimer by some cryptocurrency influencers when they post about projects or analyses on social media platforms.
Read also: What is DAO in Crypto, and how does it work?
- NFA
Meaning Not Financial Advice, NFA is a common disclaimer used by most crypto influencers on social media to spell out that they are not financial experts and should not be held accountable for losses incurred due to their calls.
- ATH
An “ATH” is an acronym for “all-time high,” a term that can be pretty useful when tracking digital currency markets. The volatility of these assets makes it important to keep an eye on their ATH. It is possible that a digital currency could hit several local peaks before soaring to a new record.
- Bear/Bearish
The bearish view is that an asset, such as a digital currency will decrease in value. It is commonly understood that when traders anticipate a cryptocurrency’s decline, they are stating their beliefs as “bearish.” These traders may use these expectations by taking a short position on an asset, meaning they are putting money on the table, hoping to profit from the bearish market.
- Altcoin
Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin is an altcoin. There are currently more than 5,000 altcoins listed on CoinMarketCap at the time of writing this, and the number will only continue to increase. Another way of describing altcoins is as alternative protocol assets. This means they follow a different protocol (set of rules) than Bitcoin.
- Arbitrage
Arbitrage in crypto-currencies refers to exploiting price differences between two exchanges. For example, if Bitcoin is trading for £8,950 on one exchange and £9,000 on another, a trader can get a modest profit if they purchase Bitcoin on the first exchange and sell it on the second.
- Fiat Currencies
A fiat currency is a currency that is minted by a central bank and has value because it is issued by the government. Fiat means “by decree,” which means that the value of these currencies results from some central authority declaring that they have value. Examples of fiat currencies include our very own Naira, US dollars, British pound, euro, Japanese yen and all the other currencies you can think of.
- P2P
Peer-to-peer (P2P) services are decentralised platforms that allow two people to communicate and transact directly without third parties interfering. A P2P service allows buyers and sellers to transact directly with each other.
- Escrow
This is an important element of P2P crypto transactions (peer to peer). The escrow service is provided by a third party that holds financial resources for other parties. This is done when the parties involved in a transaction do not fully trust each other.
- Exchanges
An exchange is essentially just a marketplace where traders can exchange digital currencies. The fastest way to purchase Bitcoin is by going to an exchange.
- FOMO
It is derived from the phrase “fear of missing out.” This occurs when investors begin buying up an asset in anticipation that its value will increase. Investors often flock to assets that see strong gains.
Being caught up in FOMO can be dangerous. You can fall victim to market manipulation if you purchase an asset based on its recent upside.
- Blockchain
Blockchains are distributed ledgers composed of blocks. Each block contains verified transactions. In addition to being decentralised the blockchain was designed to be immutable, meaning that entries on this distributed ledger cannot be erased once they have been placed. Bitcoin’s white paper released late in 2008 introduced the idea of the blockchain for the first time.
- Bull/Bullish
In trading, someone who believes that an asset will rise in value is a “bull.” When an investor holds this optimistic expectation, this kind of frame of mind is called “bullish.”
- Cryptography
Essentially, cryptography involves encoding and decoding information in such a way that would-be observers cannot understand it.
- DDoS Attack
A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack occurs when multiple parties flood a system, either with information requests or malicious data. The intent of such attacks is to prevent a resource, like a server, from providing certain services, such as serving web pages.
While some DDoS attacks against digital currency exchanges have not succeeded, users could become upset simply because they cannot make trades on the marketplace at a particular time.
- Distributed Ledger Technology
The distributed ledger technology (DLT) is a system for recording data across multiple devices by distributing it over a number of them. A blockchain, for example, is a type of distributed ledger technology developed for the purpose of keeping track of Bitcoin transactions.
- Fork
To fork a currency means to change its rules or protocol. Forks can either be hard forks or soft forks. The hard fork is the change in protocol of a digital currency that renders blocks created with the old chain incompatible with the new one.
- FUD
FUD refers to fear, uncertainty, and doubt. The idea behind this is that market participants may spread inaccurate or misleading information to cause an asset’s price to decrease. Traders may want to see an asset’s price fall to short it successfully or buy in at a lower price and increase their chances of making a gain.
- HODL
Cryptocurrency investors developed the term “HODL,” an acronym for “hold on for dear life.” The term came from a misspelling of the word “hold.” Digital currencies are highly volatile, so when they start to experience significant price fluctuations, some market participants tell investors to “HODL.”
- Initial Coin Offering
In an initial coin offering (ICO), an organisation sells digital tokens to the public to raise funds. Businesses often do this to fund their projects.
In many ways, these digital token sales resemble initial public offerings (IPOs), where companies offer traditional assets such as stocks and bonds to raise funds.
- KYC
KYC stands for “know your customer.” Many jurisdictions require KYC as a condition for holding an ICO. Companies holding these token sales must verify the investors’ identities under these regulations.
- Long/Long Position
The term ‘going long’ refers to placing a wager that an asset’s value will rise. A trader purchasing a digital currency such as Bitcoin, for example, is betting that the cryptocurrency will appreciate.
One way to take a long position is by purchasing digital currency, but there are other ways. Some of the other ways include options and futures.
- Market Cap
A market cap is short for market capitalisation, which is another term for total market value. As an example, the market capitalisation of Bitcoin is the outstanding number of bitcoins multiplied by its current value. You can also use the term to refer to a group of digital currencies.
- Mining
Cryptocurrencies are created through mining. Bitcoin, for example, releases new bitcoins whenever a block is mined. In this case, mining refers to the process of confirming transactions and combining them into blocks.
Miners are rewarded with digital tokens for contributing these required resources, which require hardware and electricity.
- Moon/Mooning
Mooning is when the value of a digital currency rises sharply. For example, a crypto trader might say that a certain altcoin is going “to the moon!”
- Noob
Insiders often refer to newcomers as “noobs.”. If you are one of these individuals, you may want to observe your actions before diving in headfirst. Digital currencies are highly volatile, so those new to them should be wary of their risks.
- Private Key
An investor can access their digital currency using a private key, which is a string of numbers and letters.
- Public Key
A public key is an address where a digital currency can be received by investors. As with the private key, the public key is composed of numbers and letters.
- Pump and Dump
A pump-and-dump scheme involves a market participant or several market participants inflating the price of a piece of property so that they can then dump it when its value is artificially high. This practice is especially common when it comes to digital currencies, since traders can easily form groups on Telegram in order to cause cryptocurrencies to soar in value.
- ROI
ROI stands for “return on investment.” When investors invest in digital currencies, they do so with the hope of receiving a compelling return.
- Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto, and multiple individuals claim to be him. No claimant has, however, been able to convince the wider cryptocurrency community that they are the true inventors of Bitcoin.
- Short/Shorting
A short position, or shorting an asset, is a bet that the asset’s value will decline. Futures, options and margin trading are some of the methods traders can use to short digital currencies.
It’s important for investors considering this method to bear in mind that it involves a lot of risks, particularly with cryptocurrencies due to their volatile nature.
- Token
The term digital token refers to a unit of electronic money, such as a Bitcoin. It is important to note that some of these tokens are referred to as utility tokens since they are used in specific types of ecosystems. Others can be regarded as securities.
- Whale
An investor who places large bets is called a whale. The term is valuable because market participants who are capable of executing huge transactions are able to manipulate the market.
- White Paper
Most of the time, the creators of digital currencies provide a white paper describing their assets. Typically, these documents provide a comprehensive description of the digital tokens involved and their underlying technology.
In the Bitcoin whitepaper, for instance, there was information on a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system”. Those considering participating in ICOs will benefit considerably from reviewing any available white papers.
In Conclusion
Consider this the foundation of your research into cryptocurrency, and your personal dictionary to explain terms you don’t understand. As you read more about cryptocurrency and the metaverse, you would come across terms that will almost throw you off balance, but you always come back here for the explanation you need. Hence, bookmark this!
What other crypto term did I miss? Drop it in the comment for others to learn.
