Cryptocurrency and Blockchain

• Perpetual FuturesAdvanced6 min read

  Perpetual futures are futures contracts with no expiry date, kept close to the spot price by regular funding payments between longs and shorts.

• Funding RateAdvanced5 min read

  The funding rate is a periodic payment exchanged between long and short holders of a perpetual futures contract to keep its price close to spot.

• StablecoinBeginner5 min read

  A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar, typically by holding reserves.

• BlockchainBeginner4 min read

  A blockchain is a shared record of transactions grouped into blocks, where each block is cryptographically linked to the last, making past entries very hard to alter.

• Crypto WalletBeginner4 min read

  A crypto wallet is software or hardware that holds the keys controlling your crypto; the wallet address is the public identifier others send funds to.

• CryptocurrencyBeginner4 min read

  A cryptocurrency is a digital asset recorded on a blockchain and transferred directly between users, without a bank keeping the record.

• Seed PhraseBeginner4 min read

  A seed phrase is a list of 12 or 24 words that can restore a wallet and all its keys — anyone who sees it can take the funds, so it must never be shared.

• APR and APYBeginner4 min read

  APR (annual percentage rate) is a yearly rate without compounding; APY (annual percentage yield) includes compounding. A 12% APR compounded monthly equals an APY of about 12.68%. In crypto, advertised rates are often variable and can change or disappear quickly.

• Automated Market Maker (AMM)Intermediate5 min read

  An automated market maker is a smart contract that prices trades from a formula instead of an order book. In the common constant-product design, a pool holds two tokens whose quantities multiply to a constant (x × y = k), so buying one token makes it progressively more expensive.

• Bitcoin (BTC)Beginner4 min read

  Bitcoin (BTC) is the first and largest cryptocurrency, launched in 2009, with a supply capped at 21 million coins and secured by proof-of-work mining.

• Centralised and Decentralised ExchangesBeginner4 min read

  A centralised exchange (CEX) is a company that holds customers’ funds and matches their orders in its own order book. A decentralised exchange (DEX) runs on smart contracts: you trade directly from your own wallet, usually against liquidity pools rather than an order book.

• Custodial Wallet and Self-CustodyBeginner4 min read

  With a custodial wallet, such as an exchange account, a company holds your keys; with self-custody you hold them yourself — more control, and full responsibility.

• Decentralised Finance (DeFi)Intermediate4 min read

  Decentralised finance (DeFi) is lending, trading and other financial services run by smart contracts on public blockchains instead of by banks or brokers.

• Ethereum (ETH)Beginner4 min read

  Ethereum is a blockchain that runs smart contracts — programs that power tokens, DeFi applications and more; its native currency is ether (ETH).

• Hot and Cold WalletsBeginner4 min read

  A hot wallet is connected to the internet and convenient for frequent use; a cold wallet keeps keys offline, such as a hardware device, and is safer for long-term storage.

• Impermanent LossAdvanced4 min read

  Impermanent loss is how much worse off a liquidity provider is compared with simply holding the two tokens, caused by the pool rebalancing as their relative price changes. In a 50/50 constant-product pool, a 2× price change in one token means roughly 5.7% less value than holding. It becomes permanent when you withdraw.

• Public and Private KeysIntermediate4 min read

  A private key is the secret that proves ownership and authorises transactions; the public key, from which the address is derived, can be shared safely.

• Smart ContractIntermediate4 min read

  A smart contract is a program stored on a blockchain that runs automatically when its conditions are met; bugs in the code are a real risk to funds held in it.

• Types of StablecoinIntermediate4 min read

  Fiat-backed stablecoins hold cash and short-term government debt as reserves; crypto-collateralised stablecoins are backed by more crypto than they issue; algorithmic stablecoins rely mainly on incentives and supply adjustments. A depeg is when a stablecoin trades materially away from its target, such as $1.

• StakingIntermediate4 min read

  Staking is locking crypto to help secure a proof-of-stake network in return for rewards; liquid staking issues a tradable token that represents the staked amount.

• TokenomicsIntermediate4 min read

  Tokenomics is the economic design of a crypto token: its supply, how new tokens are issued, who holds them and when locked tokens are released.

• Active AddressesIntermediate3 min read

  Active addresses count the unique addresses that sent or received a transaction in a period. It is a rough measure of network use; one person can control many addresses, and one exchange address can serve many people.

• Address Poisoning and DustingBeginner3 min read

  Address poisoning sends you a tiny transaction from an address that looks almost identical to one you use, hoping you copy it from your history next time. Dusting sends tiny amounts to many wallets to track or target them. Always check the full address before sending.

• Airdrop Farming and Points ProgrammesIntermediate3 min read

  Airdrop farming is using protocols in the hope of qualifying for a future token distribution. Points programmes reward activity with points that may or may not convert into tokens later. Sybil farming — using many wallets to claim more — is commonly detected and excluded.

• AirdropBeginner3 min read

  An airdrop is a free distribution of tokens to wallet addresses, often to reward early users — and a common disguise for scams asking you to connect your wallet.

• AltcoinBeginner2 min read

  An altcoin is any cryptocurrency other than bitcoin.

• Bitcoin DominanceBeginner4 min read

  Bitcoin dominance is Bitcoin’s market capitalisation as a share of the whole crypto market. Stablecoin dominance is the same for stablecoins; a rising figure often means money is moving out of riskier coins.

• Block Time and Block HeightBeginner4 min read

  Block time is the average or target time between new blocks — about 10 minutes on Bitcoin and 12 seconds on Ethereum. Block height is a block’s position in the chain, counting from the first block.

• Cross-Chain BridgeAdvanced4 min read

  A bridge moves assets between blockchains, usually by locking them on one chain and issuing a representation on another — bridges have been a frequent target of hacks.

• Coin Age MetricsAdvanced3 min read

  These on-chain metrics track how long coins have stayed unmoved. Dormant supply is the amount untouched for a set period; Coin Days Destroyed weights each spent coin by how long it had been held; HODL waves chart Bitcoin’s supply by age band. Old coins moving is often read as long-term holders selling.

• Coin vs TokenBeginner3 min read

  A coin is the native asset of its own blockchain, such as BTC or ETH; a token is issued by a smart contract on an existing blockchain.

• Concentrated LiquidityAdvanced3 min read

  Concentrated liquidity lets a liquidity provider place funds only within a chosen price range. It earns more fees per dollar while the price stays in the range, but earns nothing outside it and increases impermanent loss.

• DEX AggregatorIntermediate3 min read

  A DEX aggregator searches many pools and exchanges and splits a swap across them to get a better overall price. A router contract is the smart contract that carries out the swap through the chosen path of pools.

• Emission ScheduleIntermediate3 min read

  An emission schedule is the planned rate at which new tokens are created, for example as mining or staking rewards. Bitcoin’s issuance halves roughly every four years; other tokens set their own rules.

• Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)Advanced3 min read

  The Ethereum Virtual Machine is the computing environment that runs smart contracts on Ethereum. Many other blockchains are “EVM-compatible”, so the same contracts and wallets work on them.

• Exchange FlowsIntermediate3 min read

  On-chain data providers estimate how much crypto moves into exchanges (inflows), out of them (outflows) and their difference (netflow), as well as the total held on exchanges (reserves). Large inflows are often read as potential selling, but the estimates depend on how addresses are labelled.

• Finality and ReorgsAdvanced4 min read

  Finality is the point after which a transaction cannot realistically be reversed. Before that, a chain reorganisation (reorg) can replace recent blocks with a different version of history. Exchanges wait for several confirmations before crediting deposits for this reason.

• Flash LoanAdvanced4 min read

  A flash loan is an uncollateralised DeFi loan that must be borrowed and repaid within the same blockchain transaction; if it is not repaid, the whole transaction is reversed. Flash loans are used for arbitrage, and also in attacks that borrow huge sums to manipulate a vulnerable protocol.

• Fully Diluted ValuationIntermediate3 min read

  Fully diluted valuation (FDV) is a token's price multiplied by its maximum supply — what it would be worth if every possible token were in circulation.

• Gas FeeBeginner4 min read

  A gas fee is the transaction fee paid to a blockchain network, such as Ethereum, to have a transaction processed; it rises when the network is busy.

• Governance Tokens and ProposalsIntermediate3 min read

  Governance tokens give holders votes on a protocol’s decisions, such as fee changes or treasury spending, usually through formal proposals. Voting power is typically proportional to tokens held, so large holders can dominate.

• Hard and Soft ForksIntermediate4 min read

  A fork is a change to a blockchain’s rules. A hard fork is not backward-compatible, so nodes that do not upgrade can split into a separate chain; a soft fork tightens the rules in a way old nodes still accept.

• Layer 1 and Layer 2Intermediate3 min read

  A layer 1 is a base blockchain such as Bitcoin or Ethereum; a layer 2 is a network built on top of one to make transactions faster and cheaper.

• MempoolIntermediate3 min read

  The mempool is the waiting area of transactions that have been broadcast but not yet included in a block. Transactions offering higher fees are usually picked first.

• Maximal Extractable ValueAdvanced4 min read

  Maximal extractable value is the profit that can be made by choosing which transactions go into a block and in what order. Examples include arbitrage, liquidations and sandwich attacks, in which a trader’s swap is placed between the attacker’s buy and sell.

• Miner Metrics: Puell Multiple, Hash Ribbons and Miner FlowsAdvanced3 min read

  Indicators based on Bitcoin miners. The Puell Multiple divides daily miner revenue by its 365-day average; hash ribbons compare short and long moving averages of hash rate to flag miner capitulation; miner reserves and outflows estimate how much miners hold and sell.

• Mining and Hash RateIntermediate4 min read

  Mining is how proof-of-work blockchains add new blocks: computers compete to solve a puzzle and earn a reward. Hash rate measures the total computing power doing this.

• NonceAdvanced4 min read

  On account-based blockchains such as Ethereum, a nonce is a counter that orders the transactions sent from an address, so each is processed once and in sequence. In Bitcoin mining, a nonce is the number miners change while searching for a valid block.

• Omnibus WalletIntermediate4 min read

  An omnibus wallet holds many customers’ assets together in one address or account, with the custodian keeping track of who owns what. It is efficient, but customers rely entirely on the custodian’s records.

• On-Chain and Off-ChainIntermediate3 min read

  On-chain activity is recorded publicly on a blockchain; off-chain activity, such as trades inside an exchange's own books, is not.

• MVRV, NVT, SOPR and NUPLAdvanced4 min read

  On-chain valuation ratios: MVRV divides market cap by realised cap; NVT divides network value by on-chain transaction volume; SOPR compares the value of coins when spent with their value when last moved (above 1 means sold at a profit); NUPL estimates holders’ total unrealised profit or loss. Readings are interpretive, not signals on their own.

• Optimistic and ZK RollupsAdvanced4 min read

  Rollups process transactions off the main chain and post them back in batches. Optimistic rollups assume batches are valid unless someone submits a fraud proof during a challenge period; ZK (zero-knowledge) rollups attach a cryptographic validity proof to every batch. A sequencer orders the transactions in both.

• Proof of ReservesIntermediate4 min read

  Proof of reserves is an attempt by an exchange or custodian to show it holds the customer assets it claims, often using on-chain addresses and cryptographic proofs. Without proof of liabilities — what is owed to customers — it shows only half the picture.

• Proof of Work and Proof of StakeIntermediate3 min read

  Proof of work secures a blockchain through computing power (mining); proof of stake secures it through participants locking up the network's own coins.

• Realised Price and Realised CapAdvanced4 min read

  Realised capitalisation values each coin at the price it last moved on-chain, instead of today’s price; realised price is that total divided by the supply. It approximates the average cost basis of holders.

• RestakingAdvanced4 min read

  Restaking reuses already staked assets to help secure additional protocols in return for extra rewards. It adds layers of risk, because the same stake can be slashed under several sets of rules. Liquid restaking tokens represent such positions.

• Rug PullBeginner4 min read

  A rug pull is a scam in which a project's creators suddenly withdraw funds or liquidity and disappear, leaving the token close to worthless.

• Slippage ToleranceIntermediate4 min read

  Slippage tolerance is the maximum percentage difference from the quoted price you accept for a swap; if the price moves further before execution, the transaction fails. A setting that is too high leaves you exposed to sandwich attacks.

• Reentrancy and Oracle ManipulationAdvanced4 min read

  Two common smart-contract exploits. A reentrancy attack calls back into a contract before its first execution has finished, for example to withdraw funds twice. Oracle manipulation feeds a protocol a false price — often by briefly moving a thin market — so it lends or liquidates on wrong data.

• Token BurnIntermediate4 min read

  A token burn permanently removes tokens from circulation by sending them to an address no one can spend from. Some protocols burn part of their fees, which offsets new issuance.

• Circulating, Total and Max SupplyIntermediate4 min read

  Circulating supply is the number of tokens currently tradable; total supply includes locked tokens; max supply is the most that can ever exist, if a cap is set.

• Total Value LockedIntermediate4 min read

  Total value locked is the market value of the crypto assets deposited in a DeFi protocol or blockchain. It is a rough gauge of usage, but it rises and falls with token prices and can double-count assets used in several protocols.

• TOTAL2 and TOTAL3Intermediate3 min read

  TOTAL2 and TOTAL3 are chart symbols for the total crypto market capitalisation excluding Bitcoin (TOTAL2) and excluding both Bitcoin and Ethereum (TOTAL3). Traders use them to follow the altcoin market as a whole.

• UTXOAdvanced4 min read

  An unspent transaction output (UTXO) is a piece of cryptocurrency received in an earlier transaction and not yet spent. Bitcoin tracks balances as collections of UTXOs, unlike Ethereum, which keeps account balances.

• Validators and DelegatorsIntermediate4 min read

  In proof-of-stake networks, validators run the software that proposes and checks blocks, and delegators assign their tokens to a validator without running one. Validators usually keep a commission from the rewards, and can be slashed — lose part of the stake — for breaking network rules.

• Vesting ScheduleIntermediate4 min read

  A vesting schedule sets when locked tokens — typically held by founders, team members and early investors — become available. A cliff is an initial period with no releases, after which tokens unlock gradually. Large upcoming unlocks can add selling pressure.

• Bitcoin HalvingBeginner4 min read

  The Bitcoin halving is the scheduled cut in half of the new bitcoin paid to miners per block, every 210,000 blocks — roughly every four years. It slows the creation of new coins toward the fixed 21 million cap.

Each term is defined in one sentence. Terms marked “Article in preparation” will get a full step-by-step article.

• Anti-Phishing Code

  BeginnerGlossary

  Many exchanges let you choose a private word that they then print in all of their real emails to you. If a message claiming to come from the exchange lacks that word, treat it as a fake and do not click anything in it.

  The exact rules and formulas differ between brokers and exchanges — check your platform’s documentation.

• API Key

  IntermediateArticle in preparation

  To let a bot, tax tool or portfolio app talk to your exchange account, you create an API key — a credential that works without your password. Grant the narrowest rights the tool needs, never withdrawal rights, and lock the key to specific IP addresses.

  The exact rules and formulas differ between brokers and exchanges — check your platform’s documentation.

• Apple Pay and Google Pay with Crypto Cards

  BeginnerGlossary

  If the issuer allows it, a crypto card can be loaded into Apple Pay or Google Pay and used with a tap of a phone or watch. Behind the scenes the payment works like any card purchase, with your crypto sold for regular money at that moment.

• Block

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  Blockchains record transactions in bundles called blocks. Each new block carries a fingerprint (hash) of the block before it, so tampering with any old entry would visibly break the whole chain after it.

• Block Explorer

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  Paste a transaction ID or address into a block explorer and you can see exactly what happened on the chain: when it was sent, the fee, the amount and how many confirmations it has. It settles “did you send it?” disputes in seconds.

• Blockchain Oracle

  AdvancedGlossary

  Smart contracts cannot look up a price or a sports result on their own; oracles deliver that outside data on-chain. Because loans and derivatives settle on those numbers, a manipulated or broken oracle can trigger unfair liquidations.

• Central Bank Digital CurrencyCBDC

  IntermediateGlossary

  A central bank digital currency is a digital form of a country's money issued directly by its central bank, unlike stablecoins issued by private companies. China's e-CNY is among the most advanced pilots.

• Consensus Mechanism

  IntermediateGlossary

  A public blockchain has no boss to decide which transactions count, so it needs a rule set for agreeing on the next block — its consensus mechanism. Proof of work relies on computing power, proof of stake on coins put up as a deposit.

• Crypto ATM

  BeginnerGlossary

  Crypto ATMs let you swap cash or a card payment for coins on the spot, and some pay out cash too. They charge far more than online exchanges, and fraudsters often send victims to these machines because the payments cannot be reversed.

• Crypto Card

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  A crypto card lets you spend crypto, often stablecoins, at any shop that takes Visa or Mastercard: the provider sells the needed amount at checkout. Compare spending and conversion fees, limits and rewards — and remember that each sale may count for tax.

  Rules differ between countries; this is general information, not tax or legal advice.

• Crypto Whales

  BeginnerGlossary

  Whales are holders of very large amounts of a cryptocurrency. Because their trades can move prices, on-chain watchers track big wallet transfers, especially to and from exchanges.

  Informal slang, mostly from crypto and social-media trading communities.

• Decentralization

  BeginnerGlossary

  The more independent operators share control of a network, the harder it is for any one of them to block payments or rewrite the rules. Few projects are fully decentralised; check who runs the validators, holds the admin keys and controls the code.

• DeFi Lending

  IntermediateArticle in preparation

  On DeFi money markets such as Aave, depositors earn interest and borrowers pledge more crypto than they take out. If the pledged collateral falls too far in value, the protocol sells it automatically to repay the loan — no phone call, no grace period.

• Hash

  AdvancedGlossary

  Feed any data into a hash function and you get a short code of fixed length — the hash. The tiniest edit to the input produces a totally different code, and the input cannot be rebuilt from it, which is what lets blockchains detect tampering.

• Honeypot Token

  AdvancedGlossary

  A honeypot token looks like a rising coin, but code hidden in its contract stops ordinary holders from selling. Buyers keep pushing the price up while their money stays locked inside; token scanners and a tiny test sale can reveal the trap before you buy.

• ICO and IEOICO · IEO

  IntermediateGlossary

  An initial coin offering (ICO) is a sale of new tokens to raise money for a crypto project; an initial exchange offering (IEO) is run through an exchange. Many early ICOs failed or were scams, and regulators have treated many as unregistered securities offerings.

• Lightning Network

  IntermediateGlossary

  The Lightning Network is a layer-2 system for Bitcoin: users open payment channels and send many fast, cheap payments off-chain, settling only the final balances on the Bitcoin blockchain.

• Listing and Delisting

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  When a major exchange starts offering a coin, the extra access often sends the price jumping; when it drops one, the price usually suffers and holders get a deadline to sell or move their coins elsewhere. Stocks are listed and delisted by stock exchanges in the same way.

• Memecoins

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  Memecoins are cryptocurrencies built around a joke, meme or online community, such as Dogecoin, with little or no use beyond speculation. Their prices are driven by hype and social media, so huge rallies and near-total collapses are common.

• Memo and Destination Tag

  BeginnerGlossary

  For coins such as XRP, XLM or ATOM, an exchange may give every customer the same deposit address and tell them apart by a short number or text. Leave that memo or tag out of the transfer and the coins arrive without an owner, often needing a slow support ticket to recover.

• MPC Wallet

  AdvancedGlossary

  MPC (multi-party computation) wallets never assemble a full private key anywhere. Separate key pieces sit on different devices or servers, and they jointly produce each signature, so no single device or seed phrase can be stolen to empty the wallet.

• Multisig Wallet

  AdvancedArticle in preparation

  A multisig wallet only releases funds when several separate keys sign off, for example two out of three. A thief needs more than one key, and losing one does not lock you out, which makes it popular for company treasuries and large personal holdings.

• Node

  IntermediateGlossary

  Nodes are the machines that make up a blockchain network. Each one holds its own copy of the ledger, rejects anything that breaks the rules and relays valid data to its peers; running your own means you verify the chain instead of trusting someone else's.

• On-Chain Analysis

  IntermediateArticle in preparation

  On-chain analysts read the public ledger itself: how many coins move onto exchanges, whether long-term holders are selling, how active addresses are. It reveals behaviour on the blockchain but misses trades that happen inside exchanges' own books.

• On-Ramp and Off-Ramp

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  On-ramps are the doors into crypto — a card purchase or bank transfer to an exchange. Off-ramps are the way out, back to a bank account, card or cash. Leaving usually involves identity checks, and the cash-out can be reported to tax authorities.

• P2P TradingP2P

  IntermediateGlossary

  On a P2P marketplace you trade crypto with another user rather than with the exchange: the platform locks the seller's coins in escrow until the buyer's bank payment arrives. It allows many payment methods but brings risks such as fake payment proofs and bank freezes.

• Paying with Crypto

  BeginnerGlossary

  Some merchants accept crypto directly to a wallet address; others use a payment processor that converts it to their currency at once; and crypto cards work anywhere cards do. Paying in stablecoins removes the risk of the price moving mid-purchase.

• Phishing

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  Phishing tricks you into handing over access yourself. A message, ad or website dressed up as your exchange, wallet or a friend asks you to log in, “verify” a seed phrase or sign something — and whatever you enter goes straight to the attacker.

• Pig Butchering Scam

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  The name describes the method: victims are “fattened” with weeks of friendly or romantic chat, then guided onto a fake trading app whose dashboard shows steady gains. When they try to cash out, new fees and taxes appear until the money is gone.

• Real-World AssetsRWA

  IntermediateArticle in preparation

  Real-world assets (RWAs) are traditional assets such as government bonds, credit, real estate or commodities represented as tokens on a blockchain. They bring outside yields on-chain but depend on the issuer and the legal structure holding the real asset.

• Satoshi

  BeginnerGlossary

  Bitcoin divides into a hundred million satoshis, or sats, so 0.001 BTC is 100,000 sats. The unit honours Satoshi Nakamoto, the unknown author of the bitcoin white paper, and network fees are usually counted in sats per virtual byte.

• Seed Phrase Passphrase

  AdvancedGlossary

  Some wallets let you add your own extra word or sentence on top of the recovery phrase, nicknamed the “25th word”. Each passphrase unlocks a different hidden wallet, so a found seed alone is useless — but forget the passphrase and those funds are unrecoverable.

• SIM Swap

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  In a SIM swap, a criminal persuades or bribes a mobile carrier to transfer your number to a SIM card they control. From then on your texts — including login and reset codes — arrive on their phone, which is why authenticator apps beat SMS for 2FA.

• Smart Contract Audit

  AdvancedGlossary

  Before launch, many protocols pay outside security firms to read their contract code and report bugs. An audit report is useful evidence, not a guarantee: it covers only the code version reviewed, and audited protocols have still been exploited.

• Social Engineering

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  Social engineering attacks the person, not the software: a fake support agent, a rushed “security alert” or a friendly stranger talks the victim into giving up access or sending funds. No legitimate company will ever ask for your seed phrase or password.

• Spot Bitcoin ETF

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  A spot Bitcoin ETF holds actual bitcoin and trades on a stock exchange, so investors get bitcoin's price moves through an ordinary brokerage account without handling wallets. US regulators approved the first ones in January 2024.

• Sub-Account

  IntermediateGlossary

  Exchanges often let one login hold several walled-off accounts. Running each strategy or bot in its own sub-account keeps balances, positions and API keys apart, so a mistake or a leaked key in one does not touch the others.

  The exact rules and formulas differ between brokers and exchanges — check your platform’s documentation.

• Testnet and Mainnet

  IntermediateGlossary

  Developers try new code on a testnet, a practice copy of a blockchain whose coins cost nothing and are worth nothing. Real value only moves on mainnet. Free “testnet coins” offered for sale are a common scam.

• Token Approval

  AdvancedArticle in preparation

  Before a DEX or other app can move your tokens, you sign an approval granting it a spending allowance — often unlimited. That permission lasts until you cancel it, so check and revoke old approvals regularly with a token-approval checker.

• Two-Factor Authentication2FA · MFA

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  With two-factor authentication, a stolen password alone is not enough to get in: every login also needs proof from something you hold, such as a code from an authenticator app or a hardware security key. Codes sent by SMS are the weakest option, because a phone number can be hijacked.

• Utility Token

  IntermediateGlossary

  Projects call a token “utility” when holders use it inside the product — to pay fees, vote, stake or unlock features — rather than to own a slice of the business. Regulators judge tokens by how they are sold and used, not by the label.

• Wallet Drainer

  AdvancedArticle in preparation

  Drainers are ready-made scam toolkits planted on fake mint pages, airdrop claims and lookalike sites. One careless signature or approval is enough for the script to sweep every valuable token from the connected wallet within seconds.

• Web3

  BeginnerGlossary

  Web3 describes apps where you log in with a crypto wallet and hold your assets yourself, rather than storing everything in an account owned by a platform. In everyday use it has become shorthand for the whole crypto-app industry.

• Whitepaper

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  Most crypto projects publish a whitepaper laying out their goal, design and token. Read it critically: vague technology, unrealistic promises and a token with no clear job are warning signs, and a polished paper proves nothing on its own.

• Withdrawal Network

  BeginnerArticle in preparation

  The same token can live on several blockchains — USDT, for instance, on Ethereum, Tron and others — and you must pick one when withdrawing. Fees and speed differ, and the receiving wallet has to support the chain you chose, or the transfer can be lost.

• Withdrawal Whitelist

  BeginnerGlossary

  Turning on a withdrawal whitelist means your exchange will only pay out to addresses you approved earlier, and new ones usually face a waiting period. An intruder who gets into the account still cannot send coins to an address of their own.

  The exact rules and formulas differ between brokers and exchanges — check your platform’s documentation.

• Wrapped Tokens

  IntermediateGlossary

  To use bitcoin in Ethereum apps, a custodian or bridge locks real BTC and issues an equal amount of WBTC on Ethereum. Each wrapped token is an IOU, so it is only as reliable as whoever holds the original coins.

• Yield Farming

  AdvancedArticle in preparation

  Yield farming means moving crypto between DeFi protocols to earn the best rewards — trading fees, interest and incentive tokens. Headline yields can be high, but so are the risks: smart-contract bugs, impermanent loss and reward tokens that lose value.

• Zero-Knowledge ProofZKP

  AdvancedGlossary

  Zero-knowledge proofs let a computer convince others that something is true — that a batch of transactions is valid, or that you are over 18 — while revealing none of the underlying details. ZK rollups use them to process Ethereum transactions more cheaply.