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Free coins or tokens sent to crypto wallets, usually to promote a new project or reward early supporters.

Any cryptocurrency that isn't Bitcoin. Ethereum, Solana, and thousands of others are all altcoins.

The yearly return you earn on staked or deposited crypto, including compounding.

The highest price a coin has ever reached.

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A long period of falling prices and negative sentiment — the opposite of a bull market.

The first and largest cryptocurrency, launched in 2009 by the anonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto.

A shared digital record book, copied across thousands of computers, that stores transactions in a way that's extremely hard to change or fake.

A tool that moves tokens from one blockchain to another. Useful, but a frequent target for hacks.

A long period of rising prices and optimism, when most investors expect prices to keep climbing.

Permanently destroying tokens by sending them to an address no one can access, which reduces supply.

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A company-run platform where you buy and sell crypto with regular money — like Coinbase, Binance, or Kraken.

A crypto wallet that stays offline (usually a hardware device), keeping your coins out of reach of hackers.

The rules a blockchain's computers use to agree on which transactions are valid. Proof of Work and Proof of Stake are the two most common.

Digital money that runs on a blockchain instead of being issued by a bank or government.

A wallet where a company holds your keys for you. Convenient, but you're trusting them with your crypto.

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An online community that makes decisions by member voting, with its rules written in code instead of managed by bosses.

Software that runs on a blockchain instead of on one company's servers.

Investing a fixed amount on a regular schedule — say, $50 every month — no matter the price. A simple way to smooth out volatility.

Financial services — lending, borrowing, trading, earning interest — built on blockchains, with code replacing banks and brokers.

A crypto exchange with no company in the middle — you trade directly from your own wallet using smart contracts (example: Uniswap).

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A fund traded on the stock market that tracks the price of crypto, letting people invest through a normal brokerage account.

The second-largest cryptocurrency and the main blockchain for smart contracts, DApps, and NFTs.

Any platform where you can buy, sell, or trade cryptocurrencies.

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Regular government-issued money like dollars, euros, or shekels.

The urge to buy because prices are rising fast and "everyone" is making money. A classic beginner trap.

When a blockchain splits into two versions because its community disagrees on the rules. Bitcoin Cash, for example, is a fork of Bitcoin.

Negative news or rumors — true or not — spread to push prices down or scare investors.

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The small payment you make to a blockchain network (especially Ethereum) to process your transaction.

A token that gives holders a vote on a project's decisions.

A tiny unit of ETH used to price gas fees (1 gwei = 0.000000001 ETH).

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A built-in Bitcoin event, roughly every four years, that cuts the reward for mining new coins in half — slowing how fast new Bitcoin is created.

A small physical device (like a USB stick) that stores your crypto keys offline. One of the safest ways to hold crypto.

A unique digital fingerprint of data. Change a single letter and the hash changes completely.

Crypto slang for holding your coins long-term instead of trading — born from a famous "hold" typo.

A wallet connected to the internet, like a phone app. Convenient for daily use, but more exposed than a cold wallet.

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A way for new crypto projects to raise money by selling their token early — historically risky territory for beginners.

The hidden cost of providing liquidity to a DeFi pool when the two tokens' prices move apart.

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The calm opposite of FOMO: being happy to skip the hype instead of chasing every pump.

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The identity check (ID, selfie) that regulated exchanges require before you can trade.

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Layer 1 is the main blockchain (like Ethereum); Layer 2 networks are built on top of it to make transactions faster and cheaper.

The complete record of all transactions on a blockchain. (Also the brand name of a popular hardware wallet.)

When a lender automatically sells your collateral because a loan or leveraged trade fell too far.

How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price. High liquidity means easy trading.

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A coin's price multiplied by the number of coins in circulation — the standard way to measure how big a cryptocurrency is.

A cryptocurrency created around a joke or internet meme, like Dogecoin. Fun, viral, and extremely speculative.

Using computer power to verify blockchain transactions and earn newly created coins as a reward.

A wallet that needs several keys to approve a transaction, like a safe with two locks.

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A unique digital certificate of ownership recorded on a blockchain — used for digital art, collectibles, game items, and more.

A computer that runs a blockchain's software and keeps a full copy of the ledger, helping keep the network honest.

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Whether something happens directly on the blockchain, or outside it, like on an exchange's internal books.

A service that feeds real-world data, like prices or sports results, into smart contracts.

An exchange's live list of buy and sell orders at different prices.

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A scam that tricks you into revealing passwords or seed phrases through fake emails, messages, or lookalike websites. Always type addresses yourself.

The secret code that controls your crypto. Whoever holds the private key owns the funds — never share it.

Securing a blockchain by having validators lock up coins as collateral. Ethereum uses it.

Securing a blockchain by having miners compete with computing power. Bitcoin uses it.

The shareable "account number" people use to send you crypto. Safe to share, unlike your private key.

A scam where promoters hype a coin to push the price up, then sell their coins on the buyers.

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Cryptography designed to stay secure even against future quantum computers.

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A scam where creators hype a project, collect investors' money, then vanish with the funds.

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The smallest unit of Bitcoin (0.00000001 BTC), named after Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

The 12–24 word backup for your wallet. Anyone with these words controls your crypto — write them down and never store them online.

Holding your own crypto in a wallet you control, instead of leaving it on an exchange. "Not your keys, not your coins."

The difference between the price you expect and the price you actually get on a trade.

A program on a blockchain that runs automatically when its conditions are met — like a vending machine for agreements.

A cryptocurrency designed to hold a steady value, usually pegged to the US dollar (like USDT or USDC).

Locking up your coins to help secure a blockchain network and earning rewards in return — a bit like earning interest.

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A practice copy of a blockchain where tokens have no real value, used for testing.

A crypto asset built on top of an existing blockchain (most tokens live on Ethereum) rather than having its own.

A token's economics: its supply, how it's distributed, and what it's used for.

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A token used for something inside a product or network, like paying fees or getting access, rather than as an investment.

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A participant who checks transactions and helps secure a Proof of Stake network, earning rewards in return.

How fast and how sharply a price moves. Crypto is famous for high volatility — big gains and big drops.

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The app or device you use to store, send, and receive crypto. It holds your keys — the coins themselves live on the blockchain.

The vision of a next-generation internet built on blockchains, where users own their data, assets, and identity.

A person or organization holding so much crypto that their trades can move the whole market.

The document a crypto project publishes to explain its technology, purpose, and plan. Reading it is Research 101.

A token that represents another coin on a different blockchain, like WBTC for Bitcoin on Ethereum.

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A key that lets a wallet show all your receiving addresses and balances without being able to spend them.

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Moving crypto between DeFi platforms to chase the best returns. Potentially profitable, definitely advanced, and higher-risk.

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A way to prove something is true without revealing the underlying data, used for privacy and scaling.

A Layer 2 that bundles many transactions and proves them to the main chain with a zero-knowledge proof.