What Does That Mean…The Ultimate Crypto Jargon Guide
I have put together a list of the key terms and acronyms that crop up in crypto conversations everyday to help you navigate this world!
I will split out this guide into three sections (cryptocurrencies, NFTs and communication channels).
Cryptocurrency jargon
Bitcoin (BTC) is an online version of cash. You can use it to buy products and services but it is completely virtual.
Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies whose value is pegged or tied, to another currency, commodity or financial instrument. Stablecoins aim to provide an alternative to the high volatility of the most popular cryptocurrencies including BTC. An example of a stablecoin would be Tether (USDT) linked to the US dollar.
Altcoins are any cryptocurrencies that isn’t BTC, the most popular being Ethereum (ETH) or Solana (SOL).
Blockchain is a ledger in which, a record of transactions made in cryptocurrency, are maintained across several computers that are linked in a peer-to-peer network. Essentially it allows the user to cut out the intermediary such as a government or bank.
DeFi is a financial system desired to record, store, transfer, and manage assets using the blockchain network aka Decentralised Finance (DeFi). The system differs from the traditional banking system, which is centralised and controlled by a single group.
Crypto wallet is a digital wallet (just like a banking App) which shows what you own and allows crypto transactions. Unlike a normal physical wallet, which can hold actual cash, crypto wallets technically don’t store your crypto. Your holdings live on the blockchain, but can only be accessed using a private key. You can send your crypto to an exchange such as FTX or Coinbase to convert it GBP/USD/EURO. NB: As adoption of crypto increases, the less we will need to convert back into fiat currency as we will pay direct with our crypto.
Bear market has a similar meaning in stocks, when a market (in this case crypto) experiences prolonged price decline. It goes hand-in-hand with investor sentiment and pessimism towards a market.
Bull market is when prices of crypto rises continuously. The commonly accepted definition of a bull market is when prices rise by 20% after two declines of 20% each but in crypto due to volatility there isn’t a standard %, rather it refers to positive sentiment and optimism whilst prices rise continuously.
FUD stands for ‘fear, uncertainty and doubt’. The fear is often a result of bad news spread across social platforms with no substantial evidence, such as the widespread talk of Bitcoin being a scam. All the negative rumours cause fear for crypto users and this is publicised across social media to have a desired effect on a market.
WAGMI stands for ‘we are all going to make it’. The acronym is widely used by the crypto community to build confidence, and encourage the community to not lose hope in the short-term/during a bear market.
HODL is believed to have started as a misspelling of HOLD. This abbreviation is used to represent the process of retaining your crypto assets for a long time, even when the market is profitable. Often you will hear it being said in social channels as an encouraging acronym for people not to sell their crypto or NFTs even when they are rising in value, and there is a huge profit from selling them. This acronym is more commonly associated with the term ‘hold on for dear life’. This will encourage holders to ‘hodl’ for a bit longer to examine the possibility of profiting further or not selling at a loss.
Whales are large institutional investors or holders of a lot of cryptocurrencies and/or NFTs who have put a substantial amount of money into crypto.
NFT jargon
NFT stands for non-fungible token. It represents specific data that can be accounted for in a digital ledger (book). This data is typically tied to an asset. This asset can be an art piece, a movie, music, or another digital file. Nowadays these can include physical assets such as properties and documents. There are often 10k NFTs per collection and so the supply-demand pendulum comes into play if it provides value to their holder.
Marketplaces are where you can search, buy and sell NFTs. The most popular marketplaces are Opensea and Magic Eden.
Minting an NFT means converting digital data into crypto collections or digital assets recorded on the blockchain. In other words, you purchase an NFT with cryptocurrency which moves it from ‘data’ to an NFT ‘asset’ in your crypto wallet.
Whitelists provide priority access to NFT mints which people can win or be granted through engagement in social channels or connections within the crypto space. You often get an NFT at a cheaper price if you are whitelisted.
Tokens come when an NFT collection as minted out. The artists look to reward holders with ‘tokens’ that may have a value against $/£. This is dependent on the use case for the tokens and the popularity of the NFT collection.
Utility in reference to NFTs means anything you can receive/redeem and benefit from, by holding your NFT and not selling or listing it on a marketplace. Collections often airdrop their holders these rewards for holding their NFTs.
Airdropping is anything that is deposited into your crypto wallet for free. NB: Often scammers airdrop ‘fake’ tokens/NFTs into your wallet so definitely double check what you are clicking on and if in doubt make a second wallet to send anything you don’t trust into there also known as a burner wallet.
Alpha is when someone shares inside information about a collection. People often share Alpha in Discord/Twitter as insight on which is the best NFT to purchase based on upcoming announcements/developments.
Floor Price is the lowest amount of money you can spend to own an NFT or become a holder of a project. This also represents the lowest value for an NFT in a market. Similarly to buying a product on Amazon or eBay, you search for the lowest priced version of a product/NFT within a range/collection.
Sweeping the floor is when someone/people decide to buy a lot of NFTs off of the floor price and either re-list them for a higher price or keep them off the market to create a greater demand>supply split. This is similar to people buying music tickets and making money on a resale website.
Flipping can occur from sweeping the floor or just buying an NFT at a low price and selling it at a higher price.
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Communication areas
Discord is actively used by people who are collecting, trading, selling, and engaging in conversations about NFTs. This is a popular place to secure whitelist (priority access) for minting NFTs, hearing Alpha and generally using all the aforementioned acronyms.
Twitter is the most popular platform for crypto natives to read, share and discuss the market whether it be about cryptocurrencies, NFTs or hearing from influencers within these markets.
Twitter Spaces are live audio conversations with a lot of people at once on Twitter. It is commonly used by NFT community leaders and influencers to talk about their project, the sentiment around a project or the crypto market as a whole.
Reddit is a community-led forum where over 5m people actively discuss crypto and NFTs.
Thank you very much for reading through until the end. I hope you found this jargon buster helpful, if you have other suggestions on what should be on the list please drop a comment below so I can continue to update it!
Charlie SOL 💫
