Glossary
Airdrop — free distribution of tokens among specific participants.
Altcoin — all cryptocurrencies, except Bitcoin, are called altcoins.
AMA — an online Q&A called “ask me anything” where project leaders answer questions from the community about a product or service.
API — Application Programming Interface, a mechanism that allows two programs to interact with each other through a series of protocols.
APY — Annual Percentage Yield, a calculated yearly interest rate for a given asset.
Bearish — the term “bearish” is used when the price of an asset has declined due to investors selling. (The term is often used to describe the overall market sentiment.)
Binance — the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.
Bitcoin (BTC) — the preeminent cryptocurrency and the first decentralized network with open-source code, which laid the groundwork for the proliferation of blockchain technology.
Blockchain — a distributed ledger of data in the form of a chain of blocks recording transaction information for every event on the network.
Bloodbath — a colloquial term often used to describe a severe and sustained market crash, which results in multiple deep red bars on price charts.
Bot — a program written for two ecosystems to interact with each other — e.g., The Open Network and the Telegram messenger. On Telegram, bots are accounts in the messenger operated by software.
Bridge — a program connecting various blockchains to transfer tokens and data from one network to another.
Bullish — the term “bullish” is used to describe an asset whose value is appreciating. (“Bullish” is the opposite of “bearish” — i.e. when the market’s overall value is increasing.)
Burning — the act of burning or removing a number of tokens from the circulating and total supply, which often results in increased demand.
CEX — a centralized cryptocurrency exchange to trade tokens.
CMC — CoinMarketCap, a crypto information aggregator that closely follows changes in token prices and market capitalization.
Cells — a vertice in the DAG storing a timestamp, transactions, the parent, and the child cell.
Coinbase
Coinbase — the biggest crypto exchange in the United States.
Cryptobot — a peer-to-peer (P2P) bot service for buying, trading, and selling Toncoin and other cryptocurrencies without Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.
Custodial — a type of crypto wallet where a third party stores cryptocurrencies, and not their true owner.
DApps — decentralized applications made for blockchains supported by a group of nodes instead of a centralized server.
DCA — dollar-cost averaging, an investment strategy whereby investors buy crypto assets at a low yet fixed price to reduce exposure to risks.
Decentralization — one of the main tenets behind TON and other blockchains. Without decentralization, Web3 would be impossible to achieve; therefore, every element of the TON Ecosystem revolves around maximizing decentralization.
DeFi — the decentralized analog to traditional finance, it includes accessible financial services and applications based on smart contracts.
DEX — a decentralized exchange (DEX) where users can trade cryptocurrencies without any intermediaries. The online entity needed to guarantee safe transactions is the blockchain itself.
Diamond hands — a colloquial term describing an investor who has no intention of selling their assets regardless of the state of the market — even if there’s a crash or the market is bearish.
DNS — Domain Name System, a technology that allows users to make transactions between human-readable domain names and machine-readable IP addresses (192.0.2.44).
Dolphin — an investor who has low-level capital but has an influence on the community.
Donate — a bot service on Telegram through which people can either donate money or content creators can monetize their channels and services on Telegram, with a payment option in Toncoin.
Dump — manipulating the increase in value of a token or cryptocurrency and then cashing out.
DYOR — Do Your Own Research, the process by which you do research on a project, company, or cryptocurrency before deciding to invest.
Daychain — A smart contract on the Nighchain that allows our subsidiary to interact with the blockchain.
EVM — Ethereum Virtual Machine, a machine behaving like a decentralized computer, computes the state of the Ethereum blockchain after each new block and executes smart contracts.
Exchange — a place for trading and using other market instruments.
Farming — lending your crypto assets to receive rewards.
Fiat — regular money issued by central banks or financial authorities.
FOMO — “fear of missing out,” a psychological state that consumes some investors when the idea of losing potential gains from an opportunity is present. It usually appears during a bull market and when traders don’t do their due diligence analyzing a particular project.
Fungible tokens — cryptocurrencies that carry the same value as any other token of the same kind at any given moment.
FUD — “Fear, uncertainty, and doubt,” market sentiments based on many factors.
Full Node — a computer on Blockchain that synchronizes and copies the entire Blockchain.
G
Gas - the fee you pay for a blockchain transaction
GitHub — a platform where developers gather to create base code for programs.
Hackathon — a gathering of programmers to develop software, programs, applications, etc.
Hash — information about transaction data, created by a hashing algorithm.
Hash rate — the indication of how much computational power is being used on a network for crypto mining.
Hold — saving — i.e. not selling — an asset or assets from your portfolio.
ICO — initial coin offering, a method for crypto projects to attract capital in the early stages.
IDO — initial decentralized exchange offering, another method of attracting capital when launching a cryptocurrency or token on a decentralized exchange.
Inflation — the process when the value of a currency — e.g., U.S. dollar or the euro — decreases.
KYС — Know Your Customer, the process by which a user verifies their identity when creating an account for a crypto service.
Launchpad — a platform for crypto startups that brings investors and projects together.
Liquidity pool — grouping together crypto assets and freezing them in a smart contract. Liquidity pools are used for decentralized trading, loans, and other endeavors.
Mainnet — the main network of a blockchain.
Market cap (capitalization) — the total value of a cryptocurrency’s combined number of tokens.
Metaverse — a digital universe similar to a videogame where users create avatars and interact with the digital representations of other people or users
Moon — a crypto term that describes a crypto asset’s vertical trajectory on a price chart — i.e. it quickly gains value.
NFA — not financial advice, this acronym is used as a disclaimer to avoid liability or responsibility when investors discuss cryptocurrencies or projects with other people.
NFT — non-fungible token, a unique digital token on a blockchain that cannot be duplicated or minted more than once.
Non-custodial — a kind of crypto wallet that gives full control over assets to the owner/user.
Non-fungible — Other than fungible tokens, these ones can`t be copied and have a unique token ID.
Nightchain — The name of our proof of stake blockchain.
O
Off-ramp — ways to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat money.
On-ramp — ways to convert (buy) cryptocurrency by spending fiat money.
P
Paper hands — an investor who’s inclined to panic-sell — an inexperienced investor.
Proof-of-stake — a consensus mechanism to process transactions in new blocks on the blockchain.
Proof-of-work — a consensus algorithm where one party proves to another that a specific amount of computational work was spent. By expending a little energy, a party can verify this.
Proxy — a service on a computer network that allows clients to install indirect network connections with other network services.
Pump — artificially inflating the price of a cryptocurrency or asset.
P2P — peer-to-peer, transactions among users without the help of a third party or intermediary.
Pockets — “Pockets” in our network are arrays of financial values that the protocol references when keeping all coins fully collateralized at all times.
Roadmap — a project’s strategic plan that displays when its products, services, updates, etc. will be released.
ROI — return on investment, the profits made from investments.
S
SBT — Soulbound token, an NFT that can never be transferred because it contains information about its owner and their accomplishments.
Scalability — the ability of a blockchain network to process complex transactions as well as a large number of them.
SEC — Securities and Exchange Commission, a financial regulator in the United States.
Shard — a mechanism that helps a blockchain network to scale by breaking into smaller blockchains to relieve network congestion.
Smart contract — self-executing code that oversees and enables operations with the help of mathematical algorithms and without human intervention.
Spot trading — trading a financial asset for money.
Stablecoin — a cryptocurrency whose value is stable (usually pegged to a fiat currency) and does not crash.
Staking — a way for users to earn a passive income by storing coins or tokens in a proof-of-stake algorithm, which, in turn, ensures the blockchain runs smoothly. For this, they earn rewards as an incentive.
Swap — the exchange of two financial assets.
Testnet — a network for testing projects or services before launching on the mainnet.
Ticker — the short form of a cryptocurrency, asset, or token on exchanges, trading services, or other DeFi solutions
The Merge — the transition process of Ethereum switching from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake
Token — a form of digital asset; it can have multiple functions.
Tokenomics — the economic plan and distribution strategy of a cryptocurrency (or token).
To the moon — a colloquial phrase used when people create FOMO. It refers to hopefuls wanting the value of a cryptocurrency rapidly gaining a lot of value — hence its trajectory to the moon.
Trading — buying and selling cryptocurrencies with the goal of making a profit.
Validator — those who verify new blocks on the blockchain.
WAGMI — “we’re all gonna make it,” a sentence often used in the crypto community to express the aspirations of becoming rich one day by investing in cryptocurrencies.
Wallet — software that stores cryptocurrencies through a system of private keys needed to buy or sell cryptocurrencies and tokens.
Web3 — a new generation of the internet based on blockchain technology that includes decentralization and tokenomics.
Whale — an investor who owns a large number of cryptocurrencies and tokens.
Whitelist — a list awarding people special perks.
White paper — the main document of a project written by its developers. It explains the technology and the project’s goals.
Wаtchlist — a customizable list of cryptocurrencies whose price action an investor wishes to follow.
Yield farming — lending or placing cryptocurrencies or tokens in a smart contract to earn rewards in the form of transaction fees.
Yolo — “you only live once,” a slang acronym used as a call to live life to the fullest without taking into account the risk of the given endeavor.
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