Crypto & AI Glossary

An API (Application Programming Interface) is a defined set of rules that lets one software system request data or actions from another in a standard way.

APR (annual percentage rate) is the annualised simple interest rate you earn or pay in crypto, shown as a percentage and typically excluding compounding.

APY (annual percentage yield) is the yearly return you earn on crypto deposits or DeFi positions after accounting for compounding.

Account abstraction is a wallet design that lets an account use smart contract rules for signing, security, and gas payments instead of fixed protocol logic.

An accredited investor is a person or entity that meets SEC criteria to invest in certain private, unregistered securities offerings.

Accumulation is the strategy of building a crypto position by buying an asset gradually over time to reduce the impact of short-term volatility.

A crypto address is a public, shareable string that identifies where blockchain assets should be sent and lets anyone view that address’s on-chain activity.

Address poisoning is a crypto scam where attackers send tiny transactions from a lookalike address to trick you into copying and paying the wrong recipient…

An affiliate is a person or business that promotes a company’s product or service and earns a commission when their referral leads to a tracked action like a sale or signup.

Agent identity is a verifiable set of identifiers and permissions that lets a software or AI agent prove who it is and what it’s allowed to do.

An agent wallet is a crypto wallet setup that lets a software agent sign and send transactions under predefined permissions and limits.

An agentic payment is a transaction that an AI agent initiates and completes autonomously within user-defined rules, without manual approval at checkout.

An AI agent is software that can pursue a goal by planning, using tools, and taking actions in an environment with limited human input.

An AI trading agent is software that uses machine learning to decide when to buy, sell, or hold assets and can execute trades automatically under defined…

Air-gapped means a device is physically isolated from networks, keeping private keys offline to reduce the risk of remote hacking.

An airdrop is a crypto token distribution where a project sends tokens to eligible wallets—often to reward users, grow adoption, or decentralize ownership.

Algo-trading is the automated buying and selling of assets using pre-programmed rules that analyze market data and place orders without manual input.

Allocation is how a crypto project divides its token supply among groups like the community, team, investors, and treasury, often with vesting rules.

An amended return is a tax filing submitted after an original return to correct errors or update income, deductions, credits, or other tax details.

API key trading is placing and managing crypto exchange orders through an API key that authorizes a third-party app or script to act on your account.

Approval phishing is a crypto scam that tricks you into granting a smart contract permission to move your tokens or NFTs from your wallet.

Arbitrage is a trading strategy that profits from temporary price differences for the same asset across markets by buying low in one place and selling high in…

An asset is anything of value you can own or control, including crypto coins, tokens, NFTs, stablecoins, and tokenised real-world items.

An ATS alternative trading system is a regulated, broker-dealer-run venue that matches buyers and sellers of securities outside a national securities exchange.

Attestation is a signed statement that provides evidence a claim is true, such as a validator vote on a block or a report about stablecoin backing.

An audit is an independent review that checks a crypto project’s code, security, and controls to find risks, verify claims, and improve trust.

AUM, or assets under management, is the total market value of investments a fund, ETF, or manager oversees on behalf of clients.

AUM copy trading is copy trading that tracks and often ranks strategies by assets under management, showing how much follower capital is allocated to a lead…

An automated market maker (AMM) is a DEX mechanism that uses smart contracts and liquidity pools to price and execute token swaps without an order book.

An autonomous agent is a software system that perceives inputs, decides what to do, and takes actions toward a goal with minimal human intervention.

Autonomous execution is the ability for software or smart contracts to carry out predefined actions automatically when conditions are met, without manual…

Backed Finance is a tokenization issuer that creates onchain tokens designed to track stocks and ETFs, backed 1:1 by the underlying assets held with custodians.

Backtest trading is the process of applying a trading strategy to historical market data to estimate how it would have performed before risking real capital.

A bail-out is government or central bank financial support for a failing institution to prevent wider economic damage and systemic risk.

A bank run is a rapid, widespread withdrawal of deposits driven by fear a bank cannot repay everyone, potentially causing the bank to fail.

A basis blowout is a sudden, extreme widening of the gap between a derivative’s price and the spot price, often driven by leverage, funding, and forced…

Basis crypto is the price difference between a crypto futures contract and the underlying spot price (or index) for the same asset.

Bid and ask are the highest price buyers offer and the lowest price sellers accept, and the gap between them is the bid-ask spread.

Binance off-exchange collateral allows institutional traders to use tokenized real-world assets, such as money market fund shares, as collateral for trading on…

A binary contract is a prediction market contract that pays a fixed amount if a specific outcome happens and pays nothing if it doesn’t.

Bitcoin dominance is the percentage of the total crypto market capitalization represented by Bitcoin’s market cap.

Bitcoin halving is a scheduled Bitcoin protocol event that cuts the block reward in half, slowing new BTC issuance about every four years.

A bitcoin treasury is a strategy where an organisation holds Bitcoin as a reserve asset on its balance sheet to manage liquidity and long-term capital.

Blind signing is approving a crypto transaction or smart contract message when your wallet can’t show human-readable details of what you’re signing.

A blockchain explorer is a search and analytics tool that lets anyone view blocks, transactions, addresses, and smart contract activity on a blockchain.

Blocked address tokenization is a compliance pattern where tokens are programmed to restrict transfers to or from sanctioned or blocked wallet addresses.

A bonding curve is a smart-contract pricing formula that sets a token’s buy and sell price based on its current supply, enabling continuous issuance and redemption.

Breakout trading is a strategy that enters when price moves decisively above resistance or below support, aiming to ride a new directional trend.

BUIDL BlackRock refers to BlackRock’s tokenized money market fund whose shares are represented on a blockchain to provide digital, on-chain access to U.S.…

Builder codes on Polymarket are public bytes32 identifiers that tag orders sent via an app so trades can be attributed to a specific builder profile.

A bull market is a sustained period of rising asset prices, typically driven by strong demand, improving sentiment, and increasing participation.

A bull run is a sustained period of rising crypto prices, typically driven by strong demand, high trading activity, and broadly optimistic market sentiment.

Bullish means expecting a crypto asset or the broader market to rise in price, often reflected in optimistic sentiment and increased buying pressure.

A buy wall is a large cluster of buy orders at a specific price that can act as support by absorbing selling pressure in a crypto market.

A candlestick is a chart bar that shows an asset’s open, high, low, and close prices for a set time period, helping traders read momentum and sentiment.

Capitulation is a market phase where investors panic-sell en masse after a sustained decline, often marking the peak of fear and heavy volume.

CFTC event contracts are regulated derivatives that pay out based on whether a defined real-world event happens, overseen under the Commodity Exchange Act.

A CLOB in prediction markets is an order book where traders post limit buy and sell orders for outcome shares and trades execute when prices match.

Cold storage is a way to secure crypto by keeping the wallet’s private keys offline, reducing exposure to online hacks and malware.

A cold wallet is a crypto wallet that keeps private keys offline to reduce the risk of hacking and online theft.

Collateral is an asset pledged to secure a loan, giving the lender a way to recover funds if the borrower fails to repay.

Collateralization is the practice of securing a loan or issued tokens with assets that can be seized or sold if obligations aren’t met.

Composability is the ability for DeFi apps to plug into each other like building blocks, so users can combine protocols to create new financial products.

The Conditional Token Framework is a Gnosis smart contract system that turns event outcomes into ERC-1155 tokens redeemable for collateral after an oracle…

Confluence is when multiple independent trading signals align to support the same market idea, increasing confidence in a potential entry, exit, or price level.

Contango is a market condition where futures prices trade above the current spot price, creating an upward-sloping futures curve.

Copy trading is an automated strategy where your account replicates another trader’s buy and sell orders in real time based on rules you set.

Counterparty risk is the chance that the other party in a financial transaction fails to meet its obligations, causing you a loss.

A cross-chain bridge in crypto is a protocol that moves tokens or messages between blockchains by locking, burning, or swapping assets across networks.

A cryptocurrency is a digital currency secured by cryptography and run on decentralized networks, enabling peer-to-peer payments without a central bank.

Custodial means a third party holds and controls your crypto assets or private keys on your behalf, typically through an exchange, broker, or wallet provider.

Custodial backing is when a token’s value is supported by reserves held and safeguarded by a third-party custodian on behalf of token holders.

A DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) is a blockchain-based group that uses smart contracts and member voting to manage funds and make decisions without…

DEX aggregators are DeFi tools that route a swap across multiple decentralized exchanges to find the best price and lowest slippage in one transaction.

A DVN (Decentralized Verifier Network) is an independent verifier that attests a cross-chain message is valid before it is executed on the destination chain.

Dai (DAI) is a decentralized stablecoin designed to track the US dollar, created by locking crypto collateral in the Maker protocol on Ethereum.

Day trading is a strategy of buying and selling an asset within the same day to profit from short-term price movements.

A DCA bot is an automated crypto tool that buys or sells an asset in scheduled or rule-based increments to average the entry price over time.

DeFi contagion is the cascading spread of losses or failures from one DeFi protocol to others through shared assets, smart contracts, and liquidity links.

Decentralization is the distribution of control across many independent participants so no single party can unilaterally change, block, or own the system.

A decentralized application (DApp) is software that runs on a blockchain or peer-to-peer network, using smart contracts so no single party controls it.

A decentralized exchange (DEX) is a crypto trading platform that lets users swap tokens directly from their wallets using smart contracts, without a central intermediary.

Decentralized identity is a model where people and organizations control digital identifiers and credentials using cryptography instead of a central authority.

DeFAI is the use of AI-driven agents to automate decisions and transactions across decentralized finance protocols using onchain execution.

A depeg is when a token designed to track a reference price (like $1) trades meaningfully above or below that target.

A depeg is when an asset designed to track a fixed reference price trades meaningfully above or below that target value.

Derivatives are financial contracts whose value is based on an underlying asset—like Bitcoin or Ethereum—used to hedge risk or speculate without owning the asset.

A designated contract market (DCM) is a CFTC-regulated exchange where standardized futures and options (and some swaps) can be traded, including by retail…

A digital asset is any item of value or content that exists digitally and can be owned, transferred, and verified—often using cryptography and blockchains.

Digital currency is money that exists electronically and can be stored, transferred, and recorded on digital networks rather than as physical cash.

A digital twin is a data-synced virtual model of a real-world object or system used to monitor, simulate, and optimize its real counterpart.

A distributed ledger is a shared database replicated across many computers, where updates are agreed by consensus rather than a central administrator.

Divergence trading is a chart-reading method that spots potential trend shifts when price and a momentum indicator move in opposite directions.

A doji candlestick is a chart pattern where the open and close are nearly equal, signalling market indecision and a possible trend reversal.

Drawdown is the percentage drop from an account’s peak value to a subsequent low before a new peak is reached.

DYdX is a decentralised perpetual futures exchange and protocol that enables non-custodial trading using an order book and on-chain settlement.

An e-money token (EMT) is a crypto-asset designed to keep a stable value by referencing a single official currency and redeemable at par value.

ERC-20 is the standard set of rules that makes Ethereum-based tokens work consistently across wallets, exchanges, and smart contracts.

Edge nodes are distributed computers that process and relay data close to users, reducing latency and improving performance for decentralized networks and apps.

EIP-7702 is an Ethereum proposal that lets an EOA permanently attach executable code by delegating to a smart contract, enabling wallet-like features without…

An engulfing candle is a two-candle pattern where the second candle’s real body fully covers the prior candle’s body, hinting at a momentum shift.

ERC-1400 is an Ethereum token standard for issuing and managing compliant security tokens with built-in transfer restrictions, partitions, and on-chain document…

ERC-3643 is an Ethereum token standard for issuing permissioned security tokens with on-chain identity checks and programmable compliance rules.

ERC-4337 is an Ethereum standard that enables account abstraction by letting smart contract wallets submit UserOperations via bundlers and an EntryPoint…

ERC-8004 is an Ethereum standard for registering AI agents on-chain and attaching reputation and validation signals so users can discover and trust them without…

The Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is the runtime environment that executes smart contract code and updates Ethereum’s blockchain state deterministically.

An ETP is an exchange-listed security that tracks an asset or benchmark and can be bought and sold intraday like a stock.

An event contract is a yes/no derivative that settles at a fixed value based on whether a clearly defined real-world event occurs by a specified time.

An exit scam is a crypto fraud where a project’s operators abruptly disappear or shut down after collecting user funds, leaving investors unable to recover assets.

An expense ratio is the annual percentage of a fund’s assets used to pay ongoing operating costs, which reduces investors’ returns over time.

A fakeout is a price move that appears to confirm a breakout but quickly reverses, trapping traders who entered in the wrong direction.

A falling knife is a rapid, steep price drop in an asset that can punish buyers who enter too early before the decline stabilizes.

Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) is the anxiety that you’ll miss a profitable move, pushing you to buy or sell impulsively based on hype rather than a plan.

Fiat currency is government-issued money that isn’t backed by a commodity like gold and holds value because it is legal tender and widely trusted.

Flow data is the measurement of money moving into and out of an asset, fund, or market over a given period, often reported as net inflows or outflows.

Fractional ownership allows multiple individuals to collectively own a portion of a high-value asset, making exclusive investments more accessible and liquid.

Fractional real estate is a way to invest in a property by buying a small share of it, earning proportional income and potential appreciation.

Funding payments are periodic transfers between traders in perpetual futures that keep the contract price close to the spot market price.

Futures are standardized contracts to buy or sell an asset at a set price on a future date, widely used to hedge risk or speculate on price moves.

A futures ETF is an exchange-traded fund that gains exposure to an asset by holding futures contracts rather than owning the asset directly.

Gas is a unit that measures the computational work needed to process blockchain transactions and smart contracts, determining fees and transaction priority.

Generic listing standards are pre-approved exchange rules that let certain commodity-based ETPs list without a separate SEC rule filing for each product.

A genesis block is the first block in a blockchain, hard-coded as the chain’s starting point and used to anchor all later blocks.

The GENIUS Act is proposed U.S. legislation that sets federal rules for issuing and overseeing payment stablecoins backed by high-quality reserves.

GM pools on GMX are market-specific liquidity pools that back swaps and perpetual trades, letting LPs earn fees while taking trader PnL risk for that market.

GMX is a decentralized exchange for spot swaps and perpetual futures that uses oracle-based pricing and on-chain liquidity pools instead of an order book.

GMX GLP is the legacy liquidity provider token on GMX V1 that represented a basket of assets in the protocol’s liquidity vault and earned a share of trading…

A governance token is a crypto asset that gives holders voting power to propose and decide changes to a DAO or blockchain protocol.

A governance proposal is a formal request for a DAO or protocol community to vote on a specific change, action, or funding decision.

A gray swan event is a high-impact market shock that is plausible and discussed in advance, but widely treated as unlikely until it happens.

A grid bot is an automated trading bot that places staggered buy and sell orders across a preset price range to profit from repeated price swings.

Gwei is a small unit of Ether used on Ethereum to quote gas prices and calculate transaction fees for sending ETH or running smart contracts.

HODL is a crypto slang term meaning to hold a cryptocurrency long term and avoid selling during short-term volatility.

A hammer candle is a bullish candlestick that often appears after a decline, with a small body near the top and a long lower wick showing rejection of lower…

A hardware wallet is a physical device that keeps your crypto private keys offline and signs transactions securely so funds can’t be spent without your…

A hedge fund is a privately managed investment pool that uses flexible strategies—often including short selling, derivatives, and leverage—to target returns for accredited investors.

HoneyBricks is a real estate investing platform that offers fractional access to private multifamily deals and has explored tokenization to improve ownership…

A hot wallet is a crypto wallet connected to the internet that makes sending, receiving, and trading digital assets fast but less secure than offline storage.

Hyperliquid is a high-performance Layer-1 blockchain and on-chain perpetuals exchange built for fast, transparent order-book trading and self-custody.

Hyperliquid HLP is a protocol-managed liquidity vault on Hyperliquid that market-makes, backstops liquidations, and shares its trading PnL with depositors.

IBIT is the ticker symbol for the iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, a spot Bitcoin ETF that aims to track bitcoin’s price before fees and expenses.

Identity attestation is a cryptographic proof that a specific identity attribute is true, issued by a trusted party and verifiable by others.

Impermanent loss is the value gap between holding tokens and providing them to an AMM liquidity pool after their prices move relative to each other.

Implied probability in prediction markets is the likelihood of an outcome inferred from the current contract price, usually read as price in dollars or cents.

Index price is a reference price built from external market data that derivatives exchanges use to estimate an asset’s fair spot value.

Initial margin is the upfront collateral you must post to open a leveraged position, acting as a buffer against potential losses.

An instant execution model is an order-filling method that executes a trade only at the quoted price, otherwise returning a requote for confirmation.

An insurance fund in crypto is a reserve used by an exchange or protocol to cover losses from liquidations or other shortfalls so traders can be paid out.

Intent-based execution is a transaction model where users sign a desired outcome and third parties compete to execute it onchain under those constraints.

Inventory model tokenization is the on-chain issuance of tokens whose supply and redemption are governed by verifiable inventory levels of an underlying asset.

JLP (Jupiter) is a liquidity provider token that represents a share of Jupiter’s multi-asset pool that backs Jupiter Perps trades on Solana.

A lead trader is a trader whose positions are published on a platform so other users can automatically replicate them, usually in exchange for a share of…

A limit order is an instruction to buy or sell an asset only at a specified price or better, prioritising price control over guaranteed execution.

Liquidation is the automatic closing of a DeFi loan or leveraged position when its collateral value falls below the protocol’s required threshold.

A liquidation cascade is a chain reaction where forced position closures push prices further, triggering more liquidations and accelerating a market move.

Liquidation price is the market price at which a leveraged crypto position is automatically closed because collateral falls below the maintenance margin.

A liquidity pool is a smart contract that holds token reserves so users can trade or borrow against them on DeFi apps without an order book.

An LMSR market maker is an automated pricing algorithm for prediction markets that always offers quotes and adjusts prices using a logarithmic cost function.

Lofty Real Estate is a tokenized real estate platform that lets investors buy fractional ownership in U.S. rental properties and earn a share of rental income.

The MACD indicator is a momentum tool that compares two exponential moving averages to show trend direction, strength, and potential reversals.

A machine-to-machine payment is an automated transaction where one device pays another device or service without a human initiating each payment.

Maintenance margin is the minimum collateral you must keep in a leveraged position to avoid a margin call or liquidation.

Mark price is an exchange’s fair-value estimate used to calculate unrealized PnL and trigger liquidations, reducing the impact of short-term price spikes.

A market order is an instruction to buy or sell an asset immediately at the best available price in the order book.

Max drawdown is the largest peak-to-trough percentage loss of an asset or strategy over a chosen period before a new high is reached.

MiCA regulation is the EU’s unified rulebook for issuing, offering, and providing services for crypto-assets, including stablecoins, across member states.

MiCA tokenization is the structuring and issuing of tokenized assets in the EU to align with the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation’s rules for crypto-asset…

Mirror trading is an automated strategy where your account replicates another trader’s or model’s trades in near real time based on predefined rules.

A moving average is a chart indicator that smooths price data by averaging it over a set number of periods to help identify the underlying trend.

Multi-party computation is a cryptographic method that lets multiple parties compute a result together without revealing their private inputs to each other.

Multisig is a crypto authorization method where a transaction needs approvals from multiple keys before funds can be moved.

NAV premium is the amount a fund’s market price trades above its net asset value per share, usually expressed as a percentage.

Non-custodial trading is crypto trading where you keep control of your private keys and funds while orders are executed via smart contracts or secure protocols.

A non-custodial wallet is a crypto wallet where you control the private key, so only you can authorize transactions and access the funds.

A non-fungible token (NFT) is a unique blockchain token that proves ownership or authenticity of a specific digital or real-world item.

An OCO order is a paired order where filling one order automatically cancels the other, helping traders automate exits or entries around key prices.

ONCHAINID is an open-source framework and standard for creating and managing decentralized digital identities on blockchain networks, facilitating regulatory…

Ondo Perps is a perpetual futures platform that lets eligible users trade 24/7 leveraged contracts on tokenized U.S. stocks, ETFs, and other real-world assets.

Open interest is the total number of outstanding derivative contracts that remain open, showing how many positions are active in a market.

In crypto, an oracle is a service that delivers off-chain data (like asset prices) to smart contracts so they can execute based on real-world information.

Over-collateralization is when a loan or stablecoin is backed by collateral worth more than the debt, creating a safety buffer against price drops.

Overcollateralization is when a borrower locks up collateral worth more than the amount they borrow to protect lenders from price swings and defaults.

Paper trading is practicing trades with simulated money and real market data to test strategies and learn execution without financial risk.

A payment stablecoin is a digital token designed for payments that is redeemable for a fixed amount of fiat currency, typically backed by high-quality reserves.

A permissioned token is a blockchain token whose transfers or ownership are restricted by on-chain rules so only approved wallets can hold or move it.

Permit2 is a Uniswap-built smart contract that lets users grant and use ERC-20 token approvals via signatures with expirations and safer, more flexible…

A perp DEX is a decentralized exchange that lets users trade perpetual futures with onchain collateral, automated funding payments, and transparent rules.

Perpetual futures are crypto derivatives that track an asset’s price without an expiry date, using funding payments to keep prices near spot.

Polymarket is a crypto prediction market where users trade outcome shares on real-world events, with payouts determined by an oracle-based resolution process.

Position size in crypto is the amount of a coin or contract you trade so your maximum loss stays within a predefined risk limit.

Prediction market liquidity is how easily traders can buy or sell outcome shares near the current price without causing large price moves.

Primary issuance is the first sale of newly created securities or tokens, where proceeds go to the issuer rather than to another investor.

A private key is a secret cryptographic number that lets you prove ownership and sign transactions to spend crypto from a wallet.

Proof of reserves is a verification method that shows a crypto platform holds enough assets to cover customer balances at a specific point in time.

A property SPV is a separate legal entity created to own or finance a specific real estate asset, isolating its risks and cash flows from other activities.

The Polymarket proposal bond is collateral a proposer posts to submit a market outcome to the UMA Optimistic Oracle, refunded if correct and forfeited if wrong.

Protocol-owned liquidity (POL) is liquidity in a DEX market that is owned and controlled by the protocol itself rather than rented from external liquidity…

A proxy wallet on Polymarket is a smart contract wallet that acts on your behalf so you can trade and manage positions with simpler, often gas-sponsored…

QCEX is a CFTC-regulated U.S. derivatives exchange and clearing setup that Polymarket bought to operate compliant prediction markets for U.S. users.

A qualified custodian is a regulated financial institution permitted under securities laws to hold client assets on behalf of an investment adviser.

An R-multiple measures a trade’s profit or loss as a multiple of the initial risk (1R) defined by your entry and stop loss.

A real world asset is a tangible or legally enforceable off-chain asset that can be represented on a blockchain to enable digital ownership, transfer, or…

Real-world asset (RWA) tokenization is the process of issuing blockchain tokens that represent legal rights to off-chain assets like bonds, real estate, or commodities.

RealT is a platform that enables fractional, tokenized ownership of U.S. real estate properties, allowing investors worldwide to buy shares of income-generating…

A recovery phrase backup is a secure, offline copy of your wallet’s recovery words that lets you restore access to your crypto if your device is lost or…

A Reg D offering is a private securities sale that uses SEC Regulation D exemptions to raise capital without a full public registration.

A Reg A+ offering is a SEC-qualified public securities offering exemption that lets companies raise up to $75M in 12 months with lighter requirements than a…

Restaking is the reuse of staked ETH (or liquid staking tokens) to secure additional Ethereum-based services via EigenLayer, in exchange for extra rewards and risks.

A reversal pattern is a chart formation that suggests a prevailing trend may be ending and price could start moving in the opposite direction.

Revoke approval is the act of cancelling a wallet’s previously granted permission for a contract or address to spend your tokens or move your NFTs.

RsETH is a liquid restaking token that represents restaked ETH (or ETH staking derivatives) and can be used in DeFi while earning staking and restaking rewards.

RSI crypto refers to using the Relative Strength Index to measure a cryptocurrency’s momentum and spot potential overbought or oversold conditions.

A scalar market is a prediction market where the payout depends on a numeric outcome within a defined range, not a simple yes-or-no result.

The SEC innovation exemption is a proposed safe-harbor-style pathway that lets firms pilot tokenized securities under tailored conditions without full…

Secondary trading tokenization converts existing, often illiquid, assets or securities into digital tokens on a blockchain to facilitate their resale and…

A secure element is a tamper-resistant chip that stores cryptographic keys and performs sensitive operations in an isolated, hardened environment.

Securitize tokenization is the process of issuing and managing regulated real-world asset securities as blockchain tokens using Securitize’s compliant…

A seed phrase is a list of words that can restore a crypto wallet by regenerating the private keys that control its funds.

Self-custody is holding crypto in a wallet where you control the private keys, so only you can authorize transactions and access funds.

The Sharpe ratio measures an investment’s excess return over a risk-free rate per unit of volatility, showing risk-adjusted performance.

A signal bot is software that turns trading alerts into automatic buy and sell orders on a connected crypto exchange using predefined execution rules.

A significant stablecoin is a MiCA-classified stablecoin whose scale triggers stricter EU requirements and direct supervision by the European Banking Authority.

Slashing is an automatic penalty in proof-of-stake networks that cuts a validator’s staked collateral for rule-breaking or serious unreliability.

Slippage is the difference between the price you expect for a trade and the price you actually get when the order executes.

A smart contract is a program on a blockchain that automatically carries out an agreement when its preset conditions are met.

Social recovery is a crypto wallet recovery method where trusted guardians can help you regain access if you lose your keys or device.

Social trading crypto is a way to trade digital assets by following, discussing, and sometimes automatically copying other traders’ strategies.

Socialized losses are exchange-level losses from failed liquidations that are redistributed to other traders, reducing their profits or balances.

The Sortino ratio measures risk-adjusted return by dividing excess return by downside volatility, focusing only on harmful moves below a target return.

A spot ETF is an exchange-traded fund that holds an underlying asset directly to track its real-time market price, rather than using derivatives.

An SPV special purpose vehicle is a separate legal entity created to hold specific assets or liabilities and isolate risk from a parent company or investors.

A stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged to a fiat currency like the US dollar, to mitigate the price…

Redemption is the process of exchanging a crypto token—most often a stablecoin—for its underlying asset, typically fiat currency, at an agreed rate.

Reserves are assets held in custody to cover an issuer’s liabilities, such as ensuring a stablecoin can be redeemed for its stated value.

A staking ETF is an exchange-traded fund or product that holds proof-of-stake crypto and earns staking rewards, passing the net benefit to shareholders.

A stop-loss order is an instruction to sell or buy an asset once it hits a set stop price, helping limit losses by triggering an automatic trade.

Superstate is a platform for issuing and managing SEC-compliant tokenized securities, such as fund shares and tokenized equity, on public blockchains.

SyrupUSDC Maple is a yield-bearing token from Maple Finance that represents USDC deposited into Maple’s onchain lending strategies and accrues yield over time.

The T-REX token standard is an Ethereum security-token framework that embeds identity and compliance checks into every transfer of a permissioned token.

Taker and maker fees are exchange trading charges based on whether your order removes liquidity from the order book (taker) or adds it (maker).

Token approval is a wallet permission that lets a smart contract spend a specified amount of your tokens on your behalf.

Tokenization is the process of representing an asset or right as a blockchain token that can be issued, held, and transferred digitally.

Tokenized equity is equity ownership or equity-like exposure represented by blockchain tokens that can be issued, held, and transferred under defined legal and…

Tokenized real estate is the representation of ownership or economic rights in a property as blockchain-based tokens that can be bought, held, and transferred.

A tokenized treasury is a blockchain token that represents a regulated claim on U.S. Treasury exposure, such as a T-bill or a Treasury-backed fund share.

Tokenomics is the study of a crypto token’s supply, distribution, utility, and incentives to judge whether its value can grow sustainably over time.

Total value locked (TVL) is the total USD value of crypto assets deposited in a DeFi protocol’s smart contracts at a given time.

A tracker certificate is an exchange-traded structured product that mirrors the performance of an underlying asset or index without giving you direct ownership.

Tracking error is the amount an investment’s returns deviate from its benchmark over time, usually measured as the volatility of that difference.

A trading bot is software that automatically places buy and sell orders based on predefined rules, signals, and risk settings.

A trailing stop is a stop order that automatically moves with price to lock in gains and limit losses by triggering when the market reverses by a set amount.

Transfer agent crypto is the use of transfer-agent functions to record, verify, and update ownership of tokenized securities on a blockchain in a compliant way.

Transfer restriction tokenization is the design of tokenized assets so tokens can only move when predefined compliance and ownership rules are satisfied.

Treasury premium is the amount a digital asset treasury company’s market value trades above the value of its underlying crypto holdings.

A TWAP order is an algorithmic order that splits a large trade into smaller slices executed over a set time window to target the time-weighted average price.

The UMA Optimistic Oracle is an onchain system that verifies real-world facts by accepting a proposed answer unless someone disputes it within a set window.

A utility token is a crypto token that provides access to a product, service, or feature in a blockchain-based network rather than ownership or equity.

A validator node is a blockchain server that stakes crypto and helps secure the network by verifying transactions and proposing or voting on new blocks.

Vesting is a schedule that releases ownership or access to tokens over time or after milestones, rather than all at once.

Volatility crypto is the degree to which a cryptocurrency’s price rises and falls over a given period, often measured as the size and frequency of returns.

Volume profile is a charting tool that shows how much trading volume occurred at each price level over a chosen period.

A wallet drainer is a crypto scam tool that tricks you into approving or signing transactions that let attackers transfer assets out of your wallet.

A whitelist token is a crypto asset that can only be bought, received, or transferred by pre-approved wallet addresses.

A wick chart is a candlestick-style price chart that emphasizes candle wicks to show an asset’s intraperiod highs and lows beyond the open and close.

Withdrawal permission is an API access setting that allows a key to move funds out of an exchange account to an external address.

X402 is an HTTP-native payments standard that uses HTTP 402 responses to request and verify programmatic payments for online resources.

XStocks are 1:1 asset-backed tokens that track the price of specific equities or ETFs, giving onchain exposure without shareholder rights.

Yield is the income or rewards you earn from holding or deploying an asset, usually expressed as a percentage over a set period.

A zero-value transfer is an on-chain token transfer of 0 units, often used to plant a lookalike address in your transaction history for phishing.

A zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) is a cryptographic method that proves a statement is true without revealing the underlying secret data.