August 24, 2020
The Crypto industry is confusing to everyday people; the stock market and computer programming worlds would be on the top of that list. When all the nuances of trading in the financial sector and the complexity of computer language combined, one will find it difficult to understand anything about cryptocurrency. This makes comprehending the terminology and the processes behind this fantastic new phenomenon more challenging to understand.
To help you better understand anything in the crypto world, we provide a series of articles to help everyone understand, especially the people who are new to the crypto world. Also, this can be a guide for those who are in the industry for too long to help them remember which is which.
This is a series of terminologies, so stay tuned in cryptonetwork.news for updates.
Without further ado, here are the Crypto Terms from A – D:
51% Attack
If over half of the computer power on a network is run by one person or a group of people, then a 51% attack is in process. It means this entity has full control of the system and can harmfully affect a cryptocurrency by halting mining, stopping or changing transactions, and reusing coins.
Addresses
Every cryptocurrency coin has a unique address that identifies where it sits on the blockchain. This address is this location, where the coin’s ownership data is stored and where any changes are listed when it is transacted. These addresses vary in appearance between cryptocurrencies but are frequently a string of more than 30 characters.
Airdrop
It is a marketing campaign that refers to the advanced circulation of a cryptocurrency through a population of people. It generally occurs when the creator of a cryptocurrency provides its coin to low-ranked traders or present community members to build their use and popularity. They are typically given away for free or in exchange for simple tasks like sharing news of the coin with friends.
Algorithm
Mathematic instructions are coded into and implemented by computer software to produce a preferred outcome.
All-Time High (ATH)
The highest price ever achieved by a cryptocurrency.
All Time Low (ATL)
The lowest price ever achieved by a cryptocurrency.
Altcoins
Bitcoin was the first and is the most prosperous of all the cryptocurrencies. All the other coins are grouped under the category of altcoins. Ethereum, for example, is an altcoin, as is Ripple.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML)
These are a group of international laws that hope to stop criminal organizations or individuals from laundering money through cryptocurrencies into real-life cash.
Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)
Computer hardware similar to a graphics card or a CPU has been designed precisely to mine cryptocurrency. They are built mainly to answer hashing problems efficiently.
Arbitrage
There are multiple exchanges at any particular time trading in the identical cryptocurrency, and they can do so at altered rates. It is the act of buying from one exchange and then selling it to the next trade if there is a margin among the two that is profitable.
Atomic Swap
It is a way of allowing people to exchange one type of cryptocurrency openly and cost-effectively, at current rates, without requiring buying or selling.
Bag
If you have a large number of units in a particular cryptocurrency, you’d have a bag.
Bear/Bearish
This is if the price of a cryptocurrency has an adverse price movement.
Bear Trap
This is a trick joked by a group of traders aimed at controlling the price of a cryptocurrency. This group sets the bear trap, all selling their cryptocurrency simultaneously, which bluffs the market into assuming there is a drop incoming. As a result, other traders sell their assets, further driving the price down. Those who set the trap then release it, buying back their assets, which are now at a lower price. The overall price then rebounds, permitting them to make a profit.
Bitcoin
It is the first-ever cryptocurrency. It was created in 2008 by an individual or group of individuals operating under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It was projected to be a peer-to-peer, decentralized electronic cash system.
Block
The blockchain is made up of blocks. Each block holds a historical database of all cryptocurrency businesses made until the block is full. It’s a long-lasting record, like a bag of data that can be opened and viewed.
Block Explorer
This is an online tool for discovering the blockchain of a cryptocurrency, where you can watch and follow, live, all the transactions happening on the blockchain. It can serve as blockchain analysis and provide evidence such as total network hash rate, coin supply, transaction growth, etc.
Block Height
Refers to the number of blocks linked in the blockchain. For instance, height 0 would be the very first block, which is also called the genesis block.
Block Reward
It is a form of incentive for the miner who successfully computes the hash (verification) in a block. Verification of transactions on the blockchain produces new coins in the process, and the miner is compensated with a portion of these.
Blockchain
The blockchain is a digital ledger of all the transactions ever made in a particular cryptocurrency. It’s composed of individual blocks that are chained to each other through a cryptographic signature. Each time a block’s capacity is grasped, a new block is added to the chain. The blockchain is recurrently copied and saved onto thousands of computers worldwide, and it must always match each copy. As there is no master copy stored in one location, it’s considered decentralized.
Bull/Bullish
This means the price of a cryptocurrency has a favorable price movement.
Burned
If a coin in any particular cryptocurrency has been made unspendable, it is said to be burned.
Buy the F$%king Dip (BTFD)
A less-than-savory phrase when you’re (enthusiastically) telling someone a currency has dipped to a low value and should be bought.
Buy Wall
When a large limit order has been placed to buy when a cryptocurrency grasps an absolute value, then that is a buy wall. This can prevent a cryptocurrency from falling below that value, as demand will likely outdo supply when the order is executed.
Central Ledger
When a single entity has control of all financial records, it is considered a central ledger. This is how banks operate.
Chain Linking
Each cryptocurrency has its blockchain, the digital ledger that stores all transaction records. Chain Linking is the procedure that occurs if you transfer one cryptocurrency to another. This requires the transaction to be lodged in two separate blockchains, so they must link together to achieve the goal.
Cipher
It is the name given to the algorithm that encrypts and decrypts information.
Circulating Supply
It is the total number of coins in a cryptocurrency in the publicly tradable space and is deliberated on the circulating supply. Some coins can be locked, reserved, or burned, therefore unavailable to public transactions.
Cold Storage
Another term used for a paper wallet.
Confirmed
When a transaction has been confirmed, it means it has been approved by the network and permanently further to the blockchain.
Consensus
When a transaction is made, all nodes on the network validate that it is valid on the blockchain, and if so, they have an agreement.
Consensus Process
This refers to those nodes responsible for maintaining the blockchain ledger so that a consensus can be reached when a transaction is made.
Consortium blockchain
A privately owned and operated, yet publicly translucent, blockchain.
Cryptocurrency
It is a form of money that exists as encrypted, digital information. Working independently of any banks, a cryptocurrency uses sophisticated mathematics to regulate the creation and transfer of funds between entities.
Cryptographic Hash Function
This process happens on a node and involves converting an input – such as a transaction – into a fixed, encrypted alphanumeric string that registers its place in the blockchain. This conversion is controlled by a hashing algorithm, which is different for each cryptocurrency.
Cryptography
The process of encrypting and decrypting information.
Decentralized Application (dApp)
A computer program that utilizes a blockchain for data storage runs autonomously, is not controlled or operated from a single entity, is open source, and has its use incentivized by the reward of fees or tokens.
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)
This refers to organizations that are run by an application (computer program) rather than a direct human input. Control of this Application is granted to everyone rather than a single central entity.
Decryption
Turning encrypted cipher text back into plain text.
Deflation
When the demand for a particular cryptocurrency decreases, bringing down the price of its economy.
Depth Chart
This graph plots the requests to buy (known as bids) and the offers to sell (known as asks) on a chart. Because you can put a limit order on your buy or sell transaction, the depth chart shows the crossover point at which the market is most likely to accept a transaction in a timely fashion. It also indicates if there are any significant buy walls or sell walls in play.
Deterministic Wallet
This type of wallet is created by producing multiple keys from a seed. If you lose this wallet, your wallet key can be recovered from the seed. Plus, when you make transactions, instead of producing new keys each time, you use variations from the seed, making it more transferable and more comfortable to store.
Difficulty
When someone refers to a challenge in the cryptocurrency space, they relate to the cost of mining at that moment in time. The more transactions that are trying to be confirmed at any single moment in time, divided by the total power of the nodes on the network at that time, define the difficulty. The higher the challenge, the greater the transaction fee – this is a fluid measurement that moves over time.
Digital Commodity / Digital Currency
This is an intangible, hard-to-get asset that is transferred electronically and has a certain value.
Digital Signature
It is used to confirm that a document being transmitted electronically is authentic. They generally appear as a code generated by public-key encryption.
Distributed Ledger
A ledger is stored in multiple locations so that any entries can be accessed and checked by various parties. In cryptocurrency, this refers to the blockchain being held on various nodes on the network, all of which are verified simultaneously.
Double Spend
This occurs when someone tries to send a cryptocurrency to two different wallets or locations simultaneously.
Dump
The term used to describe selling all (or a lot) of your cryptocurrency.
Dumping
A lot of people dump at once, causing a sharp downward movement in a cryptocurrency’s price.
Dust Transaction
Sometimes people will look to slow the network by deliberately flooding it with minor transactions that are incredibly small. These minuscule amounts are referred to as a dust transaction.
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