The Phrases and Slang Every Crypto Investor Should Know

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Hey Bitcoiners! If you’re struggling with the lingo in the cryptosphere and you don’t know your NFTs from your nodes, or FOMO from FUD, I’m here to help!

Here are a few common phrases and words that’ll you’ll encounter when you delve into the fascinating world and culture of cryptocurrency.

Read on and you’ll be talking crypto like an OG in now time!

Airdrop

What is an airdrop?

Airdrops are free distributions of cryptocurrency used as a marketing method to promote new projects and tokens. To receive an airdrop you might have to perform certain tasks to help publicise a project, such as liking, sharing or commenting on social media.

Altcoin

What is an altcoin?

An altcoin (short for alternative coins) refers to any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin, of which there are now thousands.

The top altcoins by Market Cap include Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), BNB (BNB), USD Coin (USDC), Terra (LUNA), Solana (SOL), XRP (XRP) and Cardano (ADA).

AML

What does AML stand for?

AML stands for Anti-Money Laundering and relates to various checks cryptocurrency exchanges carry out when someone signs up to prevent illegal activity. AML often goes hand-in-hand with KYC regulations.

APR

What is APR?

APR stands for Annual Percentage Rate and represents the annual interest payable on a crypto (or any) investment. APR differs slightly to APY.

APY

What is APY?

APY stands for Annual Percentage Yield and, unlike APR, takes into account compound interest paid on your crypto (or any) investment. Your returns may be compounded hourly, daily or over any other time period specified by the platform you’re using.

Bear market

What is a crypto bear market?

A bear market is when crypto prices are falling and people are selling, especially those with paper hands. It’s associated with high levels of FUD amongs investors.

A bear market is the opposite of a bull market which is when prices are rising.

Bitcoin maximalist

What is a Bitcoin maximalist?

This is a person who is firmly committed to Bitcoin and believes that it’s the only cryptocurrency worth considering as all others are inferior and probably won’t exist in the future.

Blockchain

What is a blockchain?

A blockchain is a digital ledger which records cryptocurrency transactions, information and tracks assets.

It’s maintained by multiple computers, known as nodes, through a decentralised network where it is constantly checked to ensure the information is accurate and secure.

Blockchain technology has many real-world applications across a diverse range of industry sectors.

Bull market

What is a crypto bull market?

In a bull market crypto prices are rising and people are buying coins, especially if they’re suffering from FOMO. It’s the opposite to a bear market.

CBDC

What is a CBDC?

CBDC stands for Central Bank Digital Currency. It is a digital version of a country’s fiat currency issued by the Government, ie a digital pound or digital dollar.

Crypto winter

What is a crypto winter?

A crypto winter is when cryptocurrency prices fall for an extended period of time, especially when the bears are in charge.

DApp

What is a dApp?

A dApp (or dapp) is a decentralised application that operates autonomously on a blockchain involving a decentralised peer-to-peer network of computers.

DApps operate using smart contracts which typically run on the Ethereum network protocol (other protocols include EOS, Stellar and Cardano). Ethereum is also a cryptocurrency with the symbol ETH.

A dApp smart contact is a computer program – just like you’d find on your laptop or smartphone – written by developers that executes when certain conditions are met, typically an agreement between a number of participants.

DApps are often used to help with financial trading and asset management, but can be used for many other things, including blogging.

DeFi

What is DeFi?

DeFi stands for Decentralised Finance and describes the peer-to-peer financial services running on a blockchain.

DeFi apps, which often run on the Ethereum blockchain, eliminate the need for central financial institutions, such as banks, to be involved in transactions.

This in theory creates a fair, free and cheaper marketplace.

DEX

What is a DEX?

A DEX is a decentralised exchange, rather than a centralised exchange. Decentralised exchanges are peer-to-peer marketplaces where crypto buyers and sellers deal directly with each other. They are non-custodial platforms, meaning they never hold the private keys to your crypto, unlike centralised exchanges.

Diamond Hands and Paper Hands

What does diamond hands and paper hands mean?

Diamond hands is a term for a crypto investor (or any other type of investor) who holds (or HODLs) onto their coins despite a market downturn. It means you’ve got a high risk tolerance and can stand firm in the face of nerve-wracking price drops.

Paper hands is the opposite – it describes someone who sells their coins at the first sign of trouble, often losing money in the process. They are considered risk averse investors and panic sell as soon as volatility strikes.

ERC-20 token

What is an ERC-20 token?

ERC-20 tokens are designed to be used solely on the Ethereum blockchain. Some examples of ERC-20 tokens are Tether (USDT), Chainlink (LINK) and Binance Coin (BNB).

Fiat currency

What is fiat currency?

Fiat money is the cash – notes and coins and money held in banks and other financial institutions –issued by a Government to the people.

It is not backed by any physical asset, such as gold or silver, but is declared legal tender by a Government with it’s value based mainly on the people’s faith in the issuer.

FUD

What does FUD mean?

FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt, and is an acronym commonly used in the crypto space.

It can either mean the sentiment that’s sweeping the crypto markets at any given time, especially when the bears are in charge, or a deliberate strategy of negative PR, social posts and scare stories being pumped out to influence prices.

FOMO

What does FOMO mean?

This is one you’ll see all the time in the cryptosphere, and it stands for Fear Of Missing Out.

Although widely used in many different contexts, in crypto it means the feeling people  get when they see a coin’s price dramatically increase in price and they’re feeling compelled to jump on the band wagon a buy.

Gas

What is gas in ETH?

Gas is the name given to the fee paid when completing transactions on the Ethereum (ETH) blockchain, as in ‘gas fees’. These are quoted at the point of transaction in gwei – or fractions of ETH. A gwei is a billionth of one ETH.

Going to the moon

What does going to the moon mean?

Going to the moon – or mooning – is a crypto term used to describe a coin or token that’s soaring in value. It’s also used to describe cryptos that enthusiasts hope will rise meteorically in the future.

Halving

What is crypto halving?

A halving occurs when the reward for mining a cryptocurrency halves for each block. This often has the effect of increasing the value of a coin due to reduced supply. With Bitcoin, for example, halving events are baked into the code.

HODL

What does HODL mean?

This is probably the most famous of all crypto slang terms and stands for Hold On for Dear Life.

It originated from a misspelling of the word ‘hold’, which in the context of crypto investing means to not sell your coins even if the market is tumbling, stay strong and have diamond hands.

ICO

What is an ICO?

ICO stands for Initial Coin Offering. It’s a way for startup companies to raise operating capital from people interested in their project. ICOs are effectively a way to crowdfund in the crypto world.

KYC

What does KYC stand for?

KYC stands for Know Your Customer and is part of the regulations that mainstream cryptocurrency exchanges adhere to in order to verify the identity of customers when they sign up. Often KYC is lumped together with AML (Anti-Money Laundering) rules.

Leverage

What is leverage?

Leverage is the amount of capital you can borrow from a crypto exchange to trade with. It’s often used in conjunction with a trading strategy, such as short selling, in order to potentially increase gains. Leverage trading can also lead to much larger losses as well. Some exchanges offer leverage of up to 100x.

Liquidity pool

What is a liquidity pool?

A liquidity pool is a crowdsourced pool of cryptocurrencies or tokens linked by a smart contract to facilitate trades been the cryptos on a DEX.

Mainnet

What is a mainnet?

The term mainnet is used to describe a blockchain network that has been fully deployed and is live and in use, such as Bitcoin. This is the opposite of a testnet.

Market Cap

What does market cap mean?

Market Cap is short for Market Capitalisation which means the total value of a crypto project or currency. The Market Cap can be worked out by multiplying the price of an individual crypto by the number of coins in circulation.

NFT

What is an NFT?

An NFT, or non-fungible token, is a unique digital asset which represents a real-world object, such as a painting, video, GIF or audio file, or any other object.

The NFT is encoded onto a blockchain creating a permanent and unalterable record of ownership which cannot be replicated.

They are often bought and sold through marketplaces, such as OpenSea. Some of the most famous NFTs are the CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club collections.

Individual NFTs, which can also be described as units of data, have changed hands for millions of pounds.

Pump and dump

What is pump and dump crypto?

A pump and dump scheme is where the price of a cryptocurrency is artificially inflated, often through promotion on social media, before the creators sell their holding at the peak causing the market to crash and leaving everyone else out of pocket.

Hence, the price has been pumped before the crypto is dumped. This type of scam is often seen with newly-created cryptocurrencies.

Private Key

What is a private key?

Your crypto private key is a crucial piece of information used to prove ownership of the crypto in your wallet and recover it in the case of loss or theft. It also allows you to spend the crypto. Your private key is a binary or hexadecimal code that’s usually represented by a mnemonic phrase of 12, 18 or 24 words. Never share your private key as it can give anyone the ability to steal your crypto.

Public Key

What is a public key?

Your crypto public key is a crypto address used to received funds. It’s paired with your private key. It is safe to share this with anyone.

Rekt

What does rekt mean?

To get rekt means to lose a tonne of money when a crypto’s price nosedives.

It’s a misspelling of ‘wrecked’ and often implies the investor has been financially ruined by the losses they’ve experienced.

Shill or Shilling

What does shilling a crypto mean?

Shilling a crypto is the process of generating hype about a token through social media promotion, advertising and celebrity endorsements. The aim of shilling is to encourage people to invest in the coin and hence increase its value and the popularity of the project.

Shitcoin

What is a shitcoin?

A shitcoin in crypto is a token that either has little or no purpose or value, or is in fact a joke coin or possibly even a scam. There are hundreds of cryptos that could be classed as shitcoins at any given time. Often they are created in an attempt to generate a quick cash windfall for the owner through shilling and hype.

Smart contract

What is a smart contract?

A smart contract is a self-executing app – or computer program – that is stored on a blockchain, such as Ethereum, and executes when a series of conditions are met.

Smart contracts, which run in conjunction with dApps, have many uses and save time by removing the typical administration needed in conventional transactions.

An example of a smart contract would be the agreement to transfer money or cryptocurrency between two parties if certain predetermined conditions programmed into it are met.

Stablecoin

What is a stablecoin?

A stablecoin is a digital asset that’s pegged to another asset, such as the US dollar or gold. An example of a stablecoin is Tether (USDT).

Testnet

What is a testnet?

A testnet is a blockchain that is used to test improvements and changes to an existing network without actually changing it.

It can be used by developers to try out new features or tools without destabilising the mainnet.

New additions can be tested for vulnerabilities or other issues which could have serious consequences before they are deployed, often after a community vote.

To the moon

What does to the moon mean?

To the moon rivals HODL as one of the most used expressions in the crypto space.

It means that a crypto’s price is soaring, shooting up, going off the charts or exploding. It’s also used as an optimistic way of describing a particular coin’s future, even if it hasn’t risen yet, ie ‘Bitcoin’s going to the moon’.

An extension of this is ‘mooning’, meaning the price has reached the top. People also say ‘When moon?’ to ask the community when a crypto will rise stratospherically and be a good time to sell.

Whale

What is a crypto whale?

A whale is a crypto investor who holds a large number of specific coins, ie Bitcoin (BTC). Investors sometimes use whale account activity as an indicator of market price action.