Stablecoin
A cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged to USD (USDT, USDC, DAI), EUR (EURC), or other fiat. Stablecoins are used for…
Glossary
Glossary — crypto terms, defined
80 articles · refreshed Jun 12, 2026
Smart contract
A program deployed on a blockchain that executes automatically when called. Smart contracts power DeFi (Aave, Uniswap), NFTs, DAOs, and most non-payment crypto applications.…
Slashing
Penalty mechanism in proof-of-stake networks where validators lose part of their staked tokens for misbehavior — double-signing, going offline for extended periods, or specific…
Seed phrase
A 12 or 24-word phrase that encodes a wallet's private keys. Standard format is BIP-39. The seed phrase is the master backup — anyone…
Satoshi
The smallest unit of Bitcoin: 1 BTC = 100,000,000 satoshis (or sats). Also the pseudonym of Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto. The unit name honours…
Rug pull
A scam where developers abandon a project (often after token launch) and run off with raised capital or AMM pool liquidity. Rugs are common…
Rollup
A Layer 2 scaling solution that executes transactions off-chain and posts compressed proofs or data back to the Layer 1. Optimistic rollups assume validity…
Restaking
Using already-staked ETH (or its LST representation) as additional security for other protocols, typically via EigenLayer. Restakers earn additional yield from the protocols they…
Pump and dump
A market manipulation scheme where insiders accumulate a small, illiquid token, then promote it heavily to drive price up ("pump"), then sell their holdings…
Public key
A cryptographic key derived from a private key that can be shared publicly. Addresses are derived from public keys. Anyone with your public key…