Crypto terms explained simply, no fluff. Search or filter by category.
A public, shared database of transactions that nobody owns. Records are chained and immutable, verified by a network of computers, not one central authority.
A decentralized digital asset with a hard supply cap of 21 million, often called digital gold.
Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. Includes Ethereum, Solana and thousands of smaller tokens.
A token pegged to a stable value, usually the dollar (USDT, USDC). Used for trading and storing value without the volatility of other cryptos.
A token born from an internet joke or community (DOGE, PEPE). Its value is driven mainly by hype and speculation, not technology.
A token's economics: how many exist, how they are issued, who holds them and how they are burned or unlocked. It sets a project's supply and incentives.
The programmed halving of Bitcoin's mining reward (roughly every 4 years). It slows new supply and has historically preceded bull cycles.
A coin's price times its circulating supply. A rough measure of size, not how much money actually went into it.
How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving the price much. High liquidity means a small gap between buy and sell.
The value of all trades in an asset over the last 24 hours. It shows activity and liquidity, not price direction.
The highest price an asset has ever reached. The opposite is ATL, the all-time low.
Bitcoin's share of the total crypto market cap. Falling dominance often signals capital rotating into altcoins.
The total value of open futures positions in the market. Rising OI means leverage and new money are flowing in.
A periodic payment between long and short positions on perpetual futures. It keeps the futures price near spot; positive funding means longs pay shorts.
The forced closing of a leveraged position when losses wipe out the margin. Liquidation cascades can sharply accelerate a price move.
Trading with borrowed funds that multiply both gains and losses. 10x leverage means ten times the exposure of your deposit.
Long is a bet on the price rising, short on it falling. The long/short ratio shows how the crowd is positioned.
A CEX is a centralized exchange (Binance, Coinbase) with custody and KYC. A DEX is a decentralized exchange where you trade straight from your own wallet.
Know Your Customer: verifying a user's identity. Regulated exchanges require it for anti-money-laundering rules and tax reporting.
Evidence that an exchange actually holds its clients' assets. It raises trust and lowers the risk that the exchange is misusing customer funds.
The list of all buy and sell orders on an exchange. It shows supply, demand and market depth at each price.
The secret code that controls your crypto. Whoever knows the private key owns the coins, so it is never shared.
12 or 24 words that restore an entire wallet. It is a backup of access; whoever gets it gets your crypto.
A hot wallet is connected to the internet, fast but more exposed. A cold wallet is offline (hardware), safer for long-term holding.
A fee paid to the network to execute a transaction or contract. It fluctuates with network congestion.
Decentralized finance: lending, swaps and yield via smart contracts, with no bank in the middle. It all runs on-chain and is publicly verifiable.
Locking coins to help secure a network in exchange for a reward. It resembles interest but carries network and price risk.
L1 is a base blockchain (Bitcoin, Ethereum). L2 is a layer on top of it that makes transactions faster and cheaper.
The EU regulation that unifies rules for crypto providers (CASPs). An exchange needs authorisation from a regulator, which then applies across the whole EU.
An EU directive (from 2026) under which tax authorities automatically share crypto transaction data. Exchanges report your transactions to the tax office.
