Crypto & Finance Glossary
Your guide to understanding cryptocurrency and finance terminology. From Bitcoin basics to advanced DeFi concepts.
Showing 101–150 of 605 terms
Page 3 of 13
C
Composability
defiThe ability to combine different DeFi protocols like building blocks to create new financial products.
Compound
defiA DeFi lending protocol on Ethereum where you can supply assets to earn interest or borrow against collateral.
Compound Interest
traditional-financeInterest calculated on both the initial principal and accumulated interest from previous periods.
Concentrated Liquidity
defiA DeFi innovation where liquidity providers choose a specific price range to deploy their capital instead of spreading it across all prices.
Consensus Mechanism
blockchainThe method a blockchain uses to agree on which transactions are valid and in what order.
Constant Product Formula
defiThe math equation x * y = k that most basic AMMs use to price trades.
Consumer Price Index (CPI)
macroA measure of average price changes for a basket of consumer goods and services.
Contract Address
blockchainThe unique blockchain address where a smart contract lives.
Convergence/Divergence
tradingWhen a technical indicator moves in the same direction as price, that's convergence and confirms the trend.
Convex Finance
defiA protocol built on top of Curve Finance that boosts CRV rewards for liquidity providers without requiring them to lock CRV themselves.
Cope
cryptocurrencyRationalizing a bad investment decision or finding excuses for why a losing position will eventually work out.
Coprocessor
blockchainA system that performs complex computations off-chain and provides verified results to smart contracts.
Copy Trading
tradingAutomatically replicating the trades of another trader in real-time.
Correction
tradingA price decline of 10% or more from a recent high, but less than the 20% that defines a bear market.
Cosmos
blockchainA network of independent blockchains that can communicate with each other through the IBC (Inter-Blockchain Communication) protocol.
Cost Basis
tradingThe original price you paid for an asset, including fees.
Credit Default Swap (CDS)
traditional-financeA financial contract that acts like insurance against a borrower defaulting on their debt.
Cronos
blockchainThe EVM-compatible blockchain built by Crypto.
Cross Margin
tradingA margin mode where your entire account balance acts as collateral for all open positions.
Cross-Chain
blockchainThe ability to move assets, data, or messages between different blockchain networks.
Cross-Chain Messaging
blockchainProtocols that enable smart contracts on different blockchains to communicate with each other.
Crypto Custody Regulation
macroRules governing how institutions store and safeguard crypto assets on behalf of clients.
Cryptocurrency
cryptocurrencyDigital money secured by cryptography and typically running on a blockchain.
CT
cryptocurrencyCrypto Twitter.
Curve Finance
defiA DEX optimized for stablecoin and pegged asset swaps with extremely low slippage.
Curve Wars
defiThe competition between DeFi protocols to accumulate voting power on Curve Finance to direct token emissions to their pools.
Custody
cryptocurrencyWho holds and controls your crypto assets.
Custody Solutions
cryptocurrencyServices that securely store cryptocurrency on behalf of institutional investors.
D
Danksharding
blockchainThe full version of Ethereum's data scaling plan, which proto-danksharding (EIP-4844) partially implements.
DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)
blockchainAn organization run by code and governed by token holders instead of a traditional management structure.
DApp (Decentralized Application)
blockchainAn application that runs on a blockchain rather than centralized servers.
Dark Pool
tradingA private trading venue where large orders are executed without showing up on public order books.
Data Availability
blockchainThe guarantee that transaction data is published and accessible to anyone who needs to verify it.
Data Availability Layer
blockchainA specialized blockchain or service that stores transaction data so anyone can verify it, without handling execution.
Data Availability Sampling (DAS)
blockchainA technique that lets nodes verify data availability without downloading all of it by randomly sampling small portions.
Dead Cat Bounce
tradingA temporary recovery in price during a larger downtrend.
Death Cross
tradingA bearish technical pattern where the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average.
Decentralized
blockchainNot controlled by any single entity, authority, or server.
Decentralized Compute
aiA network of distributed GPU and CPU providers that offer computing power for AI training, inference, and rendering without relying on centralized cloud providers like AWS or Google Cloud.
Decentralized Identity (DID)
blockchainA system where you control your own digital identity using blockchain instead of relying on companies like Google or Facebook.
DeFi (Decentralized Finance)
defiFinancial services built on blockchain without traditional intermediaries.
DeFi Regulation
macroEmerging regulatory approaches to decentralized finance protocols.
Deflation
macroWhen prices across the economy decline over time, increasing money's purchasing power.
Degen
cryptocurrencyShort for 'degenerate gambler,' now used affectionately in crypto for someone who takes high-risk bets on new coins, yield farms, or NFTs.
Depeg
defiWhen a stablecoin or pegged asset loses its target price.
DePIN (Decentralized Physical Infrastructure Networks)
cryptocurrencyCrypto projects that use token incentives to build real-world infrastructure like wireless networks, storage, and computing power.
Depth Chart
tradingA visual representation of all open buy and sell orders for an asset at different price levels.
Derivatives
tradingFinancial contracts whose value is based on an underlying asset.
Deterministic Wallet
blockchainA wallet that generates all its addresses from a single seed phrase using a mathematical formula.
Devnet
blockchainA development network used for early-stage testing of blockchain protocols and smart contracts.
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