Crypto & Finance Glossary

A DEX aggregator that splits trades across multiple decentralized exchanges to find the best overall price.

One of the biggest lending and borrowing protocols in DeFi.

Application Binary Interface.

A way to make crypto wallets behave more like normal apps by turning every account into a smart contract.

The way Ethereum and many other chains track balances.

Someone who meets specific income or net worth thresholds set by regulators, qualifying them for investments not available to the general public.

A period when smart money quietly buys up an asset before a major price move.

A cross-chain bridge that uses an optimistic verification system and a network of relayers to move tokens between chains quickly.

A service or protocol that uses EigenLayer's restaked ETH for its security instead of bootstrapping its own validator set.

DEX trading fees that automatically adjust based on market conditions like volatility or trading volume.

A scam where attackers send tiny transactions from addresses that look similar to ones you've interacted with, hoping you'll accidentally copy the wrong address from your transaction history.

An infrastructure layer that unifies liquidity and state across multiple rollups and chains.

An autonomous program that can perceive on-chain data, make decisions using machine learning models, and execute blockchain transactions without human intervention.

A blockchain oracle that uses machine learning models to provide predictions, classifications, or AI-generated insights to smart contracts.

A cryptocurrency token associated with a project building at the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain.

The intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.

A marketing strategy where crypto projects distribute free tokens to wallet addresses.

Strategically using protocols before they launch a token to qualify for free airdrops.

A stablecoin that maintains its peg through algorithms and smart contracts rather than holding actual reserves.

Valuable, non-public information or insights that give you a trading edge.

Any cryptocurrency that isn't Bitcoin.

A type of decentralized exchange that uses math formulas instead of order books to price trades.

The real rate of return on an investment over a year, accounting for compound interest.

The average yearly return on an investment, calculated to account for compounding.

Short for anonymous.

Laws and procedures designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegal funds as legitimate income.

Jumping into a trade or investment without doing proper research, driven by hype or FOMO.

A blockchain built specifically for a single application or use case, rather than being a general-purpose platform.

An attack that abuses the token approval mechanism.

A Layer 1 blockchain also built by former Meta engineers, using the Move programming language like Sui.

Profiting from price differences of the same asset across different markets.

The lowest price a seller is willing to accept for an asset.

How you divide your investments across different asset classes like stocks, bonds, crypto, and cash.

A way to trade cryptocurrencies directly between different blockchains without using an exchange.

The concept that in crypto, where tokens flow is increasingly driven by attention and narratives rather than fundamentals.

Automatically reinvesting earned yield back into a position to earn compound interest without manual action.

Using software to execute trades based on predefined rules and algorithms without human intervention.

Actively Validated Service.

Someone stuck holding a cryptocurrency that's dropped significantly in value.

A DEX and automated portfolio manager that allows liquidity pools with multiple tokens in custom ratios, not just the standard 50/50 split.

Coinbase's Layer 2 blockchain built on the OP Stack (Optimism's technology).

The minimum gas price required for a transaction to be included in an Ethereum block.

An approval term meaning authentic, bold, or worthy of respect.

A rollup that uses Ethereum's own validators (the L1 proposers) for transaction ordering instead of running a centralized sequencer.

One hundredth of a percentage point (0.

The proof-of-stake coordination layer of Ethereum, launched in December 2020.

A prolonged period where prices fall 20% or more from recent highs.

The token standard on BNB Chain, equivalent to Ethereum's ERC-20.

The highest price a buyer is willing to pay for an asset right now.

The difference between the highest price a buyer will pay (bid) and the lowest price a seller will accept (ask).