A 10k project refers to NFT collections which have 10,000 unique NFTs with various traits. Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) and CryptoPunks are 10k projects with the biggest following.
A unique NFT that is one-of-a-kind. Mike Winkelmann, AKA Beeple, has produced some of the most famous 1:1 NFT art.
A 51% Attack occurs when a group of miners control at least 51% of the blockchain network’s mining hash rate. By doing so, they have the ability to insert an alternate blockchain, which can theoretically be accepted by the network as the attackers own a majority share.
A crypto address is a unique sequence of letters and numbers. It can be used to send or receive cryptocurrency. An interesting feature of blockchain addresses is that they are public, and through a blockchain explorer we can see how much an address holds as well as transactions in and out of the address. However, privacy based cryptocurrencies such as Monero and Zcash are an exception.
An airdrop refers to the distribution of tokens or NFTs to wallets for free. In order to be eligible for these rewards, wallets may have to meet certain criteria by holding a specific token or doing some task. Airdrops are mainly used as a marketing strategy.
Every crypto project is incomplete without having a community. In our community, each member is referred to as an Akordian. If you’d like to chat with other Akordians, ask questions and stay up to date with everything Akord, you won’t regret joining our Discord.
The highest trading price an asset has ever reached.
The lowest trading price an asset has ever reached.
The term altcoin refers to every other cryptocurrency except for Bitcoin. This is because Bitcoin is the first and oldest cryptocurrency. The rest are essentially considered “alternative coins”.
Altcoin season or “Altseason” is a period where money flows out of Bitcoin into altcoins which results in rapid price increases for altcoins.
Apeing means to quickly rush in and invest into a crypto project without doing any research or knowing much about the asset. Usually happens right when a project is launched in order to avoid FOMO.
API is an acronym for Application Programming Interface. It is an interface between computers or programs that allows them to communicate with each other. The more APIs a Web3 protocol has, the more interoperable and easier they are to build on top of.
If you’d like to build on Akord, you can check out our API.
Arweave is a decentralized blockchain project that ensures data permanence. Users pay a one-time upfront fee and their valuable data will permanently be stored on the Arweave network.
Atomic NFTs contain all three parts of an NFT - asset file, metadata file and the smart contract - in a single Arweave transaction. This ensures your NFT is truly permanent as there is no fear of link rot or stress as all parts of your NFT are safely stored on Arweave.
A bagholder is an individual who continues to hold onto their investment (bag of tokens) even though it has been losing its value and is now essentially worthless.
A bear market occurs when there is a sustained decline in crypto prices over a long period of time. This is usually marked by a drop of at least 20% from an asset’s previous high. After this, there is still a steady decline in prices. This is accompanied by weak macroeconomic conditions as well as a pessimistic outlook by investors. A bull market is the exact opposite.
An investor who is expecting prices to decline. An extreme type of bear is a permabear who consistently expects prices to fall regardless of economic conditions.
Bitcoin is the first digital cryptocurrency that allows for peer-to-peer transactions without the need for an intermediary. It is built on a decentralized network using blockchain technology, which records all transactions and ensures their authenticity. Bitcoin’s supply is limited to 21 million bitcoins.
Bitcoin Halving refers to the block rewards being given to Bitcoin miners being halved. This occurs roughly every four years after every 210,000 blocks have been mined. The last halving happened on May 11, 2020 which reduced the block rewards to 6.25 bitcoins. The next halving is expected to happen some time in April, 2024 which will reduce the number of bitcoins per block to 3.125.
A bitcoin maxi (maximalist) refers to an individual who believes that Bitcoin is superior to all other cryptocurrencies. Therefore, they reject altcoins and believe that BTC is the only cryptocurrency worth buying. One of the most well-known bitcoin maxis is Michael Saylor.
Bitcoin season is a period where money flows out of altcoins into Bitcoin. Bitcoin has a rapid price increase relative to other altcoins.
Blocks are the foundation of a blockchain. You can think of them as the safekeepers of information in a blockchain. Each block, except the genesis block, contains transaction data which cannot be altered and points to the previous block in the blockchain.
A blockchain explorer is a software that is used for visualizing blocks, transactions and other network metrics such as transaction fees, hashrates, block size, block difficulty and the like.
If you’d like to familiarize yourself with block explorers, you can visit some of the well known ones such as Blockchair, Etherscan, Viewblock.
A blockchain is a digitally distributed, decentralized and public ledger that is stored across the nodes of a network.
In general, the term blue chip refers to those companies or stocks that are considered to be reliable investments due to their long history of profitability and reliability.
In the cryptocurrency space, it refers to well established cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
In the NFT space, it refers to those NFT collections that are highly valuable, sought after and have a proven record of high volumes such as CryptoPunks and BAYC.
A bull market occurs when there is a sustained increase in crypto prices over a long period of time. This is accompanied by strong macroeconomic conditions as well as positive investor sentiment. A bear market is the exact opposite.
An investor who is expecting prices to rise. An extreme type of bear is a permabull who consistently expects prices to rise regardless of economic conditions.
It is a deflationary process in which tokens are permanently taken out of circulation. In turn, this decreases the total supply of the token and if everything else remains the same, should lead to an increase in its value.
Buying the dip refers to buying a token after its price has dropped as an investor believes it is undervalued and will bounce back.
Censorship Resistance refers to an idea in which no entity is able to prevent anyone from utilizing the network. You might even say that this is the main distinction between cryptocurrencies and centralized entities.
A CBDC is the digital form of a domestic currency. While cryptocurrencies are meant to be decentralized, CBDCs are controlled by a centralized entity such as a central bank. This means that you don’t truly own your assets.
A crypto exchange that is operated by a centralized entity. Currently, the biggest centralized exchanges are Binance, Coinbase and Kraken.
Although it allows users to safely exchange their crypto assets, they do not retain full control of their assets on the exchange. Therefore, it’s safer to keep your crypto in a wallet where you personally control your own private keys. Always remember: not your keys, not your crypto.
Collateral is something that is locked as a security for a loan incase of a default. In crypto, this can be cryptocurrencies or NFTs. In PoS cryptocurrencies, the native token is usually put up as collateral in order to be eligible for validating transactions.
You can think of a consensus mechanism as the laws that govern a blockchain. It refers to the underlying system that is used to validate transactions and maintain the security of a blockchain. The two most common consensus mechanisms are proof of work (PoW) and proof of stake(PoS). Each consensus mechanism also has its own advantages and disadvantages.
Content drift occurs when the information you were referencing via a URL changes over time. This can occur if the information on the webpage begins to change, is no longer maintained or the domain is bought by somebody else. If this happens, the link loses its value. With the advent of the Permaweb, this will no longer be an issue.
Copycat NFTs are used to refer to NFT knockoffs. They use a famous collection’s structure but change the theme or specific characteristics. They are usually parodies to poke fun at the original collection.
Creators, curators, visionaries and _________ being able to monetize their content. If you’d like to store your NFTs or build your project on Akord, we invite you to do so.
Without you, our work is incomplete.
Essentially, a digital currency that acts as a medium of exchange built on blockchain technology. All transactions of a cryptocurrency are recorded and can be verified through the blockchain. They are intended to be decentralized, borderless and secure.
Cryptography is the process of transferring information through encoding and decoding. In this manner, the information can securely be communicated to its intended recipient.
Cryptojacking is a cybercrime in which an individual’s computer or mobile device is used to mine cryptocurrencies without their consent.
This term is used to refer to a sub-section of twitter which is used by the crypto community. They use CT to keep up to date with all things crypto, follow influencers (Nadir Dabit, Vitalik Buterin, Balaji) or their favorite crypto projects (Akord).
Curated NFT marketplaces have an extensive screening process in order to ensure that they only sell the most authentic, highest quality and verified NFTs. Two well known curated marketplaces are SuperRare and Nifty Gateway.
A custodial wallet is managed by a third party such as a CEX. They take custody of your wallet’s private keys and are responsible for protecting your crypto assets that are stored in it. If you truly want to control your crypto, it’s best to keep it in a non-custodial wallet.
A decentralized application is built on a blockchain and can operate autonomously through the use of smart contracts.
A decentralized system is able to operate without the need of a centralized authority. This means that there is no single point of failure, which makes them more secure and gives power to the individuals that make up the decentralized system. It is also one of the biggest aims of most crypto protocols.
A DAO is an organization that utilizes blockchain technology in order to distribute decision-making, management and ownership. There is no central entity and members aim to act in the best interests of the DAO. An example is a data DAO which would aim to store information they consider highly valuable and worth preserving.
Decentralized Exchanges are crypto exchanges that rely on blockchain-based smart contracts instead of centralized entities. They are peer-to-peer platforms where users can exchange their assets with one another. This is done using non-custodial wallets which means that you retain full control of the assets you are trading. Some of the biggest DEXes include Uniswap, PancakeSwap and Kine Protocol.
Decentralized Finance protocols are borderless, permissionless, trustless and peer-to-peer. They are challenging the status quo of the banking system by essentially eliminating the need for a middleman to facilitate transactions. DeFi protocols also eliminate the high fees that financial institutions such as banks charge for their facilities.
A decentralized identity is a self-owned, independent identity that does not rely on a centralized entity to register or certify your identity. Instead, this is made possible through Decentralized Identifiers (DID). This allows users to control and manage their personally identifiable information.
A cryptocurrency is described as deflationary when its circulating supply is decreasing over time. This can happen through different mechanisms such as token burning, a fixed maximum supply or an endowment. Assuming demand remains constant, the decrease in supply will cause an increase in the value of the token.
Degen is short for “degenerate” but is used in two different ways in the crypto community. It is mainly used to refer to an individual that invests most of their money in speculative and shady crypto projects. However, it is also used by the crypto community to refer to themselves or others in an affectionate manner.
Delist refers to removing an NFT sale listing on a marketplace.
Alternatively, it also refers to an exchange delisting a token or NFT from its platform.
A web2 platform that is commonly used to manage crypto communities. Through this, community members can chat with one another, ask questions, and stay up to date with their favorite projects.
If you’d like to be a part of our community, come say hi in our discord.
In a distributed ledger, each node has a copy of the network’s ledger and has the ability to view, modify and verify the ledger. This relies on Distributed Ledger Technology instead of a centralized entity which allows transactions to be recorded by multiple nodes at the same time. A distributed ledger also prevents alteration of records, a risk of a centralized entity storing a ledger.
This is one of the most common terms used in the NFT space. It is used to refer to the release of a new NFT, usually a collection.
DYOR is an acronym for “Do Your Own Research”. It is an important reminder that you are responsible for the financial decisions you make. It is important to not rely on other people’s predictions, speculations or analyses. Instead, DYOR.
EIP is an acronym for Ethereum Improvement Proposal. As stated on their website, these describe the standards for the Ethereum platform, including core protocol specifications, client APIs, and contract standards. In simpler terms, you can think of them as upgrades for the Ethereum Network.
ERC-721 is a token standard that allows for the creation of NFTs on the Ethereum blockchain.
Designed by Beeple, this piece of digital art is composed of 5000 images made by Mike Winkelmann over the course of his career. It is the most expensive individual NFT which was sold for $69.3 million.
A blockchain explorer is a software that is used for visualizing blocks, transactions and other network metrics such as transaction fees, hashrates, block size, block difficulty and the like.
If you’d like to familiarize yourself with explorers, you can visit some of the well known ones such as Blockchair, Etherscan, Viewblock.
Fiat money is a type of currency which is not backed by any asset but instead by the government that has issued it. It is designated as legal tender by the government that created it. There is an unlimited supply and more can be printed at any time.
When somebody flexes, it means they’re showing off. NFT owners usually flex their most valuable NFT by making it their profile picture on a social media platform, mainly on discord and twitter.
It is a trading strategy in the NFT space. Flipping refers to purchasing or minting an NFT at a low price and immediately selling it on an NFT marketplace.
The Flippening refers to the potential event when Ethereum will surpass bitcoin to become the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Probably a game you’ve come across in your childhood but in the crypto space, it’s used to refer to a quickly rising floor price of an NFT collection.
The floor price refers to the lowest ‘Buy Now’ price for an NFT within a collection. It is one of the indicators used to evaluate an NFT collection. As the project gains popularity, the floor price rises with it. As the hype dies down and the project begins to lose its popularity, the floor price plummets with it.
FOMO is an acronym for “fear of missing out”. I’m sure you’ve already heard of this term in daily life. Well, in crypto it has a similar meaning with a hint of irrationality.
FOMO refers to when an individual makes a rash financial decision while trading or investing just because they think they are missing out on potential profits. This irrationality can have many consequences and can also lead to traders getting rekt.
A fork is said to occur when a blockchain splits into two separate branches. When a change is made to the protocol, it requires nodes to update their software. In the case of a hard fork, miners must update their software if they would like to continue their participation in the consensus mechanism.
Fractionalised NFTs make it possible to divide ownership of an NFT. This is done by breaking it down into smaller fractions, each of which can be sold separately. This helps improve the liquidity of NFTs as it allows buyers to buy fractions of expensive NFTs that were inaccessible to them before.
FUD is an acronym for fear, uncertainty and doubt. FUD happens when people begin to doubt a project or have a pessimistic outlook and begin to spread negativity online. It may also be used to manipulate the market. Fudders may use it to sweep up crypto at cheaper prices or to just sabotage a project they don’t like.
Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) refers to the total market cap of a cryptocurrency project by assuming all of its tokens are circulating. If you’d like to calculate this, you multiply the current market price of a token by its maximum supply.
Fungible tokens are cryptocurrencies which meet all the requirements of fungible assets.
They are non-unique, divisible and have an agreed upon market value. For example, my $10 of Arweave would be worth the exact same as your $10 of Arweave.
GameFi is a combination of the words ‘Game’ and ‘Finance’. It is mainly used to refer to ‘play-to-earn’ (P2E) games in which participating allows them to earn money. These rewards can be in the form of tokens, NFTs or trading assets in their marketplaces.
Gas refers to the amount of computational effort that is required to perform a transaction on a blockchain. The gas fee varies according to the complexity of the transaction as well as overall present demand of the blockchain network.
Generative art is essentially creating art with the help of autonomous systems. An artist can create genesis art through inputting a set of rules (range of colors, shapes, patterns etc) or providing their own initial design layers against a number of iterations. Through this, the system will then generate art according to the framework outlined by the artist.
The beginning of a crypto blockchain.
A genesis block refers to the first ever block mined of any blockchain network.
A genesis drop is the very first NFT collection by a creator. It can also just be a single NFT rather than a collection. This is also referred to as the “OG drop” or “Gen-1” release of a certain project.
Gwei is the most commonly used denomination of Ethereum and is mainly used for the discussion of gas prices. A billion Gweis equals one ETH.
Hash functions, also known as hashing algorithms, are used in cryptography which turns arbitrary input into a table or data structure made up of fixed-size elements. An example is SHA-256.
The hashrate is the rate at which a computer is attempting to solve complex cryptographic problems on a Proof of Work (Pow) network. In other words, it represents the amount of computing power being used by the network.
Who knew a simple typo would become one of the most used terms in the crypto space? This phrase actually means “hold” but is also an acronym for “Hold On for Dear Life”. It refers to holding or maintaining your position, especially during times of volatile price action.
Hopium is a mixture of the words “hope” and “opium”. It is used in the crypto community to refer to blind faith and hoping something will happen such as prices rising or falling without any reasonable justification.
A hot wallet is connected to the internet and stores your private keys online. This makes your assets stored within the wallet susceptible to hacking. Coinbase Wallet, MetaMask, Trustwallet are just a few examples to name a few.
You can think of ICOs as a crowdfunding method where investors are able to purchase “tokens” by investing into a project. It was the most common method in order to raise capital for cryptocurrency projects during the ICO boom of 2017.
IEOs are a similar funding mechanism to ICOs, however with one fundamental difference. In IEOs, exchanges do their due diligence by vetting the project and acting as the middleman between the project and investors. IEOs have become popular due to the security and trust provided by reputable exchanges.
One of the defining features of a blockchain. Immutable generally means that something is unalterable after creation. Therefore blockchains are immutable as they provide a permanent, long lasting and unmodifiable history of transactions.
The same thing applies to your most valuable data once it’s uploaded to Akord. If you’d like to test it for yourself, you can get 250 MB of free permanent storage.
A cryptocurrency is described as inflationary when its circulating supply is increasing over time. This can happen through different mechanisms such as mining rewards, staking rewards, or a set release schedule. Assuming demand remains constant, the increase in supply will cause downward pressure on its price.
The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) developed by Protocol Labs is, as stated on their website, “a distributed system for storing and accessing files, websites, applications and data”.
To learn more, check out Arweave vs IPFS & Filecoin.
The opposite of FOMO, JOMO is an acronym for “ joy of missing out”. This is usually felt when an individual is happy about not investing into a project which declined instead of skyrocketing.
Initially, JPEG was used as an insult by those against the NFT community. However, the NFT community has now adopted it as a source of pride as they know the intrinsic value of their NFTs.
KYC is an acronym for “know your customer”. It is a regulatory process used by cryptocurrency exchanges in order to verify customer identities by collecting personal information and their government-issued identification. This is done in order to comply with the law in order to prevent illegal activities such as money laundering.
Layer 1 (L1) blockchains are a blockchain’s main architecture which forms its on-chain network. Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana are examples of L1 blockchains.
Layer 2 blockchains are off-chain networks built on existing L1s to increase their scalability by improving their efficiency and speed. Optimism on Ethereum and the Lightning Network on Bitcoin are examples of L2 blockchains.
Link rot is quite a prevalent problem that people underestimate the magnitude of. Due to the structure of the traditional web (Web2), as time passes, hyperlinks no longer point to the target file as it may have been moved, relocated or is no longer available. However, with the advent of the Permaweb (a Web3 application), this will no longer be a problem.
Liquidity in the NFT space refers to how easily NFTs in a particular collection can be bought and sold at fair prices. If there is high liquidity, it is fairly easy to do so. However, if there’s low liquidity, an individual can get stuck holding onto that NFT for quite some time or having to undersell.
Rarity is important within an NFT collection. Even though it implies something is of value, it is often used sarcastically. It implies the NFT may not really be as rare as the owner believes it to be.
A mainnet is a working and fully-operational blockchain which can now be used by the public. The transactions are being broadcasted, verified and recorded on the blockchain.
Market Cap refers to the total value of a cryptocurrency’s circulating supply. If you’d like to calculate this, you multiply the current price of a token by its circulating supply.
Short for maximalist. A maxi refers to an individual who believes that their project will be superior to all other cryptocurrencies. They also advocate converting all their assets and just buying into the project.
Memecoins are cryptocurrencies that are based on popular internet memes and don’t really have any utility.
Even though they start out as jokes, they do have the ability to gain traction through community efforts as well as potential token burns which increase their scarcity and in turn the value of the memecoin. The first memecoin ever created was Dogecoin.
Mempool is a combination of the words “memory” and “pool”. You can think of it as a waiting room for transactions that have not yet been included in a block.
Formerly known as Facebook, Meta aims to help build the metaverse . This corporate giant also utilizes Arweave to store its Instagram NFTs.
The metadata of an NFT refers to the additional information about an NFT such as its name, description, creator and associated asset.
Metamask is a hot wallet that interacts with the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to access their wallet and interact through a mobile app or a chrome extension. Users are able to store, send, convert, swap tokens and interact with decentralized applications.
The Metaverse, a subsection of Web3, is an evolving concept of 3D virtual reality where users can trade digital assets such as virtual real estate and other items via their avatar.
Mining is the process of verifying transactions, organizing them into blocks and then adding them to a Proof of Work(POW) blockchain.
Minting is the process of validating information and creating new blocks in a Proof of Stake(PoS) blockchain. In return, they receive block rewards i.e tokens.
Minting is also used to refer to the process of minting an NFT which means creating a unique token on a blockchain. Once it has been minted, it is stored and exists on the blockchain.
Mooning, also known as “to the moon”, refers to a cryptocurrency’s price rising so rapidly that its price will literally skyrocket to the moon.
Multichain refers to decentralized applications that are deployed across multiple blockchains that utilize similar smart contracts.
A non-fungible token refers to an asset that is unique and cannot be replaced. NFTs are made up of three parts: an asset file, a metadata file and a smart contract. Most NFTs store their asset file on a centralized resource and link it as a URL. This is quite risky as the asset file can no longer exist, resulting in a worthless NFT.
Many NFT projects use Akord to store their metadata assets. Check out our article, Using Akord for NFT projects.
NGMI is an acronym for “not gonna make it” and is usually used when a cryptocurrency project is expected to fail. It’s also used to refer to someone when they make bad trading decisions.
A node is a server or computer that validates and stores transactions made on a blockchain. As blockchains are peer-to-peer networks, nodes form their distributed infrastructure.
A non-custodial wallet, also known as self-custodial wallets, give the user the ability to fully be in control of their assets. If you have a non-custodial wallet, the onus is on you to safely secure your wallet and its private keys.
Ironically, the term NFA is mostly used in contexts where financial advice is actually being given. It is used in order to not be held liable by people who are acting upon your advice. It is most commonly used by youtubers in the crypto space.
This is a common, and important, reminder to store your crypto safely on a non-custodial wallet where you control your own private keys. If it’s in a custodial wallet (on an exchange), the entity is actually in control of your money. Therefore, if you truly want to own your crypto, it’s best to keep it in a non-custodial wallet.
On-chain refers to all transactions and data that is available on a blockchain and is accessible by all nodes in the network. This includes data such as the mempool, blockchain history and account information.
Open Edition NFTs are NFT collections with no maximum supply that can be minted within a specific time period (usually 24, 48 or 72 hours). There are also very rare collections that have no time limit.
This term commonly expressed using these emojis 🧻🤲 refers to traders that are quick to sell their investment as soon as they sense any potential bad news. They have a low risk-tolerance and low confidence in the project they have invested in.
P2P refers to a network of two or more computers which can interact directly with each other. In this, each peer in the network acts both as a server and client which enables them to communicate without the need of an intermediary.
The Permaweb is like the traditional web but without its fragility. It is censorship resistant, decentralized and immutable. This means that once something is uploaded to the Permaweb, be it valuable documents or an application, it will remain there forever, completely unchanged. No more 404 errors, content drift or link rot!
Permissionless is often used to refer to public blockchains where anyone can participate in the network. They do not need to rely on any central authority, gatekeepers or require permission to join.
PFP refers to NFTs being used as profile pictures. This is quite common on CT and Discord.
A private key is a string of letters and numbers which acts as a password to access your digital wallet, authorize transactions and make withdrawals. It should be stored safely.
In Proof of Stake, individuals “stake” their crypto by locking it up as collateral for a chance to validate transactions in order to earn block rewards. The more you stake, the better your chances of being selected. In comparison to PoW, PoS is more energy efficient and allows for faster and lower-cost transactions.
In Proof of Work (PoW), miners compete with each other in order to validate transactions and earn block rewards. Even though this is an energy-intensive process, it brings a higher level of trust and security as it is less susceptible to a 51% attack.
A cryptocurrency protocol refers to the set of rules that govern how different parts of a blockchain network interact and function.
A public key essentially works as the address of your cryptocurrency wallet. Through your public key, crypto can be sent to your wallet. In order to access your wallet and make withdrawals, you will still need to use your private key.
A pump and dump is an illegal trading strategy in which individuals or a group artificially inflate the price of an asset by hyping it up. Due to FOMO, unsuspecting investors buy in after which the manipulators sell their bags which causes the price to rapidly drop. This is quite common in both the crypto and NFT space.
The queued pool refers to transactions that cannot be processed in the next block as they are currently out of order. Once the order for these transactions has been reestablished, it can then be moved to the mempool for further processing.
Rekt is the phonetic spelling of ‘wrecked’. It refers to serious financial losses which can be caused by investing into the wrong project or a bad trade.
This term is usually used by skeptics who do not believe in NFTs. Instead, they believe that they can easily acquire digital art through the “Right Click Save As” method.
NFT royalties are an income stream for the creators of NFT projects. They can set a percentage of the resale value they would like to receive as a royalty which allows them to earn every time their NFT is resold.
A rug pull is a scam in which the individuals behind the project promote their project and once they have raised enough money, they abandon the project and disappear. Rug pulls are quite common in both the cryptocurrency and NFT space, it is quite important to protect yourself against them by DYOR.
Satoshi Nakamoto is the pseudonym used to refer to the founder(s) of Bitcoin. Although we don’t know his/her/their identity, we do know they are the biggest bitcoin whale with more than one million BTC in their possession.
Short form of satoshis. Sats refer to the smallest unit of Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC). 100M Satoshis equals 1 Bitcoin.
One of the largest challenges faced by Web3 and cryptocurrencies. Scalability refers to the ability of a specific blockchain network to handle a large number of transactions per second (TPS) without undermining its security.
A software development kit (SDK) is a set of tools that allows programmers to develop applications for a specific platform.
Want to build with privacy and permanence? Learn more about Akord’s SDK.
A seed phrase, also known as a backup phrase or recovery phrase, is a set of 12 or 24 words that is generated when you create your wallet or when you are utilizing most web3 services. You can think of it as a master password that is required in order to access your wallet, data, crypto or NFTs. It’s important to safely store your seed phrase, as anyone with access to it will be able to access your assets stored in the wallet.
Sharding is a technique used to help blockchain networks improve their scalability by dividing the network into smaller groups of nodes. Each group can then process transactions independently, which helps to increase the network’s capacity and efficiency.
A shiller is an individual who heavily advertises a project while trying to appear objective. In reality, they can actually benefit from the project becoming popular as they may have a stake in the project.
A cryptocurrency that has no value or utility, often a scam.
Crypto slashing occurs when a validator becomes a bad actor by misbehaving and undermining the network. In turn, their staked cryptocurrency is burned or redistributed as punishment. Therefore, this acts as an accountability measure and encourages validators to behave appropriately.
A smart contract is an unalterable, self-executing code based on if-then logic. Once deployed, smart contracts facilitate transactions on a blockchain without the need of an intermediary.
Sniping essentially means getting a great deal. For example, you’re quickly able to buy an NFT that has been listed at an undervalued price.
Designed by Gavin Wood, Solidity is a popular object-oriented programming language in which smart contracts are written.
Cryptocurrencies that are pegged to cryptocurrency, fiat money, or to exchange-traded commodities. Stablecoin prices are meant to remain steady according to the asset that backs them.
Staking is a way of earning rewards while holding onto cryptocurrencies that use a Proof of Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism. You “stake” some of your tokens by locking them up as collateral in order to be selected for mining block rewards.
To sweep the floor refers to individual(s) buying all the NFTs off a collection’s floor. This might be a bullish sign for a project or that whales are accumulating as they expect the prices to rise.
Prior to a mainnet launch or upgrade, testnets are used as an experimental run to see whether the protocol is ready. Testnet coins are separate from actual tokens that have value.
Tether, or USDT, is currently the most widely adopted stablecoin that is pegged to the US Dollar.
Tokenomics, also known as tokenomics, refers to the economic features of a project that impacts its value. These include its supply, inflation, utility and vesting schedules.
TPS is an acronym for Transactions Per Second.TPS is an important indicator for the scalability of a blockchain. The higher the TPS, the more activity a blockchain will be able to handle without compromising on its security and therefore, scale.
In a large NFT collection, NFTs are considered unique due to the traits that they have. Traits such as background, clothes, eyes, accessories vary in rareness and have the greatest influence in determining its value.
Would you rather have multiple NFTs with common traits or one really rare one?
Transaction refers to the data written to a blockchain. Once enough nodes have verified a transaction, it can then be added to a block.
Trustless is used to refer to decentralized blockchains as there is no need to rely on an entity in order to utilize the network. Instead, this trust is achieved through smart contracts.
The Total Value Locked (TVL) refers to the total value of assets locked in a DeFi protocol.
USDC is the second largest stablecoin that is pegged to the US Dollar. It is created by Circle.
Utility is used to refer to a coin’s functionality. What does it do? How does it add value?
Utility NFTs have real-world benefits beyond their intrinsic value as digital assets. Utility NFTs can be used to access exclusive content, function as a ticket to an event and even verify the ownership of physical assets such as real estate.
A validator is a node or group of nodes that participate in the consensus process by validating new transactions, adding them to the blockchain and verifying the state of a blockchain.
Vaporware refers to projects or tokens that are overhyped and do not have any functional product. They are often scams.
A virtual economy refers to an economy in the metaverse where digital assets can be traded through virtual currency.
Volatility refers to the rapid fluctuation in the price of a particular cryptocurrency over time. Cryptocurrencies are known for their high volatility which occurs in response to factors such as news events, market speculation, regulatory changes and technological releases.
WAGMI is an acronym for “we’re all gonna make it” and is meant to spread hope and optimism in the crypto community.
Wearable NFTs are clothing and accessories that are meant to be digital fashion for avatars in blockchain-based virtual games.
Web 1 or Web 1.0 was the early, non-interactive version of the internet that mainly served as a platform for static content.
Web 2 or Web 2.0 was the second generation of the internet, which introduced new features such as social networking, user-generated content, and interactive web applications.
Web 3 or Web 3.0 is the decentralized version of the internet that utilizes blockchain technology and Dapps which allows users to have greater ownership and control over their data and digital assets.
If you’d like to learn more, you should check out What exactly is Web3?
Wen is a misspelling of the word “when” and it is often used in the crypto community to express the desire for a particular event to happen. Common examples include “Wen Lambo?”, “Wen Moon?” and “Wen Coinbase listing?”
A crypto whale refers to an individual or entity that holds large amounts of a specific project or token. The amount they own may also be enough to influence the price of a project.
It is also the most common term to rank holders in a specific project. Other ranking terms include shrimp, crab, octopus, fish, dolphin, shark, whale and humpback in that order.
A whitelist is a list of pre-approved users or wallets that are allowed to participate in a specific event. This could be an ICO, IEO or an NFT drop.
A whitepaper is a document that outlines the technical specifications, features and potential applications of a cryptocurrency project. It is often used to attract investors and developers by providing a comprehensive overview of the protocol’s potential.
Wrapped tokens allow users to utilize a tokenized version of a particular cryptocurrency which is operable on other blockchains. This is usually done by holding the asset in a digital vault after which “wrapped” tokens represent the assets in the vault. Thus, they have the exact same value while creating the opportunity for greater interoperability.
XRP is a token on the Ripple blockchain. It is also famous for having an ongoing lawsuit which was filed by the SEC for being an unregistered security.
Yield Farming is a process of providing liquidity to DeFi protocols in return for rewards.
Zero-Knowledge proofs are cryptographic proofs for 2 parties to verify the authenticity of information without revealing what the information is.