This Web3 and Crypto Glossary breaks down everything from slang to the most common (and some not-so-common) terms in the blockchain space..
Whether you're a normie or a degen, this guide will help you decode the language of crypto, trading, and decentralized tech.
Pro Tip: If you want to find a word quickly, press Ctrl+F (Windows) or Cmd+F (macOS), then type the word you're looking for.
0-9
• 2FA:
Two-Factor Authentication; a security protocol requiring two separate verification methods, such as a password and a code sent to a mobile device, to protect crypto accounts from unauthorized access and enhance user security.
A
• Airdrop:
Distribution of free tokens to wallet addresses, often used for promotion, community building, or governance participation.
• APR (Annual Percentage Rate):
The annualized return on an investment, excluding compounding.
• APY (Annual Percentage Yield):
The annualized return including compounding interest.
• Alpha:
Early, insider, or high-value information about a crypto project or market trend, often shared within private groups or communities.
B
• Bags:
Refers to the cryptocurrencies an investor holds in their portfolio, often used to describe significant holdings or assets bought at a high price that have since declined, implying a long-term or unprofitable commitment.
• Bagholding:
The act of holding onto a crypto asset that has lost significant value, often due to reluctance to sell at a loss.
• Banana Zone:
A playful term for a parabolic phase of extreme price increase in crypto markets, usually driven by hype and FOMO.
• Bear market/cycle:
A prolonged period, often spanning months or years, where cryptocurrency prices consistently decline, driven by negative market sentiment, economic downturns, or reduced investor demand.
• Bearish:
A market outlook or trader’s belief that cryptocurrency prices are likely to fall, prompting actions like selling or shorting assets to profit from or mitigate losses during the decline.
• Bears:
Investors or traders who anticipate falling crypto prices and may sell assets or engage in short-selling strategies to capitalize on downward market trends, reflecting a pessimistic outlook.
• Blockchain:
A decentralized, digital ledger that records transactions across a network of computers. It ensures transparency, security, and immutability, forming the foundation of cryptocurrencies and Web3 applications.
• Bridge:
A protocol or tool that facilitates the transfer of tokens, data, or assets between different blockchain networks, enabling interoperability and expanding the functionality of the Web3 ecosystem.
• Bull market/cycle:
A sustained period, often lasting months or years, where cryptocurrency prices rise steadily, fueled by optimism, increased adoption, regulatory clarity, or growing market demand.
• Bullish:
A positive market outlook or trader’s belief that cryptocurrency prices will increase, often leading to buying or holding assets to benefit from anticipated price appreciation.
• Bulls:
Investors or traders who expect crypto prices to rise and typically buy or hold assets to profit from upward market movements, reflecting an optimistic stance.
• Bullet:
A single, substantial investment or allocation of capital into a cryptocurrency project, often signaling strong confidence in its long-term potential or growth prospects.
• Bundle/Bundling:
Packaging multiple NFTs, tokens, or assets into one transaction or sale, commonly used on marketplaces.
C
• CEX:
Centralized Exchange; a cryptocurrency trading platform operated by a central entity, such as Binance or Coinbase, offering high liquidity and user-friendly interfaces but requiring users to trust the platform with their funds.
• CA/Contract Address:
The unique blockchain address where a smart contract is deployed and can be interacted with.
• Clip:
A portion or segment of a crypto investment or trade, commonly used to describe the size of a position or the amount of capital allocated to a specific trade or project.
• Coin:
A cryptocurrency that operates on its own independent blockchain, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, distinct from tokens that rely on existing blockchains for their infrastructure.
• Conviction Play:
A high-conviction investment made with strong belief in a project’s long-term value, often with significant capital allocation.
• Cope:
Slang used to describe the rationalizations or emotional struggle of someone who missed a crypto opportunity or suffered losses.
• Cucumber Zone:
A term for sideways, low-volatility market conditions where prices are flat and little is happening.
D
• DAO:
Decentralized Autonomous Organization; Community-led entity with no central authority, governed by smart contracts and token-holder votes.
• DCA:
Stands for Dollar-Cost Averaging; An investment strategy of buying a fixed amount of crypto at regular intervals, regardless of price, to reduce the impact of volatility.
• Defi:
Decentralized Finance; blockchain-based financial services that operate without intermediaries, offering lending, trading, and yield opportunities.
• Dyor/DYOR:
Acronymo for "Do Your Own Research". A reminder to investigate projects thoroughly before investing—common advice in crypto circles.
• Dart:
A highly speculative, high-risk investment in a cryptocurrency project, often made impulsively or with minimal research, akin to a gamble or “shot in the dark.”
• Degen:
Short for “degenerate,” a term for crypto traders who embrace high-risk strategies, often chasing volatile memecoins or speculative projects in pursuit of rapid, high-reward profits.
• DEX:
Decentralized Exchange; a blockchain-based platform, like Uniswap or SushiSwap, that enables peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading without a central authority, prioritizing user control and privacy.
E
• ETF:
Exchange-Traded Fund; a financial instrument traded on stock exchanges that tracks the price of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Ethereum, allowing investors to gain exposure without directly owning the assets.
• ETF inflow:
The movement of capital into a cryptocurrency ETF, where investors buy shares, increasing the fund’s assets and often signaling bullish sentiment or growing interest in the underlying crypto.
• ETF outflow:
The withdrawal of capital from a cryptocurrency ETF, where investors sell shares, reducing the fund’s assets and often indicating bearish sentiment or profit-taking.
• Exit Liquidity:
A term for buyers who purchase tokens near the top of a price run, allowing early holders to sell profitably—often used to imply manipulation or dumping.
F
• Fiat:
Government-issued currency, like USD or EUR, that is not backed by a physical commodity like gold.
• FOMO:
Acronym for Fear of Missing Out: The thrilling urge to buy crypto amid soaring prices or hype around tokens, NFTs, or events, often leading to impulsive, poorly timed investments.
• FUD:
Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt; misleading or negative information spread deliberately to create panic and drive down cryptocurrency prices, often for market manipulation or competitive advantage.
• Full clip:
Committing the entirety of one’s available capital to a single cryptocurrency trade or investment, implying maximum risk and full exposure to the outcome of the position.
G
• Gas/Gas Fees:
Transaction fees paid to validators for processing operations on a blockchain, especially on Ethereum.
• GM/GN:
Short for “Good Morning” or “Good Night”; widely used in crypto communities as casual, communal greetings.
H
• Haircut:
The act of selling a portion of a cryptocurrency position to lock in profits, often done strategically to secure gains while maintaining some exposure to potential future upside.
• HODL:
A misspelled version of "hold" that became a rallying cry for long-term crypto holders resisting market panic.
• Honeypot:
A malicious smart contract that lets users deposit tokens but prevents them from withdrawing, used to trap unsuspecting investors.
I
• In-and-out:
A rapid trading strategy where a trader enters and exits a cryptocurrency position within a short timeframe, typically hours or days, aiming to capture quick profits from price fluctuations.
• Inscription:
Data, such as metadata, text, or digital art, permanently embedded on a blockchain, popularized by Bitcoin Ordinals, enabling unique on-chain assets with provable scarcity.
J
• Jeet:
Slang for a trader who sells their crypto assets too early, often out of panic or impatience. Similar to “paper hand,” it carries a negative connotation and is commonly used to mock those who miss out on bigger gains.
• Jpeg:
Slang for an NFT, referring to digital images or artwork tied to non-fungible tokens, often used humorously to describe the visual or collectible nature of NFTs.
K
• KOL:
Key Opinion Leader; a prominent figure in the crypto space, such as an influencer, analyst, or developer, whose opinions can significantly influence market trends or community sentiment.
L
• Layer 0:
Infrastructure protocols like Polkadot or Cosmos that connect different blockchains.
• Layer 1:
Base blockchains like Ethereum or Solana.
• Layer 2:
Scaling solutions built on top of Layer 1 (e.g., Arbitrum, Optimism).
• Leverage trading:
Trading cryptocurrencies using borrowed funds to amplify potential profits, but also increasing the risk of significant losses if the market moves against the trader’s position.
• Liquidity:
The amount of available capital or tokens that can be quickly accessed or traded in a market without impacting the price.
• Locking:
The act of committing tokens to a protocol for a fixed period, often in staking, governance, or vesting scenarios.
M
• Mass adoption:
The widespread acceptance and integration of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology into everyday use, such as payments, finance, or decentralized applications, by individuals, businesses, and institutions.
• Memecoin:
A cryptocurrency created around internet memes or community-driven hype, such as Dogecoin or Shiba Inu, often characterized by high volatility and speculative trading.
• Multisig:
A crypto wallet that requires multiple private key approvals for transactions, enhancing security.
N
• NFT:
Non-Fungible Token; a unique digital asset on a blockchain, often representing ownership of digital art, collectibles, or in-game items, with provenance and authenticity verified on-chain.
• Ngmi/NGMI:
"Not Gonna Make It"; slang used to describe individuals, projects, or strategies unlikely to succeed in the competitive and volatile crypto space, often due to poor decisions or lack of innovation.
• Normie:
A person new to or unfamiliar with cryptocurrency and Web3 culture, often lacking the technical knowledge, jargon, or community context of seasoned crypto participants.
• Not your keys, not your crypto:
If you don’t control your seed phrase or private keys, like on whe you store your assets on CEXs, you don’t own your crypto, someone else does, risking hacks or freezes.
O
• Off-ramp:
The process of converting cryptocurrencies into fiat currency, typically through an exchange or service, allowing users to withdraw funds to a bank account or other traditional financial system.
• On-ramp:
The process of converting fiat currency into cryptocurrencies, often through an exchange or payment service, enabling users to enter the crypto ecosystem by purchasing digital assets.
P
• Paper hands:
A slang term for someone who sells crypto assets quickly or under pressure, often at a loss.
• PNL:
Profit and Loss; a financial metric used to evaluate the performance of crypto trading or investments, reflecting the net gains or losses over a specific period.
• Proof of Stake (PoS):
A blockchain consensus mechanism where validators are chosen to create blocks and confirm transactions based on the amount of cryptocurrency they “stake” as collateral. It's energy-efficient and widely used in newer blockchains like Ethereum (post-merge).
• Proof of Work (PoW):
The original blockchain consensus method where miners solve complex mathematical puzzles to validate transactions and secure the network. It requires significant computational power and is used by networks like Bitcoin.
R
• Rug:
Short for rugpull; a scam where developers of a crypto project abandon it after collecting investor funds, leaving the project worthless and investors with significant losses.
• Rugpull:
A fraudulent scheme where crypto project developers hype a project, raise funds through token sales or investments, then disappear, leaving investors with valueless assets.
• Rekt:
Slang for being financially ruined by a bad crypto trade or investment (“wrecked”).
• Round tripping:
Buying a crypto "bag" low, riding it to the peak, and crashing back down, often driven by hype or fake trading volume. Thrilling, but risky.
S
• Safu:
"Safe"; a term popularized by Binance to indicate that funds or investments are secure, often used in the crypto community to reassure users about the safety of their assets.
• Scam:
A deceptive cryptocurrency scheme designed to trick investors into parting with their funds, often through fake projects, phishing attacks, or Ponzi-like structures promising unrealistic returns.
• Slow rug:
A rugpull executed gradually, where developers siphon funds from a project over an extended period, often masking their intentions to avoid suspicion and prolong the scam.
• Sell shame:
The social pressure or mockery directed at someone who sells a crypto asset too early, especially before a major price increase—common in meme-driven or hype-heavy communities.
• Seed phrase:
A sequence of words used to recover a crypto wallet; losing it means losing access to the associated funds.
• Soft rug:
A less overt rugpull where developers partially abandon a project or take only a portion of funds, leaving the project in a weakened state but not entirely collapsed.
• Spot bags:
Cryptocurrencies held in a spot trading account, typically for long-term investment rather than active trading, often implying a “buy and hold” strategy with minimal leverage.
• Spot trading:
Buying or selling cryptocurrencies for immediate settlement at current market prices, without using leverage or borrowed funds, typically for straightforward ownership.
• Sniping:
The act of quickly buying newly launched tokens (often via bots) to gain early access before price increases.
• Smart Contract:
A self-executing blockchain program that performs actions automatically based on predefined rules.
• Smart Contract Risk:
The potential for bugs, exploits, or malicious logic in smart contracts that can lead to loss of funds.
• Stop loss:
An automated order to sell a cryptocurrency when its price drops to a predefined level, designed to minimize losses in a declining market by capping downside risk.
• Staking:
Locking up tokens in a blockchain network to earn rewards and help secure the network, commonly used in proof-of-stake systems.
• Stop loss:
An automated order to sell a cryptocurrency when its price drops to a predefined level, designed to minimize losses in a declining market by capping downside risk.
• Swap:
The process of exchanging one cryptocurrency for another, typically executed through decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Uniswap or centralized platforms, often with minimal intermediaries.
T
• Take profit:
An order to sell a cryptocurrency at a predetermined price to lock in gains, often used to secure profits before a potential price drop or to achieve a specific return target.
• Token:
A digital asset issued on an existing blockchain, such as ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum, often representing utility, governance, or other functions within a specific project or ecosystem.
• Treasury:
A reserve of funds, typically in cryptocurrency, managed by a project or decentralized organization to support development, marketing, operations, or community initiatives.
• Txn:
Short for transaction; a transfer of cryptocurrency or data recorded on a blockchain, verified by network participants and stored permanently in the ledger.
W
• Wagmi/WAGMI:
"We’re All Gonna Make It"; an optimistic phrase used in crypto communities to express collective confidence in achieving financial success or widespread adoption of crypto.
• Wallet:
A software application or physical device that stores private keys, allowing users to manage, send, and receive cryptocurrencies securely, with options for hot or cold storage.
• Web3:
The vision of a decentralized internet built on blockchain technology, prioritizing user ownership, privacy, and control over data and digital assets, in contrast to centralized Web2 platforms.
• Whale:
An individual or entity holding a large amount of cryptocurrency, capable of moving markets with big trades.
