Glossary

The words that appear in crypto news, in plain English.

A to Z

Twelve terms in alphabetical order, each in a sentence or two. Missing one? Ask the desk and we will add it.

Address

Where a payment is sent. A wallet can make a new one every time.

Airdrop

Tokens sent to many addresses at once; often used as bait by scammers.

Blockchain

A shared record of transactions, added to in blocks, that many computers keep identical copies of.

Confirmation

Each new block added after the one with your payment. More confirmations, harder to reverse.

Exchange

A company that swaps crypto for money. Coins left on an exchange are held by the company.

Fee

What you pay for a payment to be included in a block; it depends on how busy the network is.

Private key

The secret that lets you move crypto. Whoever has it controls the coins.

Recovery phrase

Twelve or twenty-four words that rebuild your keys in a new wallet. Never type them into a website.

Seed phrase

Another name for the recovery phrase.

Self-custody

Holding your own keys instead of leaving crypto with a company. If you hold crypto yourself, nobody can undo a mistake or recover lost recovery words for you.

Stablecoin

A token meant to keep the value of a currency. Only as safe as what stands behind it.

Wallet

An app or device that holds your keys and signs payments. It does not hold coins; the ledger does.