Welcome to the NFTedu Glossary page!
Whether you've just set foot in the captivating world of blockchain and Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) or you're already navigating the cryptoverse like a pro, we have the perfect guide for you right here. Our glossary is carefully crafted to illuminate every corner of the NFT universe, simplifying the complex jargon into language everyone can understand.
New to Web3? Not a problem! Our glossary is your dedicated guide, gently introducing you to the terms and concepts that are reshaping the world of art, media, finance, and beyond. We aim to break down the barriers, debunk the myths, and provide a solid foundation of understanding for your journey into the world of NFTs.
Even for seasoned adventurers of the digital landscape, our glossary serves as an exceptional compendium. It already stands as a comprehensive source of information, meticulously curated to encompass the breadth and depth of Web3. You'll discover that it houses a wealth of accurate knowledge, ready for your exploration whenever you need it.
No matter where you are on your Web3 journey, we hope you'll find our glossary an enlightening and enjoyable companion. Step into the future with us, and let's demystify the world of NFTs together. Welcome to the NFTedu Glossary - your trusted lighthouse in the exciting sea of NFTs.
Brought to you by Simone Leonelli & Jessica Priebe
AI
Artificial intelligence is a field, which combines computer science and robust datasets, to enable problem-solving. It also encompasses sub-fields of machine learning and deep learning, which are frequently mentioned in conjunction with artificial intelligence. These disciplines are comprised of AI algorithms which seek to create expert systems which make predictions or classifications based on input data.Artificial Intelligence (AI) grew from a desire to make computers smart, whether smart like humans or just smart in some other way. AI is a ‘smart computer system’
Air Gap
The concept of an air gap refers to the following: if data cannot be accessed, then it cannot be infected or corrupted. Within the IT industry, this is typically implemented as a duplicate copy of production data on a secondary storage system, which is offline, and as such is not connected to any production or public networks. However, in practice, this extra data copy is protected from attacks alongside corruption as long as the gap is maintained. Companies will typically rely on this air gap data as a copy of the last resort. The air gap typically augments existing backups, recovery and disaster recovery strategies with the intention of providing an added layer of protection.
Airdrop
An airdrop refers to sending cryptocurrency coins / tokens or NFTs for free to different wallet addresses. Some NFT projects may airdrop free companion NFTs to reward the original NFT collection holders. In addition, it can be used as a marketing strategy for NFT / crypto-related projects to generate attention and new followers. For example, in August 2021, NFT collection “Bored Ape Yacht Club” holders were airdropped a “mutant Serum”, which allowed them to mint a free Mutant Ape in the likeness of their original form that can be freely traded.
Anti-fragile
The term antifragile was popularized by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, author of The Black Swan and Fooled By Randomness, in his 2012 New York Times bestseller Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder.“Antifragility is beyond resilience or robustness,” wrote Taleb. “Some things benefit from shocks; they thrive and grow when exposed to volatility, randomness, disorder, and stressors and love adventure, risk, and uncertainty… The resilient resists shocks and stays the same; the antifragile gets better.” Bitcoin has proved itself as not only resistant to shocks and stresses but stronger for them. That makes it "antifragile."
AR
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration of virtual and real objects.
Art Blocks
Art Block is a digital art platform built on the Ethereum blockchain that produces, sells and stores generative art. It does so using NFT drops, a process by which a user mints an NFT but doesn’t know what they’re receiving beforehand.
Aura
Aura is a quality integral to an artwork that cannot be communicated through mechanical reproduction techniques. The term was used by Walter Benjamin, he argued that ‘even the most perfect reproduction of a work of art is lacking in one element: It’s presence in time and space, its unique existence at the place where it happens to be.’ He referred this unique cultural context i.e. ‘it’s presence in time and space’ as its ‘aura’.
Automated market makers (AMMs)
One of the most essential components of a decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem is the automated market makers (AMMs). They use liquidity pools rather than a conventional market of buyers and sellers to enable digital assets to be traded in a permissionless and automatic manner. Users of AMM want to be able to offer liquidity pools with crypto coins, which are regulated by a constant mathematical formula. Liquidity pools may be tailored for various applications, and they are becoming an essential tool in the DeFi ecosystem. Without further ado, let’s have a look at what is an AMM and how an Automated Market Maker work.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a type of crypto currency created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008. It is digital money that can be transferred to others while being tracked by the blockchain. It can't be changed via its high volume and is accessible for the whole global network
Bitcoin-Halving
Bitcoin miners receive a reward in bitcoins when they add a block to the blockchain. The block reward continually decreases by half every 210,000 blocks, which is approximately every four years. After each halving, it can become more expensive to mine bitcoins, unless the price of Bitcoin rises to offset the reduction in rewards.
Many cryptocurrencies have a finite supply, which makes them a scarce digital commodity. For example, the total amount of Bitcoin that will ever be issued is 21 million. The number of bitcoins generated per block decreases by 50% every four years. This is called “halving.” Although more than a century away, Bitcoin will be capped at 21 million coins in 2140 (The final Halving), and miners will no longer obtain coin rewards from the mining process. They will only receive transaction fees.
Block Height
A blockchain, as the name suggests, is a sequence of blocks that contain a certain amount of transactional data and together serve as a public ledger of a blockchain’s entire transactional history. Put simply, Block Height refers to either the location of a specific block in the blockchain relative to the first block or as a measure of the entire block chain’s length.
Block time
Block time is the measure of the time it takes the miners or validators within a network to verify transactions within one block and produce a new block in that Blockchain.
Blockchain
Blockchain is the innovative database technology that’s at the heart of nearly all cryptocurrencies. By distributing identical copies of a database across an entire network, blockchain makes it very difficult to hack or cheat the system. While cryptocurrency is the most popular use for blockchain presently, the technology offers the potential to serve a very wide range of applications. At its core, blockchain is a distributed digital ledger that stores data of any kind. A blockchain can record information about cryptocurrency transactions, NFT ownership or DeFi smart contracts. While any conventional database can store this sort of information, blockchain is unique in that it’s totally decentralized. Rather than being maintained in one location, by a centralized administrator—think of an Excel spreadsheet or a bank database—many identical copies of a blockchain database are held on multiple computers spread out across a network. These individual computers are referred to as nodes.
Blockchain Bridge
If you want to trade your NFTs but don’t have a way (such as Shapeshift or Kyber Network), then you can use a bridge service like Rarebits. A bridge will move your tokens from one blockchain to another for a fee, and you can get back your tokens on the new chain. A blockchain bridge is a connection that allows the transfer of tokens and/or arbitrary data from one chain to another. Both chains can have different protocols, rules and governance models, but the bridge provides a compatible way to interoperate securely on both sides. There are many different designs for bridges, but they can generally be divided into two camps: more centralized bridges that rely on trust or federation, and so-called “trustless” bridges that are more decentralized. Centralized bridges rely on some type of central authority or system to operate, meaning that users are required to place trust in a mediator to use a given app or service.
Bot `
A bot is an automated tool/ software that performs actions on behalf of humans. Such as monitoring the market to sell at optimal times, making trades, and executing transactions. The cryptocurrency market is open 24/7 across the world. Bots allow traders to run their investments, even while they sleep, and to take advantage of fluctuations in the market that humans may be too slow to act on. Some bots use historical data in order to predict the market and to formulate trading strategies that are supposed to give traders an advantage. They are also sometimes used to artificially inflate or deflate the price of NFTS.
Burn
Burning a non-fungible token means destroying it. Burned NFTs are sent to a verifiably un-spendable address, ultimately eliminating your NFT from the blockchain. However, transactions leading up to the burn will remain on the blockchain ledger.
Capital Gains taxes
In Australia, the law requires that an individual or entity wishing to sell a crypto asset before holding it for a minimum of a year pay 50% in capital gains taxes to the ATO. If the subject chooses to hold their assets for at least a year, this capital gains tax halves to 25%.
Cold Wallet
A cold wallet, otherwise known as a hardware wallet or cold storage, is a physical device that keeps your cryptocurrency completely offline. Many look like USB drives or simply a piece of paper.
Taking your holdings offline helps protect from hacking and online attacks, but you can also risk losing your holdings. There is no back up to this form of storage; if you misplace your wallet, you lose access to your investments. While a cold wallet makes hacking much more difficult, it’s still a possibility.
Commodity money
Commodity money has an intrinsic value that is derived from the materials it is made of, such as gold and silver coins.
The difference between fiat money and commodity money relates to their intrinsic value. Historically, commodity money has an intrinsic value that is derived from the materials it is made of, such as gold and silver coins. Fiat money by contrast, has no intrinsic value – it is essentially a promise from a government or central bank that the currency is capable of being exchanged for its value in goods.
Copyright
The copyright law states that when you buy a NFT you don't hold any rights to obtain and make copies of the digital product. Only the official author/creator has that access to the original content. You will however have ownership to a unique code after the purchase. This is stored on the blockchain
Crypto Exchange
crypto exchange is a platform on which you can buy and sell cryptocurrency. You can use exchanges to trade one crypto for another — converting Bitcoin to Litecoin, for example — or to buy crypto using regular currency, like the U.S. Dollar.
Cryptography
Cryptography is a method of protecting information and communications through the use of codes, so that only those for whom the information is intended can read and process it.
In computer science, cryptography refers to secure information and communication techniques derived from mathematical concepts and a set of rule-based calculations called algorithms, to transform messages in ways that are hard to decipher. These deterministic algorithms are used for cryptographic key generation, digital signing, verification to protect data privacy, web browsing on the internet and confidential communications such as credit card transactions and email.
Custodial Wallet
Custodial wallets are web based exchange wallets, and offer convenient solutions for those who are unfamiliar with the technicalities of self-custody. Loss of private keys resulting in a loss of funds is not an issue when using custodial wallets. It is also an effective way of avoiding high transaction fees and offers a flat fee for transactions.
CXIP
CXIP, a minting platform designed so that users can authenticate their NFTs before listing them for sale. By creating their own smart contract. CXIP is attempting to fight back against the scourge of inauthentic NFT artwork that's managed to trickle through and effect major auctions.
CXIP is a platform that provides NFT minting for the whole ecosystem. Personal smart contracts, verifiable provenance, advanced royalties, and state-of-the-art security.
Cybernetics
Cybernetics is a ‘goal-directed’ system. It is the science of communications and automatic control systems in both machines and living things. It comes from the Greek word ‘kubernetes’ meaning steerman. Growing from the want to understand and create systems that can achieve any type of goal. E.g. human goals or goals like the changing of temperature in a room. Cybernetics is now a basis to understand complex systems such as learning, cognition, adaptation, emergence, communication, and efficiency.Through the way it steers itself in the right direction by trying, acting, seeing, sensing, and changing, then looping to do the same again and again. For example: as we steer a ship we want to make it to a goal, then we get blown off course by wind and ocean, so we see that’s not where we want to go so we correct, by steering the ship in the right way, using the repeated process of trying, acting, seeing, sensing, and changing. Cybernetics is a ‘goal-directed’ system.
Cypherpunk
An individual who is a strong believer in anonymity and privacy when using the Internet. Derived from "cipher" and "cyberpunk," cypherpunks often send encrypted messages and employ other privacy measures. Also called "crypto anarchists," cypherpunks are strong believers in cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance (see DeFi).And…A cypherpunk is any activist supporting the use of cryptography and other privacy-oriented technology as a means of social and political change. They may also be defined as persons frequently who make use of secure computer networks to protect their privacy, especially from government authorities. The origin of the cypherpunk movement can be traced back to the late 1980s.
DAPP
A decentralized application. DApps operate similarly to regular web applications; however, they retrieve their state and data from a blockchain network (or multiple blockchain networks). DApps do not require a central web server to function and can communicate to each other over the messaging protocol of the blockchain network(s) to which they're connected.
Data Visualisation
Data visualization is the graphical representation of information and data. By using visual elements like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data.
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs)
Decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) are a core function of interacting across the Web3 space. A DAO is a group of individuals organized around a mission that “coordinates through a shared set of rules enforced on a blockchain.”
The primary advantage of a DAO is that, unlike traditional companies, the blockchain provides DAOs with complete transparency. All the actions and funding of the DAO can be seen and analyzed by anyone. This transparency significantly reduces the risk of corruption and prevents important information from being censored. It also ensures that the DAO upholds its promise. This is because, like NFTs, DAOs also run on smart contracts that can trigger an action whenever certain conditions are met. For example, in the case of a DAO, a smart contract can ensure that proposals that receive a certain amount of affirmative votes are automatically enacted.
Decentralized Exchanges (DEX)
These are exchanges that allow for peer-to-peer transactions rather than going through a third party. Decentralized crypto exchanges (DEXs) are blockchain-based apps that coordinate large-scale trading of crypto assets between many users. They do that entirely through automated algorithms, instead of the conventional approach of acting as financial intermediary between buyers and sellers. The algorithms that DEXs use are examples of smart contracts. They are pieces of code written on top of blockchain networks like Ethereum that trigger various outputs when given certain inputs. The idea behind a DEX is "disintermediation," which means removing middlemen to allow regular people to do business directly with each another. A DEX doesn't offer custody of users’ crypto assets. Instead, users directly hold all their assets in their own wallets at all times.
Deep Fakes
Deep fake is a type of artificial intelligence that fabricates convincing images through photos, audio and videos.
Deepfake content is created by using two AI algorithms; generator and discriminator. The generator, which creates the fake multimedia content, asks the discriminator to determine whether the content is real or artificial. Together, the generator and discriminator form something called a generative adversarial network (GAN). Each time the discriminator identifies content as being fabricated, it provides the generator with valuable information about how to improve the next deep fake. Usually deep fakes are used to digitally alter a person's face or body to appear as someone else, unfortunately with the malicious intent to ridicule or spread misleading information.l
DeFi
DeFi (or “decentralized finance”) is an umbrella term for financial services on public blockchains, primarily Ethereum. With DeFi, you can do most of the things that banks support — earn interest, borrow, lend, buy insurance, trade derivatives, trade assets, and more — but it’s faster and doesn’t require paperwork or a third party. As with crypto generally, DeFi is global, peer-to-peer (meaning directly between two people, not routed through a centralized system), pseudonymous, and open to all.
Delegated proof of stake
Delegated proof of stake is a term that refers to an algorithm that ensures the representation of value in a blockchain ledger.
The Truth Machine by Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna
Delist
Refers to the action of taking down or cancelling a listing of an NFT’s sale. This can happen when a copyright claim is issued to the NFT creator on the basis that their designs look too similar to a character in popular media. When this happens, holders are typically left with a dead resale market for their collection, unless the NFT gets relisted.
Diamond Hands
Within the world of trading on the stock market and in cryptocurrency, Diamond Hands is used to refer to investors who hold their position and refuse to sell. Diamond Hands investors are in it for the long haul and are not panicked by drops in their asset value or tempted to make quick gains when prices rise.
Digital Replicas
A Digital Replica Is creating through technology a virtual reality with equipment and graphic modeling. It can be a physical or non physical object.
Digital Revolution
The digital revolution is the shift between the old mechanical technology to the new digital technology software we have and use today. It is so revolutionary because It continues to transform itself into a wide range of new data materials on the world wide web and especially in marketing industry for consumers.
Digital Time Stamps
The timestamp is a small data stored in each block as a unique serial and whose main function is to determine the exact moment in which the block has been mined and validated by the blockchain network. Timestamping is the process of recording data on a blockchain to prove that it existed at a specific date and time. Decentralization is one of the fundamental aspects of blockchain. This in turn causes, that there is no universal time code because we can connect from any time zone. The timestamp is a timestamp, which is calculated according to different parameters. The temporal parameter, or timestamp, is based on an instantaneous adjustment that uses a median of the timestamps returned by all nodes. of the network. This is due to the decentralized form of it and seeks to keep the nodes of the network as well synchronized as possible.
Digital Twins
A digital twin is a virtual model designed to accurately reflect a physical object. The object being studied - for example, a wind turbine - is outfitted with various sensors related to vital areas of functionality. These sensors produce data about different aspects of the physical object’s performance, such as energy output, temperature, weather conditions and more. This data is then relayed to a processing system and applied to the digital copy. Once informed with such data, the virtual model can be used to run simulations, study performance issues and generate possible improvements, all with the goal of generating valuable insights — which can then be applied back to the original physical object. Notre Dame cathedral in Paris, France, has announced a partnership with Autodesk on the second anniversary of the devastating fire that broke out in 2018. As Parisians today mark the second anniversary of the fire which devastated Notre-Dame Cathedral, digital twin technology has helped reconstruct the landmark to its former glory. Autodesk drew on 3D BIM modelling to create before-and-after comparisons of famous Paris landmark. Data using reality capture technologies prior to the fire enabled Autodesk to create a 3D BIM model of the famous landmark and reality capture scans provided 3D models post-fire for comparison.
Disintermediation
Refers to the process of removing different elements from a transaction or supply chain. It allows investors to buy directly from the manufacturer rather than a distributor (retailer). This is done to cut costs or reduce delivery duration within a chain. Disintermediation can influence the overall cost of the product, as well as overall profits, allowing companies to remain more cost-effective against other investors, along with a pricing advantage in the market. However, the process is not always ideal as it requires additional staffing and other resources to replace the distributor within the chain.
Distributed Ledger
Distributed ledger technology (DLT) is a digital system for recording the transaction of assets in which the transactions and their details are recorded in multiple places at the same time. Unlike traditional databases, distributed ledgers have no central data store or administration functionally. This configuration enables participants of the network to have secure access to a consistent view of the information on the ledger at any point in time – with that view limited by their individual access privileges. This configuration and associated cryptography also offers the potential for the information to be more securely stored and accessed in a tamper-proof manner.
DYOR
Do your own research. Disclaimers often used by individuals on social media who do not want to be held accountable if you take their crypto or NFT trading advice. Often said together as a phrase, “Not financial advice. Do your own research.”
Double Spending
Double-spending is the risk that a cryptocurrency can be used twice or more. Transaction information within a blockchain can be altered if specific conditions are met. The conditions allow modified blocks to enter the blockchain; if this happens, the person that initiated the alteration can reclaim spent coins.
ETH
The cryptocurrency used for all transactions on the Ethereum network, and it’s the currency used to purchase and sell NFT art on the marketplace Foundation.app. All of the NFTs on Foundation can be purchased with ETH. Creators get paid in it, too.
Ethereum
Ethereum is a blockchain-based platform best known for its cryptocurrency, ETH. Ethereum is a technology that lets you send cryptocurrency to anyone for a small fee. It also powers applications that everyone can use and no one can take down. Just like any other cryptocurrency, the information is processed through a chain of blocks. All of the information contained in each block is added to every newly-created block along with the new data. Throughout the network is a distributed and identical copy of the blockchain. This blockchain is validated by a network of automated programs that reach a consensus on the validity of transaction information. Consensus is reached using a protocol referred to as a consensus mechanism, using the proof-of-work protocol. A new block is then opened on the blockchain, information from the previous block is encrypted and placed into the new block along with new data, and the mining process begins again. Just like Bitcoin, both let you use digital money without payment providers or banks. But Ethereum is programmable, so it can also be used for different digital assets - a marketplace of financial services, games and apps that can't steal data or censor.
Expansive fees
Expansive Fees—built-in incentives that can be utilized by anyone adding value in a codified manner on top of the protocol. These fees are transparent and available to the entire ecosystem. To effectively earn these fees on top of the hyperstructure, you need to provide the desired value as defined by the protocol. The presence of these incentives provides a mechanism for community expansion of the Hyperstructure, and good mechanism design here is likely critical for longevity. A great example of an Expansive fee is the Uniswap LP fee. LP fees incentivize participants to provide the key resource—liquidity. This fee is paid to anyone who is providing liquidity to a pool, it is not paid to Uniswap. LP’s expand the utility of Uniswap, they do not have a monopoly on providing that utility and an LP only captures value on what they’re creating.
Fiat
A term used for legal tender backed by a government that has issued it. (ie. AUD, GBP, USD). This term is commonly used to distinguish between normal currencies and digital ones.
Finality
Finality reflects a fundamental rule of blockchains: unlike traditional financial systems where charges can be “reversed”, there is no “undoing” a transaction on the blockchain. Once finality is reached, the transaction is immutable. A transaction is considered “final” once it can no longer be changed. In a sense, this happens once there are sufficient confirmations of the transaction, but for all intents and purposes, a transaction is final once the block that contains it is mined or validated.
Flipping
What Is Flipping? Flipping refers to purchasing an asset with a short holding period with the intent of selling it for a quick profit rather than holding on for long-term appreciation.
Floor Price
Floor price means the lowest price listed of an NFT project. The term originates from commodity trading and refers to the lowest price, rather than the average price, at which an NFT can be bought.
Foundation app
A global leading NFT art marketplace where you can buy, sell and trade NFTs.
Fractionalisation
The process of dividing a whole NFT into smaller fractions, allowing different numbers of people to claim ownership of a piece of the same NFT. The NFT is fractionalized using a smart contract that generates a set number of tokens linked to the indivisible original. These fractional tokens give each holder a percentage of ownership of an NFT, and can be traded or exchanged on secondary markets.
Frequency hopping
Frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) is a method of transmitting radio signals by shifting carriers across numerous channels with pseudorandom sequence which which is already known to the sender or receiver. It’s done in a wireless modulation method that rapidly changes the center frequency of a transmission.
FUD
Acronym for “Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.” Example: “If someone tells you bitcoin is a bubble, they just have FUD.”
GAN (Generative Adversarial Network)
A Generative Adversarial Network is a class of machine learning frameworks.
Essentially, two large datasets (images, audio, video) etc, are left unsupervised to “learn” or “train” off of each other.
After a training session, a file is created that contains the style of what it learned during training. This file could be considered to be the “brain” of the ai or GAN, because if directed, it can generate new images or video or songs with the same style as the training set, usually using a modern gpu with high vram, or eth mining rig hashpower to render.
Gas
Gas is the fee we need to pay to the blockchain network for all sorts of transactions. The fee is paid to the “miner” of a blockchain network to compensate for the computing energy required to process and validate transactions. High gas fees commonly occur when there is a high demand on the network, for example during the beginning of the minting process of a new NFT project.
Currently, the Ethereum gas free is made up of a base fee and a tip. The base fee is burned and the tip is paid to the miner. Total transaction fee = Gas units (limit) × (base fee + tip)
Gas War
A gas war is an auction for priority inclusion in an upcoming block of transactions to be validated on a blockchain. When demand is high, the price of a priority position can rocket. This occurs when multiple people try to mint NFTs at the same time driving up transaction prices. Transaction fees on the Ethereum blockchain can be enormously high when the network is congested. The situation is made much worse when a popular NFT launches and thousands of people try to mint at the same time. In such cases, the transaction (gas) fees alone can be many multiples more than the actual mint price of the NFT. This situation is known as a “gas war” since people are competing to mint the NFT as quickly as possible before it sells out (the more gas you are willing to pay, the more likely your transaction will go through before others). To ease this situation, many projects have adopted a whitelisting approach.
Genesis Block
A Genesis Block is the name given to the first block a cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, ever mined. A blockchain consists of a series of so-called blocks that are used to store information related to transactions that occur on a blockchain network. Each of the blocks contains a unique header, and each such block is identified by its block header hash individually. These blocks get layered—one on top of the other, with the Genesis Block being the foundation—and they grow in height until the end of the blockchain is reached and the sequence is complete. The layers and deep history of each sequence is one of the things that makes a blockchain-based cryptocurrency so secure. Bitcoin’s Genesis Block was the first instance of a proof-of-work blockchain system and is the template for all other blocks in its blockchain. In 2009, Bitcoin's pseudonymous developer, Satoshi Nakamoto, created the Genesis Block, which launched the cryptocurrency boom that is ongoing today.
GPU Mining
This is a graphics processing unit, which is needed to mine certain types of cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum. Crypto mining involves solving complex cryptographic equations through the use of computers to get cryptocurrencies as a reward. The computer resource used in solving these complex cryptographic equations determines the type of mining.GPU mining involves the use of a gaming computer’s graphics processing unit to solve complex math problems to verify electronic transactions on a blockchain. Normally, to mine a cryptocurrency, digital coins must be built on a blockchain architecture that supports proof-of-work (PoW) mining. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Monero (XMR), Litecoin (LTC) and Dogecoin (DOGE) are examples of coins that can be mined.
Governance Tokens
Governance tokens represent ownership in a decentralized protocol. They provide token holders with certain rights that influence a protocol’s direction. This could include which new products or features to develop, how to spend a budget, which integrations or partnerships should be pursued, and more. Generally speaking, exercising this influence can take two forms. First, governance token holders can propose changes through a formal proposal submission process. If certain criteria are met and the proposal goes to a vote, governance token holders can use their tokens to vote on the proposed changes. The specific mechanisms and processes through which these rights are exercised differ across protocols.
Hard Fork
A hard fork (or hardfork), as it relates to blockchaintechnology, is a radical change to a network's protocol that makes previously invalid blocks and transactions valid, or vice-versa. A hard fork requires all nodes or users to upgrade to the latest version of the protocol software. A hard fork is when nodes of the newest version of a blockchain no longer accept the older version(s) of the blockchain; which creates a permanent divergence from the previous version of the blockchain.
Adding a new rule to the code essentially creates a fork in the blockchain: one path follows the new, upgraded blockchain, and the other path continues along the old path. Generally, after a short time, those on the old chain will realize that their version of the blockchain is outdated or irrelevant and quickly upgrade to the latest version.
Hash
A hash is a mathematical function that converts an input of arbitrary length into an encrypted output of a fixed length. Thus regardless of the original amount of data or file size involved, its unique hash will always be the same size. Moreover, hashes cannot be used to "reverse-engineer" the input from the hashed output, since hash functions are "one-way" (like a meat grinder; you can't put the ground beef back into a steak). Still, if you use such a function on the same data, its hash will be identical, so you can validate that the data is the same (i.e., unaltered) if you already know its hash. Hashing is also essential to blockchain management in cryptocurrency.
HeritageDAO
HeritageDAO is a decentralized autonomous organization for our cultural heritage. Powered by web3 technologies, we revolutionize the way we collect, protect, share and enjoy cultural heritage.
HODL
In early bitcoin forums, someone posted a message that spelled the word “hold” wrong, and readers interpreted it as an acronym “hold on for dear life.” Now, it’s become a meme of sorts, so that when the prices are highly volatile, bitcoin buyers say ‘HODL!
Hyperledger Fabric
Hyperledger is an ecosystem of open-system tools, libraries, and products designed to enable and support enterprise-grade blockchain technology and offers the necessary framework to build open-source blockchains and related applications for use across various industries. In general, the products focus on creating solutions for permissioned blockchains–that is, non-public blockchains, with alternative consensus mechanisms other than Proof of Work (PoW) or Proof of Stake (PoS). It is a global collaboration hosted by the Linux Foundation.
Hyperstructure
Crypto protocols that can run for free and forever, without maintenance, interruption or intermediaries.
ICYMI
ICYMI is an acronym, abbreviation or slang word which means “In Case You Missed It
”. You use “ICYMI” when you are informing people about something they might have missed. For example: “Here’s the video everyone’s talking about, ICYMI
.” It saves a lot of characters and gives you an excuse to re-share your existing content. If you’re sharing widespread news or old content, using ICYMI is a good idea.
Immutability
Immutability means unchangeability. In computer science, an immutable object is an object whose state cannot be altered after its creation. Immutability is one of the key features of Bitcoin and blockchain technology. Immutable transactions make it impossible for any entity (for example, a government or corporation) to manipulate, replace, or falsify data stored on the network.
Intermediary institution
Institutions that stand in between people that carry out certain operations that are necessary for the transaction or co-operation between two or more parties to be possible.
The Truth Machine by Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna
Internet of things (IOT)
The Internet of Things (IoT) describes the network of physical objects—“things”—that are embedded with sensors, software, and other technologies for the purpose of connecting and exchanging data with other devices and systems over the internet. These devices range from ordinary household objects to sophisticated industrial tools.
Internet of value
Another term for Web 3.0. The internet of value is a term that refers to the next stage in development of the internet where not only is it information that can be sent from peer to peer but assets themselves. This means that anyone with access to the internet can participate in the world economy.
The Truth Machine by Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna
InterPlanetary File System
A means of storing NFT data that is considered superior to storing on an HTTP gateway URL, since the latter is tied to a specific provider. IPFS addresses allow users to find a piece of content as long as someone on the network is hosting it.The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol and peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. IPFS uses content-addressing to uniquely identify each file in a global namespace connecting all computing devices. IPFS was launched in an alpha version in February 2015, and by October of the same year was described by TechCrunch as "quickly spreading by word of mouth."
IRA
Individual Retirement Account (IRA) is a retirement savings account with tax advantages that benefits investments and savings long-term. Types of IRAs include traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, SEP IRAs, and SIMPLE IRAs. Depending on what type of IRA you use, an IRA can either reduce the current tax bill now or at the time of retirement. Any investment gains are usually tax-free. Its sole purpose is to invest in the long term so individuals are prohibited from extracting money as it diminishes the purpose of retirement assets. If so before the age of 60, a 10% tax deduction of the total IRA amount is withdrawn.
Layer 2
Layer 2 refers to a secondary framework or protocol that is built on top of an existing blockchain system. The main goal of these protocols is to solve the transaction speed and scaling difficulties that are being faced by the major cryptocurrency networks.
Lazy Minting
Lazy minting is when an NFT is available ‘off-chain’ or outside the blockchain and is only minted after the sale.
With this process, gas fees for minting don’t need to be paid upfront, but are paid after the work is purchased and transferred ‘on-chain’. Pushing responsibility on the buyers, rather than the creators. Apart from being cost-effective, this method can also reduce unnecessary computing of minting products.
Liquidity Pool
Refers to a collection of tokens or digital assets locked in a smart contract that provide essential liquidity to decentralized exchanges.
Marketplace
An NFT Marketplace is a decentralized platform that allows trading and storing Non-fungible tokens. It acts as a platform for an auction of digital crypto art and other non-fungible items that users can buy and sell.
Metadata
Metadata (in terms of data management) describes a data set: how it was collected; when it was collected; what assumptions were made in its methodology; its geographic scope; if there are multiple files, how they relate to one another; the definitions of individual variables and, if applicable, what possible answers were; the calibration of any equipment used in data collection; the version of software used for analysis; etc. Very often, a data set that has no metadata is incomprehensible. Metadata IS data. It is pieces of information that have some meaning in relation to another piece of information. It can be created, managed, stored, and preserved like any other piece of data. Metadata generally has little value on its own. Metadata adds value to other information, but isn't in itself valuable. There are exceptions to this rule, such as text transcripts to an audio file.
Metakovan
Metakovan aka Vignesh Sundaresan is a Crypto-entrepreneur who purchased Beeple’s EVERYDAYS: THE FIRST 5000 DAYS for $69 million dollars in order to boost the value and reputation of his company Metapurse and cryptocoin, B.20 from $0.36 to $23 post-auction. Sundaresan would go on to make back the $69 million he invested (+ a profit) in the NFT through the skyrocketing shares and coin value of his product. Beeple also just happened to own 2% of the entire B20 coin.
MetaMask
A digital wallet that is specific to Ethereum. There are other wallets available, but Foundation uses MetaMask. It’s connected to your web browser as an extension where you can hold and spend ETH. You’ll need to connect your wallet to Foundation in order to participate in the marketplace.
Metaverse
Simulated digital environment that uses augmented reality, virtual reality and blockchain, along with concepts from social media, to create spaces for rich user interaction mimicking the real world. As a more generalised idea, think of social media as it exists today, but more integrated and immersive. This metaverse will transform how we inhabit the world around us. The metaverse will open opportunities for content creators and designers, it will open a new economy where wealth can be created, traded, and enhanced using a currency distinct from but related to the real world. In order to enter the metaverse, you will require a digital version of yourself to simulate real-world presence. “The metaverse is a set of virtual spaces where you can create and explore with other people who aren’t in the same physical space as you. You’ll be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, create, shop, and more.”
Mining
The competitive process of solving cryptographic problems to verify and add new transactions to the blockchain for a cryptocurrency that uses the proof-of-work (PoW) method. The first one to solve it gets to add the current block on the blockchain and receive newly minted tokens as a reward. Non-Fungible Token Mining is basically a process of computing complex math problems using a Token's proportional and unique data and similarly the token value
Mint/
Minted/
Minting
Minting is the process of producing or creating something completely new. It's the action of converting existing items such as digital art, artworks, photos, poems, music, videos, collectables, tokenized real-world assets, in-game assets or memes into NFTs. In blockchain, minting means, validating information, creating a new block and recording that information into the blockchain. Someone can mint an NFT or mint a new cryptocurrency. To do this you need a unique digital asset, tokens, a non-custodial hot wallet and an NFT marketplace. The process for minting NFTs will vary from platform to platform.
Mixed Reality
Mixed reality (MR) is a user environment in which physical reality and digital content are combined in a way that enables interaction with and among real-world and virtual objects. Unlike virtual reality (VR) which immerses the end user in a completely digital environment, or augmented reality (AR) which layers digital content on top of a physical environment, mixed reality blends digital and real world settings. Mixed reality is sometimes considered a type of augmented reality (AR), but its capacity for interactivity between real-world and digital elements places it further along the virtuality continuum, which has physical reality at one extreme and immersive virtual reality at the other.
Multi-signature Wallet
A MultiSig wallet is a digital wallet that operates with multisignature addresses. This means that it requires more than one private key to sign and authorize a crypto transaction or, in some cases, that several different keys can be used to generate a signature.
net.art
All art made using/on the internet or in response to the internet in its first version. Term used from mid 1990s to early 2000s. The term is used to describe a process of making art using a computer in some form or other, whether to download imagery that is then exhibited online, or to build programs that create the artwork. Net art emerged in the 1990s when artists found that the internet was a useful tool to promote their art uninhibited by political, social or cultural constraints. For this reason, it has been heralded as subversive, deftly transcending geographical and cultural boundaries and defiantly targeting nepotism, materialism and aesthetic conformity. Sites like MySpace and YouTube have become forums for art, enabling artists to exhibit their work without the endorsement of an institution.
NFT
NFT stands for Non-Fungible Token which makes them unique digital assets that can’t be replaced with something else. Each NFT contains transparent and incorruptible in-built documentation using blockchain technology of their origin, ownership history and transaction values. An NFT can be a piece of digital art, a song, a poem, a baseball card, an entry ticket and so much more. Think of it as a digital collectible that lives on the blockchain. But what’s special about an NFT, as opposed to the art in your home or your old Pokemon cards, is that an NFT is created (or “minted”) on a blockchain, thus making it completely digital, trackable and immutable.
NFT Trading Cards
NFT trading cards are digital trading cards that exist on a blockchain network. Thanks to blockchain technology, people can verify the authenticity and ownership of NFT trading cards. Similar to real-life trading cards, NFT trading cards are valued depending on their rarity, utility, and certification. Created on the blockchain, most commonly Ethereum, While they're not tangible (meaning you can't physically hold them), the NFT holder owns the deed to the digital trading card in a sense. If it appreciates in value, the NFT owner can sell it at a profit.
NFT Whitelist
NFT whitelisting is a method of locking crypto assets to a specific account. This can be used in lots of ways, but the most common use is to prove that you do actually hold specific crypto assets. To be whitelisted means that you have gone through the process/steps, as defined by the NFT project team, of getting your ETH address pre-approved to mint an NFT at some predefined date and time. Usually this date and time for whitelisted addresses is set as a window of time. For example, some projects may allow whitelisted addresses to mint an NFT anytime within a predefined 48-hour period.
In the NFT world, whitelisting typically means that a crypto wallet address, (i.e. a public ETH address), is pre-approved for minting of NFTs on specified dates/times (usually a date/time window). Whitelisting allows NFT projects to reward early supporters with guaranteed slots for them to mint an NFT (or multiple NFTs depending on the whitelisting/project rules). To get whitelisted for a project, you usually need to join a project’s Discord group to learn the criteria for getting whitelisted. The simplest way to know if an NFT is whitelisted is by looking at its smart contract code. Alternatively, you can look at its website or listing page on an exchange and see whether it’s smart contract is listed as one of the “approved” contracts. Some NFTs also display their whitelisting status as text on their websites or in their listing pages. Whitelisting is often used to avoid a “gas war”.
NGMI
Not gonna make it. A dismissive or negative term used to describe people or projects that won’t be successful or around long-term.
node
A node, in the world of digital currency, is a computer that connects to a cryptocurrency network. The node or computer supports the network. It supports it through validation and relaying transactions. At the same time, it also gets a copy of the full blockchain. Any computer that connects to the Bitcoin network, for example, is a node. There are different categories of nodes depending on user priorities, eg. lightweight, prioritizing ease of use vs full nodes prioritizing the enforcement of the currencies rules.
Non - Fungible & Fungible Tokens
Cryptographic tokens represent the ownership of digitally rare goods. This is something unique and cannot be exchanged for anything else. Fungibility is a characteristic of a good or commodity where each unit is interchangeable and indistinguishable from another. You can exchange a fungible token, for example a currency note of $100 can easily be replaced by a currency note of $100 or 2 notes of $50 without affecting the value exchanged. Bitcoin is an example of fungible tokens. An example of a Non-fungible token could be limited edition game cards, each card is unique and can be treated as a collectable. A card of one kind may not have the same value as a card of another kind. The year of production and preservation can affect the value the cards hold. Another example is art created as a one unique copy.
Nonce
The word ‘nonce’ has a few different meanings, and in different contexts, it ends up getting used a lot of different ways. Originally formed from a contraction of a phrase meaning “not more than once”, on the Ethereum mainnet, “nonce” refers to a unique transaction identification number that increases in value with each successive transaction in order to ensure various safety features (such as preventing a double-spend). Note that due to its broader use in cryptography, you may encounter ‘nonce’ being used differently on other sidechains or decentralized projects.
Noncustodial wallet
Non-Custodial wallet is an online wallet that gives the users complete control of their private keys and requires users to take personal responsibility for the security of their digital assets. Private keys provide users a secure way of gatekeeping all transactions from their wallet addresses. There are two main types of non-custodial wallets, browser based Web3 wallets such as Metamask and cold storage hardware wallets, each of these wallets requires the user to sign a transaction using their private keys.
Nori
Nori's Marketplace helps NFT Marketplaces reduce their carbon footprint by integrating carbon removal into their platform. This empowers creators and collectors to be part of their climate story with a portion of proceeds from NFT sales going towards purchasing Nori Carbon Removal Tonnes (NRTs).
NORMIE
Someone who doesn’t hold any cryptocurrency or NFTs, or someone who lacks knowledge about crypto or NFT markets.
Nuclear NFTs
Nuclear NFTs are rare collectibles with over 1,000 owners. You cannot send Nuclear NFTs to anyone without asking everyone on the list for their permission before each transaction. If one of the owners forbids the NFT from being traded, it will never leave the original wallet and the transaction is no longer possible.
Off-chain Metadata
Off-chain transactions refer to those transactions occurring on a cryptocurrency network that move the value outside of the blockchain. Due to their zero/low cost, off-chain transactions are gaining popularity, especially among large participants. Off-chain transactions can be contrasted with on-chain transactions.
On demand generative art
AI generative art platforms create on demand digital content that is stored immutably on the Ethereum blockchain. Collectors can pick a style they like, pay for the work using crypto, and a randomly generated version of the content is created by an algorithm and sent to the collector's Ethereum address.
On-chain Metadata
On-chain transactions refer to cryptocurrency transactions that occur on the blockchain and remain dependent on the state of the blockchain for their validity. On-chain transactions are considered valid only when the blockchain has been updated to reflect the transactions on the public ledger. On-chain transactions offer security and transparency since they can't be altered once they're verified and recorded on the network. However, there are some drawbacks to on-chain transactions, which include higher fees and slow processing times.
Open Editions
In the world of NFT art, an open edition is an NFT for which any number of editions can be minted. This contrasts with a limited edition NFT: one that is limited to a predefined number of editions.
Oracle Network
Oracle networks provide real world data to a blockchain through middleware. In the movie “The Matrix”, the oracle was the bridge between the humans and the simulated machine world. Similarly, oracle networks like Chainlink, Band, and Tellor, all work as the connection between smart contracts (blockchains) and real world data. People will be able to execute smart contracts with real world external data by using the oracle as a bridge of the information. Most oracle networks work with multiple data providers and require tokens to be staked to prevent fraudulent data into the blockchain.
Paper Hands
The opposite of diamond hands. Paper handing or having paper hands refers to those who buy and sell assets within shorter timeframes, typically anywhere from a few minutes to a few months. The “paper” in paper handing refers to paper cash bills. Paper handers often panic-sell assets early for liquidity, and then awkwardly watch from the sidelines as the asset continues to increase in value.
P2E (Play to Earn)
Play to earn is an open economy that enables people to earn real money from playing games and/or performing other services in the game environment using cryptocurrency. It is a community led business model that offers equity to players where they can earn and also collaborate with developers to make vital contributions to the game. Unlike traditional video games, crypto games offer more to stakeholders by allowing users to own their in-game assets and tokenize them as NFTs. By introducing blockchain to games, any item that is considered valuable in the game can be tokenized and traded for real money.
Paper Hands
Paper hands is a slang term used to refer to investors who sell investments too early, often because they are risk averse.
The opposite of 'diamond hands'. It refers to someone who sold something (usually an NFT) at a price that's perceived to be too low.
Peer-to-Peer
Peer-to-peer refers to the direct exchange of some asset, such as a digital currency, between individual parties without the involvement of a central authority. A strictly peer-to-peer exchange of currency was the primary goal driving the creation of Bitcoin, the most widely used cryptocurrency. Peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchanges can offer more privacy than traditional online transactions.
PFP
PFP, which stands for “profile picture” is one of the most popular types of NFTs. CryptoPunks (launched in 2017) is one of the more recognisable PFP NFT projects. Launched by LarvaLabs, CryptoPunks is a collection of similar pixelated characters with variations of traits, such as hats and sunglasses. Punks started gaining popularity within the crypto community, when people, artists, and celebrities started using them as their profile pictures. One of the earliest NFT projects that benefited from the PFP mania was the Bored Apes Yacht Club (BAYC) - created in 2021. The project used the CryptoPunks approach of minting 10,000 different avatars that served as memberships to their club. They joined forces with Decentraland, a 3D virtual world run on Ethereum, to create their casino hangout where members could meet in the metaverse.
Phyigital
Phygital is the concept of using technology to bridge the digital world with the physical world with the purpose of providing a unique interactive experiences for the user.
Polygon
Polygon is what’s known as a Layer-2 solution, designed to help scale the Ethereum network and improve its functionality. The protocol aims for faster, cheaper Ethereum transactions using sidechains, blockchains that run like speedy HOV lanes alongside the Ethereum main chain.
Post-Internet
Artists’ reaction to the fallout of the internet and criticism of its failures.
First used by Maria Olsen in 2008 in regards to Web 2.0 in its developing stages. Unlike its name it does not suggest the internet is over in its development but rather that we are moving into a new stage. The term is used in a similar way to post-modernism. Post - Internet artists are working in a new aesthetic era where they have moved beyond making art about the novelty of the web but instead using its tools and resources to explore other subjects. Unlike Net artists who often made work exclusively online, post - internet artists also use digital strategies to create objects in the real world.
The term is often debated and is unfixed as the movement continues to evolve.
PreSale
PreSale NFTs, known as token pre-sales, is an opportunity given to investors to acquire NFT at a lower price, all before its official release on the market. Essentially it is a funding method often used by companies or project developers to raise capital through an initial sale (such as ICO, IDO and IGO) where investors and early adopters use ETH (or other altcoins) to purchase the new tokens/NFTs.
Private Keys
Private Key is a secret number that is used in cryptocurrency and is a randomly generated number with hundreds of digits and alphanumeric characters. Private keys are an integral aspect of Bitcoin and its security makeup helps to protect a user from theft and unauthorized access to funds. It represents the final control and ownership of cryptocurrency.
Probably Nothing
If someone says that something is “probably nothing,” it is definitely something and is a tongue-in-cheek way of calling attention to some big news. “Probably something” has the same meaning.
Proof of Work
Proof of work (PoW) is a decentralized consensus mechanism that requires members of a network to expend effort solving an arbitrary mathematical puzzle to prevent anybody from gaming the system. Proof of work is used widely in cryptocurrency mining, for validating transactions and mining new tokens. Due to proof of work, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency transactions can be processed peer-to-peer in a secure manner without the need for a trusted third party. Proof of work at scale requires huge amounts of energy, which only increases as more miners join the network.
Proof-of-Stake
Proof-of-stake is a cryptocurrency consensus mechanism for processing transactions and creating new blocks in a blockchain. A consensus mechanism is a method for validating entries into a distributed database and keeping the database secure. In the case of cryptocurrency, the database is called a blockchain—so the consensus mechanism secures the blockchain. With proof-of-stake (POS), cryptocurrency owners validate block transactions based on the number of coins a validator stakes. Proof-of-stake (POS) was created as an alternative to Proof-of-work (POW), the original consensus mechanism used to validate a blockchain and add new blocks. Proof-of-stake (POS) is seen as less risky in terms of the potential for an attack on the network, as it structures compensation in a way that makes an attack less advantageous.
Provenance
In the specific case of data, provenance refers to the tracking mechanism where every single change made to the original data is tracked and versioned so the authorized viewers can be certain about its legitimacy.
Public-key cryptography
Public-key cryptography, or asymmetric cryptography, is an encryption scheme that uses two mathematically related, but not identical, keys - a public key and a private key. Unlike symmetric key algorithms that rely on one key to both encrypt and decrypt, each key performs a unique function. The public key is used to encrypt and the private key is used to decrypt.
Pump and Dump
Cryptocurrency pump and dump schemes represent a situation where an individual or group of persons plans to make a profit by pumping an asset into the market. A pump occurs when a person or a group of 'whales' buy or convince others to purchase large quantities of a crypto or an NFT to drive up the price to a peak. When the price peaks, these people sell their position high (quickly and all at once) for a hefty profit, therefore dumping the price. Slower investors or newbies who bought in at the peak price may find themselves at a loss.
Rarities
NFT rarity originated from the traits found in the Crypto-Punks collection. Rarity drives a large part of the economy around collectible NFTs and produces excitement. It is the result of a calculation that focuses on the various traits found in the NFTs of a collection. Rarity is important because it is directly tied to the excitement and the price of an NFT. Rarity also helps drive demand in an NFT project and diversifies a project by offering different levels of traits and utility. Rarity isn’t only important to the consumers who collect NFTs, but it’s even more important to the creators behind the projects. Without rarity, NFT projects would potentially be very boring. Items with different rarities get assigned with a certain number on the Ethereum blockchain. They’ll have unique IDs and metadata and get labeled as “Legendary” or “Mythic.
Ring Signature
In cryptography, a ring signature is a type of digital signature that can be performed by any member of a group of users that each have keys. Therefore, a message signed with a ring signature is endorsed by someone in a particular group of people. One of the security properties of a ring signature is that it should be difficult to determine which of the group members' keys was used to produce the signature.
Royalties
Royalties give you a percentage of the sale price each time your NFT creation is sold on a marketplace. NFT royalty payments are perpetual and are executed by smart contracts automatically. With most marketplaces, you can choose your royalty percentage. 5-10% is considered a standard royalty.
Satoshi
It’s the smallest unit of Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC) named after Satoshi Nakamoto, credited with anonymously creating Bitcoin and the first blockchain developer. The satoshi represents one hundred millionths of a bitcoin. Because bitcoin has increased in value exponentially, smaller denominations are needed for smaller transactions. Small denominations make bitcoin transactions easier to conduct while making them readable by people. For example, if you bought a $100 item with one bitcoin, your charge might ring up as .00210028 BTC, or 210,028 satoshi (if BTC equalled $47,612.81). In this example, it's easier to understand satoshi.
Secondary Market
Sales between creator and collector, aka the primary NFT market, is usually conducted directly on the creator’s own website. Afterward, collectors can trade amongst each other on secondary marketplaces like OpenSea and Solanart.
Seed Phrase
A series of random generated words between the length of 12-24 words that your cryptocurrency wallet generates the private keys required to give you access to your wallet and send and spend your crypto. This allows you to access your cryptocurrency without having to prove your identity. Think of the wallet as being like a password manager for crypt, and the seed phrase as being the master password for access. The reason for the 12-24 simple words rather than a generic password is because of how difficult it is to remember or transcribe correctly, you must keep track of the seed phrase but keep in mind that anyone with access to the seed phrase, has access to your crypto wallet and if you delete or lose your wallet without saving your seed phrase you will lose access to your cryptocurrency.
Shielded address
Shielded addresses are the address type that use zero-knowledge proofs to allow transaction data to be encrypted but remain verifiable by network nodes. A transaction between two shielded addresses (a shielded transaction) keeps the addresses, transaction amount and the memo field shielded from the public
Sidechain
A sidechain is a separate blockchain network that connects to another blockchain – called a parent blockchain or mainnet – via a two-way peg. These secondary blockchains have their own consensus protocols allowing a blockchain network to improve its privacy and security, and minimize the additional trust required to maintain a network.
A key component of sidechains is their ability to facilitate a smoother asset exchange between the mainnet and the secondary blockchain. This means that digital assets such as tokens can be securely transferred between blockchains – allowing projects to expand their ecosystem in a decentralized manner.
Smart contract
A smart contract is not a contract in the legal sense, but a program that runs on the blockchain. Smart contracts have two essential characteristics: they can receive and send transactions, and they are unalterable.
A smart contract basically runs in its own wallet on the blockchain. It has its own private/public key pair and can provide, read and store data. Smart contracts can perform functions such as making payments and updating databases with new information. The specific number of a token, the address of the assigned owner of the token and other data of the token or the smart contract are saved in the "storage space" of the smart contract. In practice however, the term ‘smart contract’ is being used to describe transactions that are anything from applets to a hypertext link to a static URL of an image.
Smart Contract
Smart contracts are simply programs stored on a blockchain that run when predetermined conditions are met. They typically are used to automate the execution of an agreement so that all participants can be immediately certain of the outcome, without any intermediary’s involvement or time loss. They can also automate a workflow, triggering the next action when conditions are met.
Social Tokens
Social tokens derive their value from the growth of shared creators and their communities. While most current projects are at a proof-of-concept stage, the long-term goal is to create an entirely new way to power the content creator economy. Tokenization can create unique ecosystems that are far more user-friendly and rewarding than current advertising and subscription models. These include Personal Tokens, Participation Tokens and Community Tokens.
Soft Fork
In blockchain technology, a soft fork is a change to the software protocol where only previously valid transaction blocks are made invalid. Because old nodes will recognize the new blocks as valid, a soft fork is backwards-compatible. This kind of fork requires only a majority of the miners upgrading to enforce the new rules, as opposed to a hard fork that requires all nodes to upgrade and agree on the new version.
Solidity
Solidity is created specifically by the Ethereum Network and is an object-oriented programming language. It is for constructing and designing smart contracts on blockchain platforms and to generate a chain of transaction records in the blockchain system.
Stable Coins
Stablecoins are digital currencies designed to maintain a direct one-to-one peg to a more stable underlying asset, like a national currency. Some of the most popular stablecoins on the market are pegged to the U.S. dollar or a commodity. Given their intended price stability, stablecoins are used to help manage the volatility in the crypto market. The different types of stablecoins are labeled according to their underlying collateral structure, which can be fiat-backed, crypto-backed, commodity-backed or algorithmic. Examples of stable coins: Terra (USD) and Luna
Staking
NFT staking refers to the process of locking up tokens/NFT in a wallet for a certain amount of time to receive rewards and other privileges. The more you lock up, the more chances you have to win a reward. NFT staking is a new way to earn passive income in the crypto world, it allows NFT holders to lock their assets in DeFi platforms, this can be done without selling your NFT collection.
The Gartner hype cycle
The maturity lifecycle accounts for several phrases: the initial (over-)enthusiasm of the industry when the technology is introduced, followed by a phase of mass adoption when we begin to evaluate the promised value, and, later, a maturity phase when the technology is improved. Over the course of this lifecycle, the Gartner Hype Cycle speculates on the potential growth trajectory and value that can be obtained by exploiting the technology in its current and next maturity phase.
The Imagination age
The imagination age is a theoretical period beyond the information age where creativity and imagination will become the primary creators of economic value. This is driven by technological trends like virtual reality and the rise of digital platforms like YouTube, all of which increase demand for user-generated content and creativity. It is also driven by automation, which will take away a lot of monotonous and routine jobs, leaving more higher-ordered and creative jobs.
The myth of crypto decentralisation
A small group of companies – mostly located in such bastions of democracy as Russia, Georgia and China – control between two-thirds and three-quarters of all crypto-mining activity and all routinely jack up transaction costs to increase their fat profit margins.
The Sandbox
The Sandbox is a decentralized, community-driven gaming ecosystem where designers and artists can create, share, and monetize NFTs and gaming experiences on the blockchain, and is partnered with many industry giants. Its popular virtual real estate, known as LANDs, are taking over the NFT world
Tokenomics
A portmanteau of “token” and “economics,” tokenomics is a catch-all for the elements that make a particular cryptocurrency valuable and interesting to investors. That includes everything from a token’s supply and how it’s issued to things like what utility it has.
Transferable
Transferables is when you transfer collectible ownership in and out of different crypto wallets. All for trading purposes, you can use the metamask or opensea to help with your transfer in the nft items.
Trust Bubble
Trust bubble is a term that is used to describe financial crises where mistrust in ledgers leads to economic collapse. An example of this is the 2008 GFC that no one saw coming because they trusted their ledgers so highly, even the experts.
The Truth Machine by Michael J. Casey and Paul Vigna
Trustless
In the context of decentralized technology, it has a more technical meaning: since everyone has a copy of the ledger of all transactions ever executed, there is no need for a third-party repository of ‘truth’ in whom trust resides. We don’t rely on some centralized server somewhere that could be hacked or changed arbitrarily; anyone can verify the transactions themselves. In a way, the rules and assurances built into the blockchain provide the basis for greater trust, because the system works the same for everyone.
Two-Way Peg
According to the sidechain white paper, a two-way peg is defined as: “The mechanism by which coins are transferred between sidechains […] a pegged sidechain is a sidechain whose assets can be imported from and returned to other chains.” Put plainly, a two-way peg allows digital assets such as bitcoin to be transferred back and forth between the mainnet and the new sidechain. Interestingly, the “transfer” of a digital asset never occurs. The assets are not actually transferred; instead, they are simply locked on the mainnet while the equivalent amount is unlocked in the sidechain.
WAGMI
We’re all gonna make it. An optimistic term thrown around by NFT communities to encourage positivity and the idea that everyone is going to succeed financially in the NFT space, regardless of whether or not that is actually true.
Web 3.0
Web3 (also known as Web 3.0 and sometimes stylized as web3) represents the next iteration or phase of the evolution of the web/internet. Web 3.0 is built upon the core concepts of decentralization, openness, and greater user utility.
Though there is as yet no standardized definition of Web 3.0, it does have a few defining features that set it apart from the current features of Web2; Decentralization, Trustless and permissionless, Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, connectivity and ubiquity.
Whale
A cryptocurrency whale, more commonly called a "crypto whale" or just a "whale," is a cryptocurrency community term that refers to individuals or entities that hold large amounts of cryptocurrency. Whales hold enough cryptocurrency that they have the potential to manipulate currency valuations.
World Wide Web
(WWW, W3 or the Web)
Creater, Sir Tim Berners-Lee built a system that is interconnected with public web pages accessible through the internet called the world wide web. The web is one of many applications built in addition to the internet. There are several components to the Web consisting of: HTTP (Governs data transfer between a server and client); URL (client supplied unique universal identifier to access a web page); HTML (common format for publishing web documents); Linking resources through hyperlinks is a defining concept of the Web, it identifies as a collection of connected documents.
Yield Farming
Yield farming is the process of using decentralized finance (DeFi) to maximize returns. Users lend or borrow crypto on a DeFi platform and earn cryptocurrency in return for their services; essentially allowing cryptocurrency holders to lock up their holdings to provide them with rewards. Yield farmers who want to increase their yield output can employ more complex tactics; although a risky practice due to price volatility, rug pulls, smart contract hacks and more. Top yield farming protocols include Aave, Curve Finance, Uniswap and many others.
51% Attacks
Susceptibility to 51% attacks is inherent to most cryptocurrencies. That’s because most are based on blockchains that use proof of work as their protocol for verifying transactions. In this process, also known as mining, nodes spend vast amounts of computing power to prove themselves trustworthy enough to add information about new transactions to the database. A miner who somehow gains control of a majority of the network's mining power can defraud other users by sending them payments and then creating an alternative version of the blockchain in which the payments never happened. This new version is called a fork. The attacker, who controls most of the mining power, can make the fork the authoritative version of the chain and proceed to spend the same cryptocurrency again.