Glossary (42)

A consensus mechanism is the set of rules a blockchain network uses to decide which block to accept next and which ledger history to follow. Nodes rec

A block is a data package that a blockchain uses to group new records. It usually contains transactions or other updates, along with information that

Tokenized stocks use tokens on a blockchain to represent a particular stock itself, an interest related to that stock, or a contract that follows the

A token standard is a technical specification that sets out which functions a token program should provide, what inputs it accepts, and how it reports

A stablecoin is a crypto asset designed to track a reference value, commonly a fiat currency such as the US dollar. The word “stable” describes a targ

A smart contract is a program deployed on a blockchain network that runs according to its code once a transaction or another program calls it. It can

A seed phrase—often called a recovery phrase or mnemonic phrase—is an ordered sequence of words that some wallets use as an input for reconstructing w

A public key is the shareable part of an asymmetric cryptographic key pair. In the digital-signature systems used by many blockchains, a private key p

Proof of work (PoW) is a category of consensus mechanism that protects a blockchain through computational cost. Participants have to compute repeatedl

Proof of stake (PoS) is a category of consensus mechanism that protects a blockchain through staked assets and protocol rules. Participants place the

A private key is secret cryptographic material used by a signing algorithm to produce digital signatures. On a blockchain, a valid signature can satis

Portfolio diversification is spreading a portfolio's assets or sources of risk across several objects, instead of letting the outcome depend mainly on

A non-custodial wallet is an arrangement in which a service provider does not hold the user’s signing keys or equivalent unilateral authority to autho

A hot wallet is a wallet arrangement in which transaction authorization is available through an internet-connected system. It can prepare and authoriz

A hardware wallet is a purpose-built physical device that stores or derives private keys and signs requests separately from a general-purpose computer

A gas fee is the amount paid for the network resources consumed by an operation on a blockchain that uses gas accounting. Gas is the accounting unit;

Expiry futures, also called dated futures, are futures contracts with an expiry time written in advance. What a trader holds is not the spot asset its

An exchange-traded fund (ETF) is a product that pools money from many investors, holds a set of assets according to a stated objective, and at the sam

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a set of shared rules for executing smart contracts. Ethereum nodes implement those rules in their own software,

Ethereum is a public blockchain network. It does more than record transfers of a native asset: it also lets developers deploy programs onto the blockc

ERC-721 is a set of interface standards used on Ethereum to track individually numbered tokens. Tokens of this kind are usually called non-fungible to

ERC-20 is an interface standard for fungible tokens on Ethereum. It addresses a kind of onchain program responsible for recording balances and handlin

DYOR is short for "do your own research". In a crypto asset context it means not treating promotion, posts or other people's conclusions as facts outr

A digital asset is a resource that exists as electronic data or in binary form and has value or use for a person or an organization. It can be a docum