51% Attack
If more than half the computer power or mining hash rate on a network is run by a single person or a single group of people, then a 51% attack is in operation. This means that this entity has full control of the network and can negatively affect a cryptocurrency by taking over mining operations, stopping or changing transactions, and double-spending coins.
An event where a blockchain project distributes free tokens or coins to the community.
Any cryptocurrency that is an alternative to Bitcoin.
A group of transactions entered into a blockchain; analogous to a page of a ledger or record book.After a certain number of transactions have been added to the ledger and consensus has been reached among the nodes that the transactions are valid, then they are cryptographically locked into a "block" and officially recorded. This "block" forms the basis for the next one; in this way, they are all linked together in a chain, hence–blockchain.
The number of blocks connected together in the blockchain. For example, Height 0 would be the very first block, which is also called the Genesis Block.
An amount of crypto-currency a miner receives for processing transactions in a given block.
Byzantine Fault Tolerance
Byzantine Fault Tolerance basically refers to the ability of the network to reach consensus properly at any given time while also assuming that no more than one-third of the network actors are malicious.
Circulating supply refers to the total number of coins of a specific cryptocurrency that are available to the public for trading. Cryptocurrency developers can lock, burn or reserve some cryptocurrency tokens, thereby making them unavailable for public trading.
Decentralised applications (DApps)
DApps are essentially software programs built and hosted on blockchain technology, providing users with various functions through peer-to-peer action rather than depending on traditional intermediaries such as governments or banks. Decentralised apps are frequently used to execute decentralised finance operations.
Decentralised exchange (DEX)
A system that allows for the trustless, peer-to-peer trading of cryptocurrencies without a third party or intermediary taking fees along the way.
A technical standard used for smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain which ensures that all tokens and transactions comply with certain rules (such as how many decimal points to use).
A software update that is not backwards compatible with previous versions of the same cryptocurrency protocol, creating an entirely new branch from block 0.
With a hard fork, both the old and new blockchains exist side by side, which means that the software must be updated to work by the new rules.
A mnemonic is a sequence of words that is used as seed to derive private keys. The mnemonic is at the core of each wallet. Never lose your mnemonic. Write it down on a piece of paper and store it somewhere safe. If you lose it, there is no way to retrieve it. If someone gains access to your mnemonic, they gain access to all the associated accounts.
A private key is a secret piece of information used to sign messages. In the blockchain context, a private key identifies the owner of an account. The private key of a user should never be revealed to others. Also see mnemonic.
Proof-of-Work (PoW) is an economic measure to deter denial of service attacks and other service abuses, such as spam on a network, by requiring some work from the service requester, usually processing time by a computer .
A public key is a piece of information obtained by applying a one-way mathematical function on a private key. From the public-key, an address can be derived. A private key cannot be found from a public key.
Smart contracts are account holding objects that contain code functions. They are usually deployed on blockchains that have a virtual machine as part of their application layer.
Soft Fork
With a soft fork, only one blockchain will remain valid as users adopt the update.
A token is a digital asset usually stored and secured by a blockchain.
The study of how different variables within an economy impact each other and affect the decision making process. It is a branch of economics that looks at how different classes of assets, which have a monetary value attached to them, affect the dynamics within an economy.
zk-SNARK
Zk-SNARK is a zero-knowledge proof protocol used in encryption, and is an acronym that stands for "Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge" . Zk-SNARK proofs rely on an initial "trust system" setup that has been critiqued as an inherent security flaw.