A bunch of words and ideas that provide useful context for understanding cryptocurrency.
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Economic Concepts
An ancient unit of trust lying at the foundation of our society. Typically fungible.
The measure of confidence given to the value of money or standard of character.
Something that can be owned in the digital or physical world. Money, stocks, property, and natural resources are all assets.
A description of the way an individual holds or controls an asset.
The system of individual actors influencing each other to behave via trust, money, and incentives.
Currency issued by a bank.
A server-based digital form of currency issued by a bank (note: does not use a blockchain for accounting and is thus distinct from cryptocurrency).
The emergent field of design associated with analyzing and understanding how to effectively use cryptocurrency.
Internet Concepts
A computer bank in which data is stored and processed for the Internet.
A system that connects computers throughout the world.
The Internet first began January 1, 1983 when the ARPANET adopted TCP/IP protocol.
The obscure art of building applications for devices and screens connected to the Internet.
A new working style where teams communicate and accomplish tasks via communication and planning applications.
Open Source Software comes from the dawn of the Internet. The idea behind OSS is that sharing information should benefit the broader population. This is in contrast to the idea of a patent.
Most open source software uses GitHub, an open repository. The largest companies in the world today rely on these repositories along with their proprietary systems to create internet applications.
Blockchain Concepts
A data management system that leverages a consensus protocol to process and save information across a distributed network.
The protocol by which nodes in a blockchain participate and agree on the latest block state. Common protocols include Proof of Work and Proof of Stake.
The first and most popular form of peer to peer (P2P) money created by an anonymous personality Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009. Bitcoin uses Proof of Work to define the latest state of transactions and ownership on the network.
Described as the world computer, Ethereum distinguished itself from Bitcoin by creating smart contracts enabling more complex accounting than simple peer to peer transactions.
This turing complete system supports the development of decentralized applications.
Immutability refers to an inability to change. Blockchain immutability refers to the way no single party can modify the state of the network, which eliminates data censorship and manipulation.
"Layer 2" describes a transaction system that sits on top of a primary protocol (ie. Bitcoin or Ethereum). This second layer of transacting is created to enable cheap, high frequency transactions for users of a specific application.
Tokenonomic Concepts
A blockchain-based currency used to engage and reward participants of a certain network. The advantage of cryptocurrency comes from its programatic control, that is independent of any central authority.
Fungible tokens represent a fractional share of the broader cryptocurrency network. These include protocols like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). These economies most commonly use the Ethereum ERC20 s
Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) define a type of token that can only be owned by one address at a time (ie. no fractionalization). These tokens act like limited edition items (think: baseball cards, art, street wear, etc.) and are typically purchased on auction platforms, or used in blockchain games.
People or entities that provide liquidity to support a market (most commonly found in relation to decentralized exchanges and lending protocols).
Liquidity mining describes a program offered by token networks to incentivize liquidity providers to add assets to their marketplace (typically a DEX).
Decentralized exchanges introduce a way for anyone to create a market between 2 or more token assets. They leverage an AMM to list and algorithmically trade assets. Learn more here!
A blockchain-based currency used to engage and reward participants of a certain network. The advantage of cryptocurrency comes from its programatic control, that is independent of any central authority.
Smart Contract Concepts
A decentralized application (Dapp) is an application that uses a blockchain network to store and process data. Nearly all Dapps today use smart contracts built on Ethereum and most of them are built for Defi (decentralized finance).
Decentralized Finance (Defi) describes new forms of capital formation, market making, debt and credit systems being created via cryptocurrency networks.
A Decentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAO) is a concept stemming from the possibilities of utilizing crypto to coordinate individual agents in a unified way. Varieties of DAOs range from open token economies like Bitcoin and Ethereum to tight-knit decentralized organizations using democratic smart contract frameworks for decision-making.
Governance Concepts
System management led by a single or concentrated minority.
System management led by a wide population of individual agents. A sufficiently decentralized network has no bus factor.
The concept that cryptocurrency allows for creation of digital nation-states that prioritize individual freedom and open access to information.
A metric used to define the degree of centralization or anti-fragility. If a system has a single bus factor, the entire thing will collapse if one person or entity dies.
Cultural Concepts
Social media transformed human connectivity, starting with early email lists, blogs and forums that became possible due to the personal computer.
Today, 58% of the world population and 80% of the US population use social media apps. The rise of the Passion Economy continues to accelerate as content creation becomes easier.
Memes define the most efficient form of information spreading across society, often via content on social media.
This is the place that the majority of cryptocurrency investors, builders, and influencers communicate publicly.
