Understanding Basic Coin Terminology!

binimom
2 min readMar 3, 2023

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Cryptocurrency has become one of the most popular and exciting technological advances in recent years.

The rise of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin has made many people interested in the world of digital currencies.

However, understanding the terminology used in the cryptocurrency world can be difficult for beginners.

Today we are going to look at some of the most basic coin terms that every beginner should know.

blockchain

A blockchain is essentially a digital ledger that records all trajectories in the network.

It is a public, memo-free database and is the backbone of the entire encryption system.

Every time a transaction is completed, it is added to the blockchain, creating a permanent record with no changes or users.​

cryptocurrency

A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that uses cryptography to secure and verify transactions and control the creation of new units.

Unlike traditional currencies, cryptocurrencies are not supported by governments or institutions. Instead, its value is determined by market demand.

wallet

A digital wallet is a software application that stores public and private keys, allowing users to send and receive cryptocurrency.

A private key is a secret code that gives you access to your cryptocurrency holdings.

A public key is a code that can be shared with others to receive cryptocurrency payments.

​digging

Mining is the process of verifying transactions on a blockchain network and adding new blocks to the blockchain.

This process requires a lot of computing power and energy, and miners are rewarded with newly created cryptocurrency units.

hard fork

A hard fork is a type of fork that fundamentally changes the rules of the blockchain and makes it incompatible with older nodes.

It is done for reasons such as feature enhancement, error fixing, and bug fixing.

soft fork

A soft fork is a minor update that makes a forked block compatible without significantly changing the existing rules.

Optional for blockchains that follow existing conventions.

airdrop

Airdrops are generally used as a way to increase awareness and adoption of a new cryptocurrency.

The act of distributing coins for free to existing cryptocurrency holders.

snapshot

A snapshot refers to backing up data to an exchange to measure how many coins an investor has at a specific time during an airdrop.

main net

Mainnet is the network on which blockchain projects actually start and operate, including transactions between cryptocurrency exchanges and private wallets.

lock up

Lock-up refers to a period during which investors or institutions holding coins after listing cannot trade coins to prevent them from pouring into the market immediately after listing.

staking

Staking refers to the act of tying a certain amount of cryptocurrency as a stake and using it to operate a blockchain network, and receiving a return similar to savings in return.

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