Web3 Poorly Explained II
Introduction
We are back with fifteen brand new jargon that have been poorly explained! For part 1, check out this post.
If this is your first time here, do know that we are conducting a contest on our Discord where we’re inviting submissions for all subsequent parts of this series. We will also be giving out Scrappy Squirrel NFTs to the definitions we like best. More details in the #web3-glossary channel of our Discord.
Without any further ado, let’s begin!
Part 2
Avalanche/AVAX
A layer-1 blockchain competing for the title of ETH Killer. Avalanche purports itself to be superior to the proposed ETH 2.0 on account of its low fees, small time to finality, high scalability, and ability to work with pre-existing legal and financial frameworks. It achieves this by using the novel Avalanche Protocol and operating as a ‘platform of platforms’.
In other words, Avalanche allows for the creation of multiple blockchains created for niche use cases that are interoperable with each other. Can be referred to as a cheap Ethereum clone or the future of DeFi depending on who you’re talking to.
Bridge
A mechanism that allows for the transfer of assets (NFTs, coins, data) between two chains. Bridging is an essential piece of software that makes interoperability between L1 and L2, and otherwise independent blockchains possible.
A concept most people don’t care about until they send MATIC tokens to Ethereum and can’t figure out how to transfer them to the Polygon network. (Spoiler alert: it’s through bridging and usually costs more than the amount you’re trying to unlock).
DAO
(Suggestion Credit: @nwosunneoma)
Short for decentralized autonomous organization. A community that is controlled by its members sans any centralized leadership. DAOs allow people from around the world to group together around a mission and collaborate with strangers in a safe way.
Think of a DAO as a group of people with a shared bank account and voting powers on what to do with the money in the account. DAOs have been lurking around in the shadows since The DAO Hack of 2016 but have recently experienced a sharp rise in popularity. Every web3 company, Discord server and Telegram group seems to be turning into one. 2022 may truly be the year of the DAO.
Degen
Short for degenerate. Refers to people who invest and participate in the crypto space without doing the required amount of due diligence.
Degens typically spend thousands of dollars on NFTs, pay rent through the money they make via yield farming, and have left their comfy six-figure jobs to work at DAOs.
Future is Multichain
The belief that dapps and cryptocurrencies of the future will operate on multiple blockchains that are independent, in competition, and interoperable.
Uttering the phrase in front of maximalists may trigger them to burn you at stake while chanting ngmi, ngmi.
FWB
Short for Friends with Benefits. FWB is a community of artists and creators operating as a DAO. Entry into the FWB DAO will require you to submit an application and if accepted, buy approximately $5000 worth of FWB tokens.
Before you decide to take the plunge, I should warn you that acceptance does not mean access to hot single people around the world who want to have casual sex with you because, for some reason, they find you attractive and smart. Trust me, I checked.
Genesis
A fancy word for first. A genesis NFT is the first NFT that an artist ever minted, a genesis block is the first set of transactions that brings a cryptocurrency and blockchain into existence, and so on.
HFSP
Short for have fun staying poor. An incredibly classy comeback when someone raises an issue or objection with a project or coin you’re financially invested in.
IRL
Short for In Real Life. The shittier version of the metaverse where you have to deal with things like responsibilities, work-to-earn jobs, fiat money, and laws of physics.
Market Cap
The price of a cryptocurrency (in USD) multiplied by its total current supply. A metric conveniently ignored by shillers when they rally their communities to take their zillion-dollar supply shitcoin to $1.
PFP
Short for profile picture. An image that you pay tens of thousands of dollars to claim ownership of and that you pay Twitter $3/month for to verify that ownership. Typically the only tangible offering of most NFT projects.
Probably Nothing
A phrase used coyly and ironically to suggest that something significant is happening.
For example: Russia is planning to invade Ukraine and trigger world war 3. Millions of people may lose their lives. Probably nothing.
Also, the name of the newsletter published by Developer DAO.
Rust
A low-level programming language (similar to C++) that is associated with a steep learning curve. Used to program smart contracts on blockchains like Solana. You can tell how hardcore a programmer is by how vocal they are about their love for Rust.
Stablecoins
Cryptocurrencies that typically exist on a blockchain that supports smart contracts (Ethereum, Solana, etc.) and that are immune to price volatility.
Most stablecoins achieve the latter by pegging itself to a fiat currency like the US dollar. Supposed to be the lifeblood of decentralized finance but is unfortunately dominated by bad actors who print unbacked coins as freely as the US government does dollars. Some free, unsolicited advice: do not ever buy USDT. Use UDSC or DAI instead.
Time to Finality
The average amount of time it takes to confirm a transaction on a blockchain. A transaction is usually considered confirmed only when a sufficient number of blocks have been added on top of the block containing the transaction. Time to finality may be as much as an hour (in the case of Bitcoin) or as little as a few seconds (Avalanche).
Vaporware
A project that only exists on paper but is heavily advertised in order to raise money (often millions of dollars). Most vaporware never materialize into anything remotely tangible. Can be used to describe 90% of all NFT and Metaverse projects.
About Scrappy Squirrels
Scrappy Squirrels is a collection of 10,000+ randomly generated NFTs. Scrappy Squirrels are meant for buyers, creators, and developers who are completely new to the NFT ecosystem.
The community is built around learning about the NFT revolution, exploring its current use cases, discovering new applications, and finding members to collaborate on exciting projects with.
Join our community here: https://discord.gg/8UqJXTX7Kd
