Glossary List

#

51% Attack

A 51% attack occurs when a single entity or group controls over 50% of a blockchain’s computing power or stake, allowing them to manipulate the network’s transaction ledger.

A

Aave

A decentralized non-c custodial liquidity protocol for lending and borrowing digital assets on blockchains like Ethereum.

Active Management Burden

The ongoing requirement for liquidity providers to monitor and adjust positions in DeFi to optimize returns and mitigate risks.

Agentic Commerce

Commerce driven by autonomous agents using digital assets for transactions.

Airdrop

A free distribution of tokens to numerous wallet addresses by blockchain projects to promote awareness, bootstrap liquidity, and reward early user engagement.

Algorithmic Stablecoin

A digital asset maintaining value through supply adjustments without direct collateral.

Alipay

A leading mobile payment platform owned by Ant Group, offering comprehensive financial services beyond basic transactions.

Alpha

An advantage in digital asset trading gained through early or exclusive access to information, strategies, or opportunities not yet widely known by market participants.

Altcoin

Any digital asset or cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin, often developed to offer alternative features, use cases, or improvements.

AML/CFT

Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism regulations for financial integrity.

AMM (Automated Market Maker)

A protocol that uses liquidity pools and algorithms to facilitate decentralized trading of digital assets.

APR (Lending)

The annualized percentage rate of interest earned or paid in DeFi lending, excluding compounding.

APY （DeFi）

Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is the annualized rate of return on an investment or loan, accounting for compound interest earned or paid over a year.

APY (Lending)

The annualized percentage yield in DeFi lending, accounting for interest compounding.

Arbitrage

The practice of buying a digital asset on one exchange and selling it on another to profit from price differences.

Arbitrum One Chain

An optimistic rollup Layer 2 for Ethereum, leading in DeFi TVL with advanced governance features.

Ask Side

The section of an order book listing all open sell orders, sorted from lowest to highest price.

Asks (sell orders)

Orders from sellers indicating the price and quantity at which they are willing to sell a digital asset.

At The Market (ATM)

A flexible equity offering allowing sales of shares into the market at prevailing prices over time.

ATH

The highest price a digital asset has ever reached in its trading history.

Australia Stablecoin Regulation

Australia's proposed licensing framework for digital asset platforms and stablecoin issuers under the Australian Financial Services license.

Automated Agent

Software that autonomously performs tasks, including digital asset transactions.

B

Base Chain

Coinbase's Ethereum Layer 2 network built on the OP Stack, optimized for on-chain applications and developer accessibility.

Basis Point

A unit of measure equal to one-hundredth of a percentage point (0.01%), used to express changes in interest rates, yields, or spreads in finance.

Bayesian Truth Serum

A mechanism that elicits truthful subjective opinions by rewarding predictions that align with unexpectedly common beliefs.

Beacon Chain

The proof-of-stake consensus layer of Ethereum, coordinating validators since December 2020.

Bid-Ask Spread

The difference between the highest bid price and the lowest ask price in an order book, indicating market liquidity.

Bid Side

The section of an order book listing all open buy orders, sorted from highest to lowest price.

Bids (buy orders)

Orders from buyers indicating the price and quantity they are willing to pay for a digital asset.

BIS Stablecoin Principles

Bank for International Settlements' guidelines stressing regulation for stablecoins to mitigate financial stability risks and ensure they function as sound money.

Bitcoin (BTC)

The first and most valuable decentralized digital currency, created by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009.

Bitcoin Block Reward

The amount of newly created Bitcoin awarded to miners for successfully adding a new block to the blockchain.

Bitcoin Core

Bitcoin Core is the primary software client for running a Bitcoin full node, validating transactions, and contributing to the network’s proof-of-work consensus.

Bitcoin Standard

The Bitcoin Standard refers to a proposed monetary system where Bitcoin serves as the primary global reserve currency, replacing fiat currencies and traditional stores of value like gold.

Bitcoin Supply Curve and Halving

The Bitcoin supply curve is a step-wise logarithmic function that schedules the issuance of 21 million total digital assets over approximately 140 years via halvings, which reduce mining rewards every 210,000 blocks to enforce scarcity.

Bitcoin Treasury

A corporate financial strategy involving the allocation of company reserves into Bitcoin as a primary treasury asset to preserve value and pursue long-term appreciation.

BitLicense (New York)

New York Department of Financial Services' licensing requirement for virtual currency businesses, including stablecoin issuers, with enhanced blockchain analytics in 2025.

BitMine Immersion (BMNR)

A blockchain technology company focused on digital asset mining and treasury management, holding the world's largest ETH treasury.

BitPay

A digital asset payment processor enabling merchants to accept stablecoins like USDC and USDT, with stablecoins comprising nearly 40% of its 2025 payment volume.

Block and Block Height

A block is a collection of transactions recorded on a blockchain, and block height is the sequential number of a block in the chain, starting from the genesis block.

Block Explorer

An online tool or interface that enables users to search and view detailed information about a blockchain, including transactions, addresses, and network activity.

Blockchain

A decentralized digital ledger that securely records transactions across a network of computers in an immutable chain.

Blockchain Trilemma

The blockchain trilemma refers to the challenge of balancing three core properties—decentralization, security, and scalability—in a blockchain network, where optimizing one often compromises the others.

BNB Chain (BSC)

Binance's EVM-compatible blockchain, combining high performance with community-driven governance and the CEX ecosystem.

Borrow Rate (Lending)

The interest rate borrowers pay to access funds from a lending pool.

Bridge

A protocol or service that enables the transfer of digital assets or data between two distinct blockchain networks, such as moving ETH from Ethereum’s mainnet to a Layer 2 scaling solution.

BTC Credit Hurdle (MSTR)

The BTC ARR% needed to achieve investment-grade BTC Credit under Strategy's framework.

BTC ETF

Exchange-traded funds that provide direct exposure to Bitcoin's spot price, approved by the SEC in January 2024.

BTC Gain

The number of Bitcoin added to Strategy's holdings attributable to its BTC Yield over a specified period.

BTC Multiple

The ratio of Strategy's BTC NAV to its BTC $ Equity, indicating leverage in its Bitcoin treasury.

BTC nav (MSTR)

Strategy's Bitcoin holdings valued at current market price, excluding liabilities.

BTC Risk (MSTR)

The annual probability that a liability's BTC Rating falls below 1x, estimated via Black-Scholes for asset drawdown.

BTC Yield

Strategy's key performance indicator measuring the percentage increase in Bitcoin holdings per diluted common share over a period.

BUIDL

The act of actively building and contributing to the development of decentralized technologies and ecosystems, rather than solely investing or speculating.

Buy Side

The portion of the order book listing aggregated buy orders at various price levels.

Buy Walls

Large accumulations of buy orders at a specific price level, forming a barrier against downward price movement.

C

Call Option

A contract granting the right to buy an asset at a fixed price by expiration.

Capital Inefficiency

The underutilization of provided liquidity in DeFi protocols, where most capital remains idle across unused price ranges.

Casper FFG

A proof-of-stake consensus protocol combined with LMD-GHOST to determine the head of the Ethereum Beacon Chain.

CBDC

A central bank-issued digital currency designed to function as legal tender.

CDP

A collateralized debt position, a smart contract mechanism in DeFi that allows users to borrow digital assets by locking collateral.

Celestia DA

A modular data availability network that offloads DA from Ethereum's execution layers, enabling scalable rollups with low costs.

Circle

The company behind USDC, focused on building transparent and compliant digital asset solutions.

Circuit Breaker

A mechanism to pause trading in a prediction market to prevent rapid price distortions from herd behavior or manipulation.

Circulating Supply

The total number of a digital asset's tokens or coins that are publicly available and actively circulating in the market.

CLOB (Central Limit Order Book)

A trading mechanism that matches buy and sell orders for assets based on price-time priority, commonly used in both traditional and decentralized exchanges.

Coin

A digital asset that operates on its own independent blockchain, distinct from tokens that rely on another blockchain’s infrastructure.

Coinbase Transaction

Coinbase refers to a leading U.S.-based digital asset exchange, the coinbase transaction that creates new digital assets in a blockchain block, and the block reward that incentivizes miners with new assets and transaction fees.

Collateral

Digital assets deposited by borrowers to secure loans in DeFi lending protocols.

Collateralized Debt Position (CDP)

A smart contract structure where borrowers lock collateral to mint digital assets as a loan.

Commodity-pegged Stablecoin

A digital asset tied to the value of physical commodities like gold or silver.

Compound

A decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that enables lending and borrowing of digital assets through algorithmically managed interest rate markets.

Concentrated Liquidity

A DeFi mechanism allowing liquidity providers to allocate capital within specific price ranges for higher efficiency.

Concentrated Liquidity (Uniswap)

Uniswap concentrated liquidity is a feature of Uniswap V3 that allows liquidity providers to allocate capital within specific price ranges of a token pair, increasing capital efficiency and potential returns compared to traditional AMM models.

Consensus Algorithm

A consensus algorithm is a mechanism used by a blockchain network to achieve agreement among nodes on the validity and order of transactions in a decentralized system.

Consensus Layer

The protocol layer responsible for achieving agreement among nodes on the state of a blockchain network.

Consensys and Joseph Lubin

Consensys is a blockchain software studio founded by Ethereum co-founder Joseph Lubin, building enterprise tools and advocating for decentralized tech.

Constant Product Formula x\*y=k

The constant product formula, typically x \* y = k, is the mathematical equation used by decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to set token prices and balance liquidity pools for automated trading.

Constant Product Market Maker (CPMM)

An automated pricing model in DeFi that maintains a constant product of asset reserves in a liquidity pool to determine prices.

Consumer Price Index (CPI)

A monthly measure of average price changes in a fixed basket of goods and services purchased by urban consumers, produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Contract Resolution

The process of determining the outcome of a prediction market contract to distribute payouts based on the event’s result.

Conversion Ratio (MSTR)

The number of common shares receivable per convertible security upon exercise.

Convertible Notes

Hybrid debt securities convertible into equity, used by companies like Strategy to fund Bitcoin purchases at low interest.

Convertible Preferred Stock

Preferred stock convertible into common shares, blending dividend income with equity conversion potential.

Core Personal Consumption Expenditures (Core PCE)

A variant of PCE excluding volatile food and energy prices to gauge underlying inflation trends, favored by the Fed for policy decisions.

Cross-border Payments

Payments using digital assets to facilitate fast, low-cost international transactions.

Cross-Chain Swap

A cross-chain swap is the exchange of digital assets between two different blockchain networks, facilitated by bridges or protocols to enable interoperability.

Cross Margin

Margin shared across all positions in a trader’s account to cover losses.

Crypto

A shorthand term for cryptocurrency - digital currencies secured by cryptography and operating on decentralized networks.

Crypto-backed Stablecoin

A digital asset backed by other digital assets, often overcollateralized to ensure stability.

Cryptocurrency

Digital currencies and assets secured by cryptography and operating on decentralized blockchain networks without central authority.

Cryptorails

A term referring to blockchain infrastructure enabling stablecoin transactions and financial applications.

Currency Sovereignty

A nation's control over its monetary policy and issuance in the digital era.

Current Mid-market Price

The midpoint between the highest bid and lowest ask prices in the order book.

Curve Finance

Curve Finance is a decentralized exchange on Ethereum and compatible chains, optimized for low-slippage swaps of stablecoins and wrapped assets using bonding curve algorithms.

Custody

Secure storage and management of digital assets by qualified third-party institutions, ensuring protection against theft and unauthorized access.

D

DA (Data Availability)

DA is the mechanism ensuring rollup transaction data is accessible on Ethereum, preventing withholding attacks and enabling verification.

DAI/USDS

Stablecoins issued by MakerDAO/Sky, pegged to USD, backed by crypto or real-world assets.

DAO

A blockchain-based organization governed by smart contracts and member voting, eliminating centralized control.

dApp (Decentralized Application)

A software application that runs on a decentralized network like Ethereum, leveraging smart contracts for backend logic.

Data Asset Exchange

A platform for trading digital assets representing data.

Data Asset Monetization

Generating revenue from data using digital asset transactions.

Data Sovereignty

Control over data ownership and usage by its creator or owner.

Decentralization

Decentralization is the distribution of control, authority, and operations across a network of nodes in a blockchain, eliminating the need for a central authority.

Decentralization (Prediction Market)

The distribution of control and data across multiple nodes in a prediction market, reducing reliance on a single authority.

Decentralized Data Marketplace

A platform for trading data assets without centralized control.

Decentralized Lending

Decentralized lending is a blockchain-based system allowing users to lend or borrow digital assets without intermediaries, using smart contracts to automate and secure transactions.

DeFi

Decentralized Finance (DeFi) refers to financial applications built on a blockchain that operate without centralized intermediaries, using smart contracts to enable trustless lending, borrowing, trading, and more.

DefiLlama

A free, transparent DeFi analytics platform aggregating total value locked (TVL) and metrics across blockchains.

Depth Chart

A visual graph depicting the cumulative buy and sell orders across price ranges in an order book.

DEX

A decentralized exchange (DEX) is a platform for trading digital assets directly between users on a blockchain without intermediaries.

DEX Aggregator

A platform that optimizes digital asset trading by routing orders across multiple decentralized exchanges (DEXs) to achieve the best price and lowest slippage.

Diamond Hands

A term describing traders or investors who hold onto their digital assets through market volatility, demonstrating strong conviction and risk tolerance.

Digital Asset

Electronically stored items of value that can be owned, transferred, or traded, typically secured by blockchain technology for immutability and transparency.

Digital Asset Treasury (DAT)

Public companies that strategically accumulate digital assets(primarily BTC or ETH) as core treasury reserves to drive shareholder value and provide digital asset market exposure.

Digital Payments

Electronic transfers of value using digital channels, replacing cash.

Digital Signature

A cryptographic mechanism that verifies the authenticity and integrity of a digital document or message using a private-public key pair.

Dispersed Information (Prediction Market)

Knowledge scattered across individuals that prediction markets aggregate into a cohesive forecast.

DLT

Distributed Ledger Technology - a decentralized digital system for recording transactions across multiple computers, ensuring security and immutability.

Dodd-Frank Act Stress Tests (DFAST)

Annual assessments by the Federal Reserve evaluating large banks' capital adequacy under hypothetical severe economic scenarios to ensure resilience.

Domain Expertise (Prediction Market)

Specialized knowledge that enhances a participant’s ability to make accurate predictions in a specific field.

Don't Trust, Verify

"Don't Trust, Verify" is a core principle in blockchain technology, emphasizing that users should independently validate transactions and data on the network rather than relying on intermediaries.

Dot Plot

A chart released quarterly by the Federal Reserve showing anonymous projections from FOMC members for future federal funds rates.

Double Spend

Attempting to spend the same digital asset more than once in a blockchain network.

Dual-Offline Payment

A feature allowing transactions without internet for both parties, using NFC or similar tech.

DYOR

Do Your Own Research (DYOR) is a widely used acronym in the digital asset space, urging investors to independently verify information before committing funds to any project or token.

E

e-CNY

China’s digital yuan, a CBDC issued by the People’s Bank of China.

ECDSA

A cryptographic algorithm used to create digital signatures for securing and verifying transactions in blockchain networks like Ethereum.

EigenCloud

Restaking protocol on Ethereum enabling staked ETH to secure additional services (Actively Verifiable Services, AVSs), now rebranded as a verifiable cloud for AI and compute.

EIP-1559

An Ethereum upgrade that introduced a dynamic base fee for transactions, implemented in August 2021.

EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal)

A standardized process for proposing and implementing changes to the Ethereum protocol.

Electronic Payment

A digital method for transferring funds without physical cash or checks, using electronic networks.

Embedded Call Option

A call option integrated into a security, like converts, allowing conversion to equity.

ENS

A decentralized naming system on Ethereum that maps human-readable names to blockchain addresses and other resources.

Epoch of Ethereum PoS

A fixed period in Ethereum’s proof-of-stake consensus, typically 32 slots, used for validator duties and finality.

ERC-20

A standard for fungible tokens on Ethereum, enabling interoperability across dApps.

ERC-721

A standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on Ethereum, representing unique digital assets.

ETF

Exchange-Traded Funds that hold baskets of assets and trade on stock exchanges, providing regulated exposure to digital assets.

ETH ETF

An exchange-traded fund providing investors with exposure to the price of Ether, Ethereum's native digital asset, without direct ownership.

ETH

ETH is the native digital asset of the Ethereum blockchain, used for transaction fees, staking, and as a medium of exchange in decentralized applications.

Ethena USDe

A synthetic digital dollar stable asset on Ethereum, backed by hedged collateral to maintain a $1 peg while generating yield for holders.

Ether (ETH)

Ether(ETH) is the native digital asset of the Ethereum blockchain, used to pay for transaction fees and computational services.

Ethereum (ETH)

A decentralized blockchain platform that pioneered smart contracts, enabling programmable money and decentralized applications.

Block Proposer in Ethereum

The validator pseudo-randomly selected to propose and broadcast a new block during a specific 12-second slot in Ethereum's proof-of-stake consensus mechanism.

Ethereum Contract Account

A blockchain account containing smart contract code, controlled by its programmed logic rather than a private key.

Ethereum EOA Account

An externally owned account on Ethereum, controlled by a private key and used to initiate transactions.

Ethereum Foundation

A non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the development and ecosystem of the Ethereum blockchain without controlling it.

Lean Ethereum

A visionary Ethereum Foundation initiative unveiled in July 2025 to harden and scale the Ethereum protocol through minimalism, formal verification, and hash-based post-quantum cryptography.

Ethereum Lightweight Client

An Ethereum client that operates without storing the full blockchain or validating blocks and transactions, functioning primarily as a wallet for creating and broadcasting transactions.

Ethereum Node

A software client that participates in Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake network to validate, store, or relay blockchain data.

Restaking (Ethereum PoS)

Restaking on Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake (PoS) enables staked ETH to secure additional protocols via EigenCloud (previously EigenLayer), earning extra rewards while extending Ethereum’s cryptoeconomic security.

Ethereum Scaling

Ethereum scaling encompasses layer 1 protocol upgrades and layer 2 solutions that enhance the blockchain's transaction throughput.

Staking of Ethereum PoS

The process of locking up Ether (ETH) to participate in Ethereum’s Proof-of-Stake consensus and earn rewards.

Ethereum Wallet

A software or hardware tool that manages Ethereum accounts, enabling users to store, send, and receive ETH or tokens.

Ethereum.org

The official community-driven website serving as a comprehensive guide and resource hub for Ethereum users, developers, and builders.

EVM-Compatible Chain

A blockchain network designed to execute Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) bytecode, enabling direct compatibility with Ethereum smart contracts and tools.

EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine)

A decentralized computation engine that executes smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.

Execution Layer

The protocol layer responsible for processing transactions and executing smart contracts in a blockchain network.

F

Fast Payment Systems

Instant electronic fund transfer systems operating 24/7 for retail transactions.

FATF Travel Rule

Financial Action Task Force standard mandating virtual asset service providers to share originator and beneficiary information for digital asset transfers, including stablecoins, to prevent illicit finance.

FDV

The total potential market capitalization of a digital asset if all tokens in its maximum supply were circulating at the current price.

Fed (Federal Reserve System)

The central banking system of the United States, established in 1913 to provide a safe, flexible, and stable monetary and financial system.

Federal Funds Interest Rate

The interest rate at which depository institutions lend reserve balances to each other overnight, targeted by the Federal Reserve to influence economic activity.

Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)

A 12-member committee within the Federal Reserve System responsible for setting U.S. monetary policy, including interest rates and open market operations.

Fee Tier

The percentage fee charged on DEX trades, set by liquidity pools and distributed to liquidity providers, varying by pool type and volatility.

Fiat

Government-issued currency not backed by a physical commodity, used as legal tender in digital asset trading.

Fiat-pegged Stablecoin

A digital asset tied 1:1 to a fiat currency, like USD or EUR, for price stability.

Finality in Ethereum

The assurance that a set of transactions on a blockchain is permanently confirmed and cannot be altered without significant economic cost.

Financial Disintermediation

The shift of funds from banks to alternative channels, potentially reducing bank lending.

Financial Inclusion

Access to affordable financial services for underserved populations via digital means.

FinTech

The application of technology to enhance financial services, including payments and asset management.

Fixed Income Security

Debt instruments providing regular interest and principal repayment, like bonds.

Fixed Rate (Lending)

A stable interest rate locked for a specific period in DeFi lending.

Flash Loan

A type of uncollateralized loan in decentralized finance (DeFi) that is borrowed and repaid within a single blockchain transaction.

Flashbots

A research and development organization dedicated to mitigating the negative externalities of Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) on Ethereum through open-source infrastructure and transparent block-building markets.

Front Running

The practice of observing pending transactions in a blockchain’s mempool and submitting a similar transaction with a higher gas fee to prioritize its confirmation, often to gain a financial advantage.

FUD

An acronym for "Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt," referring to the spread of negative or misleading information to influence perceptions and behavior in the digital asset market.

Funding Rate

A periodic fee exchanged between long and short traders to balance market positions.

Futarchy (Prediction Market)

A governance system using prediction markets to decide policies based on their predicted impact on a predefined metric.

G

Gas Cost Complexity

The variable and cumulative transaction fees on blockchains that complicate liquidity provision and trading in DeFi.

Gas (Ethereum)

A unit measuring the computational effort required to execute transactions or smart contracts on Ethereum.

Gas Limit of a Block

The maximum total gas allowed for all transactions included in an Ethereum block.

Gas Limit of a Transaction

The maximum amount of gas a user is willing to spend on an Ethereum transaction.

Gas Price

The amount of Ether (ETH) a user is willing to pay per unit of gas for a transaction on Ethereum.

Genesis Block

The initial block in a blockchain that establishes the foundation of the network and its digital asset.

Genius Act

Genius Act 2025, an U.S. legislation to regulate stablecoins, focusing on reserves and compliance.

Geth

An open-source Ethereum client software, written in Go, for running nodes, executing transactions, and interacting with the Ethereum blockchain.

Gnosis Safe

A multi-signature smart contract wallet on Ethereum for secure, shared management of digital assets with customizable approval thresholds and recovery options.

Grayscale

One of the world's largest digital asset investment platforms, offering regulated products for digital assets exposure including trusts and ETFs of Bitcoin and Ethereum.

H

Hard Fork of a Blockchain

A permanent split in a blockchain’s history, creating two separate chains due to incompatible consensus rule changes.

Hash

A fixed-length string generated by a cryptographic function to uniquely represent data in the Bitcoin blockchain.

Hashrate of Bitcoin

The total computational power used by the Bitcoin network to secure transactions and validate blocks, measured in hashes per second (H/s).

Health Factor (Lending)

A metric indicating the safety of a borrower’s loan relative to collateral value.

Herd Behavior/Bandwagon Effect

The tendency of prediction market participants to follow prominent public signals, potentially distorting prices.

HODL

A term, originating from a misspelling of "hold," encouraging long-term retention of digital assets despite market volatility.

Honeypot Contract

A deceptive smart contract designed to allow users to buy a digital asset but restrict or prevent selling, often used to trap unsuspecting investors.

Hong Kong's policy statement on development of digital assets

Government declarations outlining Hong Kong's strategy to become a global hub for digital assets, starting with the initial statement in October 2022 and followed by Policy Statement 2.0 in June 2025.

Hong Kong Stablecoin Bill

Hong Kong Stablecoin Bill, an ordinance passed on May 21, 2025, establishing a licensing regime for issuers of fiat-referenced stablecoins in Hong Kong, which became the Stablecoins Ordinance effective August 1, 2025.

HTTP 402 Payment / x402 Protocol

A standardized HTTP response code and protocol for requesting and processing digital asset payments.

Hyperliquid

A high-performance Layer-1 blockchain and decentralized exchange (DEX) optimized for perpetual futures trading of digital assets with on-chain order books.

I

IMF Stablecoin Guidance

International Monetary Fund's recommendations on regulating stablecoins to balance innovation with risks in global finance.

Immutability

Immutability refers to the property of a blockchain, like Bitcoin, where once data is recorded in a block and added to the chain, it cannot be altered or deleted without consensus from the network.

Impermanent Loss(IL)

The unrealized financial loss experienced by a liquidity provider in a decentralized exchange (DEX) trading pair when the price of one token diverges significantly from the other, compared to holding the tokens outright.

Impermanent Loss Amplification

The heightened risk of value loss for liquidity providers when using concentrated positions, exacerbated by price movements outside specified ranges.

Implied Volatility

Market's expected annualized price fluctuation of an asset, derived from option prices.

Incentive Mechanism (Prediction Market)

A system of rewards, typically financial, designed to encourage truthful participation in prediction markets.

Index Price

The reference price of a digital asset derived from external spot markets.

Information Aggregation

The process of collecting and combining dispersed information from multiple sources to produce a more accurate collective prediction.

Initial Margin

The upfront collateral required to open a leveraged position.

Insurance Fund

A reserve fund used to cover losses from liquidations or system imbalances.

IOSCO Stablecoin Rules

International Organization of Securities Commissions' Standards applying securities regulations to stablecoins for investor protection and market integrity.

Isolated Margin

Margin allocated to a single position, limiting risk to that position alone.

J

Japan Stablecoin Policy

Japan's regulatory policy permitting licensed banks, trust companies, and fund transfer providers to issue fiat-backed stablecoins under strict reserve requirements.

Jito

A Solana-based protocol providing MEV infrastructure for validators and non-custodial liquid staking via JitoSOL, distributing rewards from transaction ordering and stake delegation.

Jupiter DEX

A liquidity aggregator decentralized exchange on Solana, optimizing token swaps across multiple protocols.

Jupiter on Solana

A decentralized exchange aggregator on the Solana blockchain that routes trades across multiple DEXs to optimize prices and minimize slippage for SPL token swaps.

Just-In-Time Liquidity Attacks

A MEV strategy where liquidity is added and removed around a large trade to extract profits at the expense of regular providers.

Justin Sun

Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur and founder of the Tron blockchain, known for aggressive expansion and high-profile controversies.

K

KYC

Regulatory process verifying user identities to prevent illicit activities, mandatory on centralized exchanges but optional in DeFi.

L

L2BEAT

An analytics platform tracking Ethereum Layer 2 scaling solutions, providing metrics on TVL, risks, and adoption.

Lamport

The smallest fractional unit of Solana’s native digital asset, SOL, equivalent to 0.000000001 SOL (one-billionth of a SOL).

Layer 1 (L1)

The foundational blockchain protocol handling consensus, security, and transaction execution, like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

Layer 2

Secondary protocols built atop Layer 1 blockchains to enhance scalability by offloading computations while inheriting security.

Ledger

An immutable, distributed digital record of transactions maintained across network nodes.

Legal Tender

Currency mandated by law for debt settlement, including digital forms.

Lending Aggregator

A platform that sources the best lending or borrowing rates across multiple DeFi protocols.

Lending Pool

A smart contract aggregating digital assets from suppliers for lending and borrowing.

Leverage (Perp Dex)

Borrowed capital used to amplify trading positions and potential returns.

Leverage Ratio (MSTR)

A measure of debt relative to assets or equity, in Strategy's case (Debt + Preferred)/Market Cap.

LIBOR

The former benchmark rate for short-term interbank loans in London, phased out in 2023 and replaced by SOFR due to manipulation scandals.

Lido liquid staking

Decentralized protocol enabling liquid staking of ETH, where users receive stETH tokens for rewards while maintaining DeFi liquidity.

Lightning Network

The Lightning Network is a layer-2 scaling solution for Bitcoin that enables fast, low-cost transactions off-chain while leveraging Bitcoin’s blockchain for security and final settlement.

Limit Order

An order to buy or sell an asset at a specified price or better, which may rest in the order book if not immediately filled.

Limit Orders

Orders to buy or sell a digital asset at a specified price or better, only executing if the market reaches that price.

Linea Chain

Consensys' zero-knowledge Ethereum Layer 2 rollup, emphasizing privacy and ETH economy strengthening through burn mechanics.

Linked Data

Data interconnected across the web using standardized formats.

Liquid Staking

A staking mechanism on Ethereum where users receive derivative tokens representing their staked ETH, allowing them to use these tokens in DeFi activities while earning staking rewards.

Liquidation

The process in DeFi where assets from an under-collateralized loan are sold to repay the borrowed amount, typically triggered automatically by smart contracts when collateral value falls below a required threshold.

Liquidation (Lending)

The automated sale of a borrower’s collateral when its value falls below a protocol’s required threshold.

Liquidation (Perp Dex)

The forced closure of a leveraged position when margin falls below the required level.

Liquidity (DEX)

Liquidity on a decentralized exchange (DEX) refers to the pool of digital assets locked in smart contracts, enabling seamless token trading by ensuring sufficient supply and demand for transactions.

Liquidity Fragmentation

The dispersion of liquidity across multiple pools, chains, or exchanges, leading to inefficient pricing and higher costs.

Liquidity Hook (Uniswap)

Uniswap liquidity hooks are external smart contracts in Uniswap v4 that customize liquidity addition and removal in pools, enabling developers to inject logic before or after these actions for enhanced DeFi features.

Liquidity Pool (DEX)

A liquidity pool is a smart contract on a decentralized exchange (DEX) that holds a pair of tokens, enabling automated trading and liquidity provision without traditional order books.

Liquidity Pool (Perp Dex)

A pool of digital assets provided by users to facilitate trading on a Perp DEX.

Liquidity Provider and LP Token

Entities supplying assets to DeFi pools for trading, receiving LP tokens as receipts for proportional rewards.

LMD-GHOST

A fork choice algorithm used with Casper FFG to determine the canonical head of the Ethereum Beacon Chain.

Loan-to-Value Ratio (LTV)

The ratio of a loan’s value to the value of its collateral in DeFi lending.

Long Position

A trade betting on the price increase of a digital asset.

M

Machine-to-Machine Transactions

Automated digital asset exchanges between systems without human intervention.

Mainnet

The primary, public blockchain network where real-world transactions and digital assets are processed.

Maintenance Margin

The minimum collateral required to keep a leveraged position open.

MakerDAO (Sky Lending)

A decentralized lending protocol on Ethereum that enables users to lock digital assets as collateral to mint the USDS stablecoin, now operating as the Sky ecosystem with upgraded governance and yield features.

Managed Anonymity

A privacy framework in CBDCs balancing user anonymity with regulatory traceability.

Margin

The collateral or initial investment required to open and maintain a leveraged trading position in digital asset markets, amplifying potential profits and losses.

Margin Call (Lending)

A notification to borrowers to add collateral or repay part of a loan to restore a safe LTV ratio.

Margin (Perp Dex)

Collateral deposited to open and maintain leveraged trading positions.

Margin Trading

A trading strategy in digital assets where investors borrow funds to amplify position sizes, increasing potential profits and losses through leverage ratios like 2x or 5x.

Mark Price

The fair market price used for margin calculations and liquidations to prevent manipulation.

Market Cap

The total value of a digital asset’s circulating supply, calculated by multiplying its current price by the number of coins or tokens in circulation.

Market Maker (order book)

An entity providing liquidity by placing buy and sell limit orders in the order book.

Market Manipulation (Prediction Market)

The act of intentionally distorting a prediction market’s prices to influence outcomes or perceptions.

Market Order

An order to buy or sell an asset immediately at the best available current price.

Market Order

An order to buy or sell a digital asset immediately at the best available current price.

MAS Stablecoin Framework (Singapore)

Singapore's regulatory framework by the Monetary Authority of Singapore for single-currency stablecoins pegged to SGD or G10 currencies, emphasizing value stability and consumer protection.

Matching Engine

The algorithm that pairs buy and sell orders in exchanges based on rules like price-time priority.

mBridge

A multi-CBDC platform for cross-border payments using blockchain.

Meme on Solana

Humorous digital assets on the Solana blockchain, often inspired by internet memes, leveraging low fees and high speed for rapid launches and trading.

Memecoin

A digital asset inspired by internet memes or viral trends, driven by community hype rather than utility, and known for extreme price volatility.

Merkle Patricia Tree (MPT)

A specialized data structure in Ethereum that combines a Merkle Tree with a Patricia trie to efficiently store and manage key-value pairs.

Merkle Root

The single hash at the top of a Merkle Tree that summarizes all transactions or data in a blockchain block.

Merkle Tree

A binary tree data structure used to efficiently verify and summarize large sets of data, such as transactions in a blockchain.

Message Call

The process of transferring data or instructions from one account to another on the Ethereum blockchain, triggering execution of associated code in the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

MEV

The maximum profit validators can extract from Ethereum block production by reordering, including, or excluding transactions, beyond base rewards and gas fees.

MEV Vulnerability

The susceptibility of DeFi protocols to value extraction by miners or validators through transaction reordering or insertion.

MiCA

EU regulation governing digital assets, including stablecoins, for market integrity and consumer protection.

Micropayments

Small-scale digital asset transactions for low-value goods or services.

Mining and Miner

Mining is the process of validating transactions and adding new blocks to a blockchain by solving computational puzzles, and a miner is who performs this task to earn rewards.

Mint

The process of creating and issuing new digital assets or tokens on a blockchain, bringing them into circulation.

mNAV

Multiple of Net Asset Value - a valuation metric for digital asset treasury companies, representing the ratio of enterprise value to digital asset holdings value.

Mnemonic and Private Key

A mnemonic is a human-readable phrase used to generate and recover cryptographic keys, while a private key is a secret number authorizing Bitcoin transactions.

Mobile Payment

Payments made via mobile devices, often using apps or QR codes.

Money Markets

Financial markets for short-term borrowing and lending, typically under one year, involving instruments like repos, commercial paper, and CDs.

Morpho

A permissionless decentralized lending protocol on Ethereum and Base that optimizes rates by matching lenders and borrowers peer-to-peer atop pools like Aave and Compound.

Multi-Hop Swap

A DEX trade that routes through multiple liquidity pools or token pairs to achieve the desired swap, optimizing price and reducing slippage.

N

Nakamoto Coefficient

A metric quantifying blockchain decentralization by identifying the minimum number of independent entities needed to compromise network consensus, typically 33% of stake in proof-of-stake systems or 51% of hash power in proof-of-work.

NAV

Net Asset Value - the per-share value of an investment fund's assets minus liabilities, calculated daily to determine share prices.

NFT and NFT Marketplace

Unique digital tokens (NFTs) on Ethereum representing ownership of art, collectibles, or utilities, traded on marketplaces like OpenSea and Blur.

Node and Client

Client are a software that enable participation in the Bitcoin network, where a node validates and relays blockchain data.

Non-convertible Preferred Stock

Preferred stock without conversion rights, focusing on fixed dividends and seniority.

Nonce of Ethereum Account

A unique transaction counter associated with an Ethereum account to ensure each transaction is processed only once, preventing replay attacks.

O

OCO Order

A paired order where executing one automatically cancels the other.

Off-Chain

Transactions processed outside the main blockchain, settled periodically on-chain for efficiency.

Ondo Finance

A blockchain-based platform tokenizing real-world assets like U.S. Treasuries and equities to provide institutional-grade financial products onchain.

OP Mainnet

Optimism's optimistic rollup network for Ethereum, delivering low-cost, high-speed transactions.

OP Stack and OP Superchain

The modular, open-source framework for building Ethereum Layer 2 chains, forming the interconnected Superchain ecosystem.

Open Interest

The total value of outstanding perpetual swap contracts on a Perp DEX.

Open Market Operations (OMO)

The Federal Reserve's buying and selling of government securities in the open market to adjust the supply of reserves and influence interest rates.

Option Value (MSTR)

The premium paid for an option contract, reflecting intrinsic and time value.

Oracle

A mechanism that provides real-world data to blockchains for use in smart contracts.

Oracle (Prediction Market)

A trusted source that provides off-chain data to resolve the outcome of a prediction market contract on a blockchain.

Order Book

A real-time electronic list of buy and sell orders for a digital asset, organized by price level.

Overcollateralization

A requirement for borrowers to deposit collateral worth more than the loan amount to mitigate risk.

Overnight Reverse Repurchase Agreement Facility (ON RRP)

A Federal Reserve tool where eligible counterparties lend cash overnight to the Fed in exchange for Treasury securities as collateral, helping to set a floor on short-term rates.

P

Paper Hands

Traders or investors who sell their digital assets quickly at the first sign of market volatility or negative news, reflecting low risk tolerance.

Paradigm

Research-driven crypto venture firm investing in early-stage protocols, with open-source software contributions advancing blockchain infrastructure.

Pay Per Crawl

A monetization model charging for each instance of web crawling or data access.

PayFi

A blockchain-based financial paradigm integrating instant payments with DeFi and RWA tokenization to maximize the time value of money, pioneered on Solana for high-speed, low-cost global transactions.

Payment Facilitator

An intermediary that verifies and settles digital asset transactions in the x402 protocol.

Payment Rails

Infrastructure for processing and settling digital asset transactions.

Payment Service Providers (PSPs)

Intermediaries facilitating electronic transactions between merchants and customers.

Peer Prediction

A mechanism that incentivizes truthful reporting by rewarding participants based on how well their predictions align with others’ beliefs.

Pendle

A DeFi protocol for tokenizing and trading future yields from digital assets, enabling users to separate principal from yield for fixed-rate strategies and speculation.

People's Bank of China (PBC)

China's central bank responsible for monetary policy and issuing the digital yuan.

Permissionless

A system where anyone can participate without needing approval or authorization.

Perp DEX

A perp DEX is a decentralized exchange specializing in perpetual futures contracts for digital assets, enabling leveraged, non-expiring trades directly on-chain without intermediaries.

Perpetual Futures

Also called Perpetual Swap, a derivative contract on a Perp DEX allowing traders to speculate on digital asset prices without an expiration date.

Perpetual Swap

Also called Perpetual Futures, a derivative contract allowing traders to speculate on digital asset prices without an expiration date.

Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE)

A measure of US inflation tracking average price changes in goods and services consumed by households, released monthly by the Bureau of Economic Analysis.

PIPE

Private placement of public equity shares to accredited investors at a discount, for quick capital.

Polygon PoS Chain

Polygon's proof-of-stake sidechain that parallels Ethereum, offering high-throughput transactions secured by its own validators.

Pool Depth (DEX)

The total value of digital assets in a DEX liquidity pool, determining its ability to handle trades with minimal price impact.

Proof-of-Stake (PoS) Ethereum

A consensus mechanism used by Ethereum to secure its network and validate transactions.

Proof-of-Work (PoW) Ethereum

A consensus mechanism formerly used by Ethereum to secure its network and validate transactions through computational work.

Pre-negotiated Licensing Agreement

A pre-arranged contract for accessing resources with defined payment terms.

Prediction Market

A market where participants trade digital assets to forecast the outcome of future events, with prices reflecting aggregated probabilities.

Preferred Stock

Equity securities with priority over common stock for dividends and assets, used in Strategy's stack for Bitcoin funding.

Price Chart

A graphical representation of a digital asset's historical price movements over customizable timeframes.

Price Discovery

The process by which market trading determines the price of a digital asset, reflecting the collective probability of an event’s outcome.

Price Impact

The change in an asset's price caused by the execution of a trade relative to its size and available liquidity.

Price Impact (DEX)

The change in a liquidity pool’s token price caused by a trade, expressed as a percentage deviation from the initial quote.

Price Oracle

A mechanism providing real-time price data for digital assets in DeFi protocols.

Price (order book)

The specific value at which buyers or sellers aim to trade a digital asset in the order book.

Price-Time Priority

A matching rule where orders are executed first by best price, then by entry time.

Primary Dealers

Designated financial institutions authorized to trade directly with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in government securities, numbering 24 as of 2025.

Proof-of-History (PoH)

A cryptographic time-stamping mechanism used by the Solana blockchain to sequence events and enable high transaction throughput with verifiable order.

Proof-of-Stake

A consensus mechanism where validators stake ETH to secure the Ethereum network and earn rewards.

Proof of Work

Proof of Work (PoW) is a consensus algorithm where nodes (miners) solve complex cryptographic puzzles to validate transactions and add new blocks to a blockchain.

Public Good

Valuable information generated by prediction markets that benefits society without direct cost to non-participants.

Pump and Dump

A manipulative scheme where a group of investors artificially inflates a digital asset’s price by coordinated buying (pump), then sells off their holdings (dump), causing a price collapse and losses for others.

Q

Quantitative Easing (QE)

A Federal Reserve policy of large-scale asset purchases, primarily Treasuries and MBS, to lower long-term interest rates and stimulate the economy when short-term rates are near zero.

Quantum Resistance

Cryptographic designs protecting blockchains from quantum computer attacks on public keys.

R

Raydium

An automated market maker (AMM) and decentralized exchange (DEX) on the Solana blockchain, enabling fast, low-cost trading and liquidity provision for digital assets with integrated order book functionality.

Reputation System

A mechanism that rewards prediction market participants with non-financial incentives, like tokens, for accurate forecasts.

Reserve Factor (Lending)

A percentage of interest retained by a lending protocol to fund operations or cover losses.

Resistance

A price level with substantial selling interest that blocks upward advances.

Retail Payment System

Infrastructure for consumer-to-business transactions, handling everyday payments.

Rollup

A rollup is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that processes transactions off-chain while leveraging Ethereum’s main chain for security and data availability, improving scalability and reducing costs.

Based Rollup (L1-sequenced)

A based rollup is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that uses the layer-1 blockchain's validators for transaction sequencing, enhancing decentralization and alignment with Ethereum's security model.

Fraud Proof of Ethereum Rollup

A fraud proof in Ethereum rollups is an interactive on-chain challenge mechanism that disputes invalid off-chain transaction states in optimistic rollups, enforcing correctness through economic penalties.

Optimistic Rollup

An Optimistic Rollup is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that processes transactions off-chain, assumes they are valid, and posts compressed data to the main chain, relying on fraud proofs to ensure correctness.

Rollup Validity Proof

A security mechanism for Layer 2 solutions that verifies batched transactions off-chain using cryptographic proofs submitted to the main blockchain.

ZK Proof of Ethereum Rollups

A zero-knowledge proof in Ethereum rollups is a cryptographic validity proof that confirms the correctness of off-chain transaction batches without revealing underlying details.

ZK-Rollup

A ZK-Rollup is a layer-2 scaling solution for Ethereum that processes transactions off-chain and uses zero-knowledge proofs to validate them, posting compact data to the main chain for security and finality.

Rug Pull

A scam in the digital asset space where developers or promoters of a project abandon it after raising funds, leaving investors with worthless tokens or assets.

RWAs

Real-world Assets tokenized on blockchain for fractional ownership, liquidity, and transparency, bridging traditional and decentralized finance.

S

S2F (Stock-to-Flow)

A model that measures Bitcoin's scarcity by comparing its existing supply (stock) to its annual issuance rate (flow), often used to predict price trends.

Same Activity Same Risk Same Regulation (Hong Kong)

Hong Kong's regulatory principle ensuring uniform oversight for financial activities with equivalent risks, applied to stablecoin issuance under the Stablecoins Ordinance effective August 2025.

Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR)

A benchmark rate measuring the cost of borrowing cash overnight collateralized by U.S. Treasury securities in the repurchase agreement market.

Seed Phrase

A sequence of words used to back up and restore access to a digital asset wallet.

SegWit (Segregated Witness)

SegWit (Segregated Witness) is a Bitcoin protocol upgrade that separates signature data from transaction data to increase block capacity and improve transaction malleability.

Sell Side

The portion of the order book listing aggregated sell orders at various price levels.

Sell Walls

Large accumulations of sell orders at a specific price level, forming a barrier against upward price movement.

Semantic Payment Metadata

Structured data describing payment terms for machine processing.

Semantic Web

A web framework for structured, machine-readable data.

Sequencer of Layer 2

A program or node in a Layer 2 or Rollup blockchain network that orders transactions before they are processed or submitted to the Layer 1 blockchain.

Settlement Upon Payment

Immediate finalization of transactions upon initiation in digital systems.

Short Position

A trade betting on the price decrease of a digital asset.

Skin in the Game (Prediction Market)

The financial or reputational stake participants commit to in a prediction market, aligning their actions with true beliefs.

Slashing

A penalty mechanism in Ethereum’s proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus where a validator’s staked ETH is partially or fully deducted for violating network rules.

Slippage (DEX)

Slippage on a decentralized exchange (DEX) is the difference between the expected price of a token trade and the actual executed price, caused by market volatility or insufficient liquidity in a pool.

Slippage (order book)

The difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual executed price due to market movement.

Slot in Ethereum

A 12-second time interval in a proof-of-stake blockchain where a validator can propose a new block of Ethereum, which may remain empty if no block is proposed.

Smart Contract

Self-executing code on the Ethereum blockchain that automatically enforces agreement terms when conditions are met.

Smart Contracts for Data Exchange

Self-executing contracts for automated data asset transactions.

Solana Account

A digital wallet address on the Solana blockchain used to hold, send, and receive SOL and other SPL tokens, secured by a private key.

Solana Account Owner

The Solana program (smart contract) that has exclusive authority to modify a specific account’s data or state on the Solana blockchain.

Solana CA

CA (Contract Address), is the unique identifier of a smart contract or onchain program on the Solana blockchain, represented as a 44-character public key that governs specific accounts and executes transaction instructions.

Solana Compute Units

The smallest unit of measurement for tracking the consumption of computational resources required to process transactions or execute programs on the Solana blockchain.

Solana Foundation

A non-profit organization based in Zug, Switzerland, focused on fostering the decentralization, adoption, and security of the Solana blockchain ecosystem through grants, validator delegations, and global events.

Solana Prioritization Fee

An optional fee added to a Solana transaction to increase its processing priority by allocating more compute units, calculated as the product of requested compute units and a micro-Lamport price per unit.

Solana Rent

A fee mechanism on the Solana blockchain where accounts and programs pay to store data on-chain, with insufficient balances risking garbage collection.

Solana Smart Contract / Onchain Program

Executable code deployed on the Solana blockchain that processes transaction instructions to read from and modify controlled accounts, equivalent to smart contracts on other blockchains.

Solana (SOL)

A high-performance Layer-1 blockchain platform enabling fast, low-cost transactions for decentralized applications and digital assets using proof-of-history and proof-of-stake consensus.

Solana Token Program

A core Solana onchain program with the program ID `TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA`, enabling the creation, transfer, minting, and freezing of fungible and non-fungible digital assets.

Solana Token Program

A core Solana onchain program with the program ID `TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA`, enabling the creation, transfer, minting, and freezing of fungible and non-fungible digital assets.

Solidity

A high-level programming language for writing smart contracts on Ethereum.

SPL (Solana Program Library)

A standardized set of protocols and tools on the Solana blockchain for creating and managing fungible and non-fungible digital assets, similar to Ethereum’s ERC standards.

Spot Price

The current market price at which a digital asset can be immediately bought or sold.

Spread

The difference between the highest bid price and the lowest ask price in an order book.

Stablecoin

Stablecoin is designed to maintain stable value by pegging to fiat currencies, commodities, or algorithms to minimize volatility.

Stablecoin and MasterCard

Mastercard's network enabling stablecoins like USDC and PYUSD for merchant settlements and digital asset transactions in 2025.

Stablecoin and Stripe

Stripe's platform enabling stablecoin payments and financial accounts, with 30% monthly growth in transaction volume in 2025.

Stablecoin and VISA

Visa's pilot program using stablecoins like USDC for prefunding cross-border payments on Visa Direct in 2025.

Stablecoin (Decentralized)

A decentralized stablecoin is a digital asset on a blockchain, designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged to a fiat currency like USD, without relying on a central issuer.

Stablecoins for x402

Digital assets with stable value used for x402 protocol transactions.

Stablecoins on Ethereum

Digital assets pegged to fiat currencies like USD, issued on Ethereum for stable value transfer, DeFi collateral, and global payments.

Staking Pool

A collective of digital assets, typically Ethereum (ETH), pooled by multiple users to meet the minimum requirements for staking and earning rewards.

State Machine

A computational model where the blockchain maintains and updates a global state based on transactions.

Stop Order

An order that triggers a market order when an asset reaches a specified stop price to manage risk.

Strategy (MSTR)

A business intelligence company that pioneered Bitcoin treasury strategy, holding over 638,460 BTC as its primary reserve asset.

STRF

Strategy's 10.00% Series A Perpetual Strife Preferred Stock, a non-convertible preferred equity providing high fixed dividends without equity upside.

STRK

Strategy's 8.00% Series A Perpetual Strike Preferred Stock, a convertible preferred equity offering perpetual dividends and Bitcoin-linked upside.

Supervisory Capital Assessment Program (SCAP)

A one-time 2009 Federal Reserve stress test of the 19 largest U.S. bank holding companies to determine capital needs amid the financial crisis.

Supply Rate (Lending)

The interest rate earned by suppliers depositing digital assets into a lending pool.

Support

A price level with significant buying interest that prevents further declines.

Surprisingly Popular Mechanism

A method to elicit truthful answers by identifying responses that are more common than participants expect.

Swap (DEX)

A swap on a decentralized exchange (DEX) is the direct exchange of one digital asset for another within a liquidity pool, facilitated by automated market maker (AMM) smart contracts without intermediaries.

Swap Gas Fee

The swap gas fee is the cost paid in a blockchain’s native token (e.g., ETH on Ethereum) to process a token swap transaction on a decentralized exchange (DEX), covering computational resources used by network validators.

SWIFT

Global financial messaging network integrating blockchain in 2025 to support stablecoin transactions and tokenized assets.

Sybil Attack

An attack where a single entity creates multiple fake identities to gain disproportionate influence over a network.

T

Taproot

Taproot is a Bitcoin protocol upgrade that enhances privacy, efficiency, and smart contract capabilities by introducing a new transaction type and signature scheme.

Testnet

A blockchain network used for testing and development, simulating the main Ethereum network without using real digital assets.

Tether

The company issuing USDT, a leading USD-pegged stablecoin, focused on blockchain-based financial solutions.

TGE

A process where a blockchain project issues and distributes its native digital assets to participants, typically to raise funds or incentivize network engagement.

The Merge

Ethereum’s transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake consensus, completed on September 15, 2022.

Thick Market/Thin Market

A thick market has many participants trading high volumes, ensuring robust information aggregation; a thin market has few participants and low volumes, risking inaccurate predictions.

Ticker

A short, unique alphanumeric code used to represent a specific digital asset on exchanges and platforms, typically derived from the asset’s name.

Token

Digital units of value built on existing blockchains, representing assets, utilities, or stakes in decentralized ecosystems.

Token Pair

A combination of two digital assets in a DEX liquidity pool, enabling direct swaps between them via AMM mechanisms.

Token Standard: ERC20, ERC721

Blockchain-defined standards that ensure consistency, interoperability, and functionality for tokens, with ERC20 for fungible and ERC721 for non-fungible tokens.

Tokenization

The process of converting real-world assets into digital tokens on blockchain, enabling fractional ownership and enhanced liquidity.

Tokenized Data Assets

Data represented as digital tokens for trading or monetization.

Trading Fee

A fee charged by a Perp DEX for executing trades.

Transaction Fee

A cost paid to process and validate actions on a blockchain network, such as Ethereum, varying based on network demand and complexity.

Transaction Fee (DEX)

A transaction fee on a decentralized exchange (DEX) is the cost paid by users to execute trades or provide liquidity, typically comprising trading fees paid to liquidity providers and network fees (gas) paid to blockchain validators.

Transfer Bitcoin and Transaction

A Bitcoin transaction is a digitally signed transfer of digital assets (BTC) between addresses on the bitcoin blockchain.

Treasury Bills (T-Bills)

Short-term U.S. government debt securities with maturities from 4 to 52 weeks, sold at a discount and maturing at face value.

Treasury Bonds (T-Bonds)

Long-term U.S. government debt securities with 20- or 30-year maturities, paying semiannual fixed interest.

Treasury Notes (T-Notes)

Intermediate-term U.S. government debt securities with maturities of 2, 3, 5, 7, or 10 years, paying semiannual fixed interest.

Trust Compnay

Fiduciary entities that manage investment trusts holding cryptocurrencies for investors seeking regulated exposure without direct ownership.

Trustlessness

A system property allowing transactions to occur without relying on trust in any single party or intermediary.

Turing Complete (Ethereum)

The ability of Ethereum’s programming environment to compute any function given sufficient resources.

Turing Machine

A theoretical computational model that can simulate any algorithm with enough time and resources.

TVL (DEX)

Total Value Locked (TVL) on a decentralized exchange (DEX) is the total dollar value of digital assets deposited into liquidity pools, representing the capital available for trading and fee generation.

TVL (Lending)

Total value of digital assets locked in DeFi lending protocols for borrowing and lending activities.

TVL (Total Value Locked)

The total value of digital assets staked or locked in a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol or ecosystem, typically measured in USD.

TWAP (Time-Weighted Average Price)

An average price calculated over a specific time period to reduce volatility impact.

U

UAE Stablecoin Regulation

UAE's Central Bank regulations restricting stablecoin use to licensed AED-pegged payment tokens, effective from 2025.

UK Stablecoin Regulation

UK's Financial Conduct Authority framework requiring authorization for stablecoin issuance, with 100% backing by high-quality liquid assets.

Unichain

Uniswap's high-speed Layer 2 blockchain optimized for DeFi liquidity and cross-chain interoperability.

Uniswap

Uniswap is a decentralized exchange (DEX) on Ethereum and compatible blockchains, enabling peer-to-peer trading of digital assets through automated market maker (AMM) liquidity pools.

US GAAP Stablecoin Classification

Accounting standards under U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles treating certain USD-pegged stablecoins as cash equivalents.

US Inflation Rate

The percentage increase in the general price level over a year, primarily measured by CPI at 2.9% for August 2025.

U.S. Treasury-backed Stablecoin

A digital asset backed by U.S. Treasury securities, offering yield and regulatory alignment.

USDC

A USD-pegged digital asset issued by Circle, known for transparency and regulatory compliance.

USDT

USDT/Tether, a digital asset pegged 1:1 to the USD, issued by Tether Limited, widely used for trading and liquidity.

Utilization Rate (Lending)

The percentage of a lending pool’s deposited assets that are currently borrowed.

UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output)

UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output), a record of unspent Bitcoin used for on-chain analysis to track fund flows, ownership patterns, and network activity.

V

Validator of PoS

Network participants staking tokens to propose and attest blocks in proof-of-stake consensus.

Variable Interest Rate (Lending)

An interest rate that fluctuates based on lending pool utilization and market conditions.

veToken

A vote-escrowed digital asset in DeFi, representing locked tokens that grant governance rights and enhanced rewards in exchange for reduced liquidity.

Virtual AMM (vAMM)

A mechanism mimicking automated market makers for perpetual swaps without holding actual assets.

Vitalik Buterin

Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, is a programmer, thinker and a leading figure in blockchain and decentralization technology, driving innovations in smart contracts and scalable decentralized systems.

W

WAGMI

An acronym for "We’re All Gonna Make It," expressing optimism and camaraderie in the digital asset community about achieving financial or project success.

Wallet and Address

A Bitcoin wallet is software or hardware that manages private keys to access digital assets, while an address is a public identifier for receiving Bitcoin payments.

Weak Hands

Investors or traders who sell their digital assets quickly during market downturns or price declines, often at a loss, due to low patience or risk tolerance.

Web Content Monetization

Generating revenue from digital content using standardized payment protocols.

WeChat Pay

A dominant mobile payment and digital wallet service integrated into the WeChat app, facilitating seamless transactions in China's digital economy.

Whale

A large investor or entity holding a substantial amount of a digital asset or capital, capable of influencing market prices due to their significant holdings.

Wisdom of the Crowds

The phenomenon where the collective judgment of a diverse group often surpasses individual or expert predictions.

Wrapped Token

A token that represents another digital asset, locked in a smart contract, to enable interoperability across blockchain networks or standards.

Wrapped Tokens

Wrapped tokens are digital assets on one blockchain that represent a 1:1 pegged equivalent of an asset from another blockchain or the same chain, enabling cross-chain compatibility or enhanced functionality.

X

x402 Foundation

A collaborative organization to promote the x402 protocol for digital asset transactions.

XRP (Ripple)

Native digital asset of the XRP Ledger, facilitating fast cross-border payments via Ripple.

Y

Yield Farming in DeFi

Strategy of lending or staking digital assets in DeFi protocols to earn rewards, often compounded.