Glossary of Crypto & Meme Terms
Lost in crypto slang? Tired of pretending you know what "rug pull" or "BTD" means? You're not alone. That’s why we built this glossary – a growing, beginner-friendly dictionary of the weird, wild, and essential terms used in the meme coin and broader crypto world.
Whether you're new to the space or looking to sharpen your edge, this glossary helps you speak the language of degens, whales, and crypto wizards. No gatekeeping. No confusion. Just clear definitions – so you can read a tweet, join a forum, or ape into a coin with confidence.
Note: Crypto is constantly evolving – so are the terms. We update this glossary regularly based on real trends and community input. Got a term you'd like to see added? Hit us up on Telegram!
A
- Address
- A unique string of characters used to send or receive cryptocurrency on the blockchain. Like a bank account number for crypto.
- Airdrop
- Distributing free tokens to multiple wallet addresses, often as a marketing strategy or to reward early adopters. Beware of scam airdrops requiring wallet connection or fees.
- Altcoin
- Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin (BTC).
- AMM (Automated Market Maker)
- The underlying protocol used by most Decentralized Exchanges (DEXs) that determines token prices algorithmically based on the ratio of assets in a liquidity pool, instead of using a traditional order book.
- Ape In
- Slang term for buying into a cryptocurrency, often impulsively, aggressively, or with a large amount, typically driven by hype or FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) rather than research.
- ATH
- All-Time High. The highest price a specific cryptocurrency has ever reached.
- Audit (Smart Contract)
- An analysis of a smart contract's code by a third-party security firm to identify potential vulnerabilities, bugs, or malicious code. Not a guarantee of safety, but a good sign if done by a reputable auditor.
B
- Bagholder
- Slang for someone left holding a cryptocurrency that has significantly dropped in value, often after buying near the peak.
- Based
- Crypto slang expressing agreement, respect, or acknowledgement of something being authentic, cool, or standing against the mainstream narrative. Opposite of 'cringe'.
- Bear Market
- A period characterized by prolonged price declines and negative market sentiment.
- Blockchain
- A distributed, immutable (unchangeable) digital ledger that records transactions across many computers in a secure and transparent way.
- Bridge (Crypto)
- A tool or protocol that allows the transfer of tokens or data between two different blockchain networks (e.g., moving assets from Ethereum to BSC).
- BSC (Binance Smart Chain)
- Now known as BNB Smart Chain. A blockchain platform popular for DeFi and meme coins due to its lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum (at times). Uses BEP-20 token standard.
- BTD / BTFD
- Buy The Dip / Buy The F***ing Dip. Slang encouraging buying an asset after its price has dropped significantly, assuming it will recover.
- Bull Market
- A period characterized by prolonged price increases and positive market sentiment.
- Burn
- Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an unusable wallet address (a "burn address"). This reduces supply and is often seen as deflationary.
C
- CEX (Centralized Exchange)
- A traditional cryptocurrency exchange operated by a central company (e.g., Binance, Coinbase, Kraken). They use order books and require users to deposit funds into the exchange's custody.
- Circulating Supply
- The number of coins or tokens that are publicly available and circulating in the market. Used to calculate market cap.
- Cold Storage / Cold Wallet
- Storing cryptocurrency private keys offline, typically using a hardware wallet or paper wallet, to protect them from online threats.
- Consensus Mechanism
- The method used by a blockchain network to agree on the validity of transactions and the state of the ledger (e.g., Proof of Work, Proof of Stake).
- Contract Address
- The unique address of a specific smart contract (e.g., a token contract) on the blockchain. Crucial for identifying the correct token on a DEX.
- Copium / Hopium
- Slang terms. Copium refers to rationalizing losses or bad situations with unrealistic hope. Hopium refers to the excessive or unfounded hope for massive price increases.
D
- DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization)
- An organization represented by rules encoded as smart contracts on a blockchain, often controlled by token holders who vote on proposals.
- dApp
- Decentralized Application. An application built on a blockchain network, often interacting with smart contracts (e.g., a DEX).
- Deflationary
- An economic model where the total supply of a token decreases over time, usually through burning mechanisms. Opposite of inflationary.
- Degen
- Short for "degenerate". Slang often used self-deprecatingly (or descriptively) for traders engaging in very high-risk, speculative strategies, often with meme coins or obscure DeFi projects.
- DEX
- Decentralized Exchange. A type of cryptocurrency exchange (e.g., Uniswap, PancakeSwap) that allows direct peer-to-peer trading via smart contracts and liquidity pools, without a central intermediary.
- Diamond Hands
- Slang for holding onto an investment (stocks or crypto) firmly despite extreme volatility, losses, or negative news, indicating strong conviction (or stubbornness).
- Doxxed
- When the real-world identities of a project's team members are publicly known (opposite of anonymous). Often seen as reducing rug pull risk, as there is accountability.
- Dusting Attack
- A type of scam where attackers send tiny, almost worthless amounts of crypto ("dust") to many wallets to try and deanonymize users by tracking their transaction activity if the dust is moved.
- DYOR
- Do Your Own Research. The essential principle of thoroughly investigating a project before investing, rather than relying on hype or others' opinions.
E
- ERC-20
- The standard technical specification for fungible tokens created on the Ethereum blockchain. Many meme coins and DeFi tokens are ERC-20 tokens.
- ERC-721
- A standard for Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain, representing unique assets.
- Ethereum (ETH)
- A major decentralized blockchain platform known for its smart contract functionality, enabling dApps, NFTs, and many tokens (ERC-20).
- Explorer (Block Explorer)
- A website tool (like Etherscan.io, BscScan.com, Solscan.io) that allows anyone to browse and search a blockchain's data, including transactions, addresses, blocks, and smart contracts.
F
- Farming (Yield Farming)
- The practice of staking or lending crypto assets, often by providing liquidity to DEX pools, in order to generate high returns or rewards in the form of additional cryptocurrency.
- Fiat
- Government-issued currency that is not backed by a physical commodity like gold (e.g., US Dollar, Euro, Israeli Shekel).
- Floor Price
- Often used in NFT contexts, it's the lowest currently listed price for an item within a specific collection.
- FOMO
- Fear Of Missing Out. The anxiety an investor feels when seeing others achieve high returns, often leading to impulsive buying decisions at high prices.
- Fork (Hard/Soft)
- A change or upgrade to a blockchain's protocol. A Soft Fork is backward-compatible; a Hard Fork creates a permanent divergence, potentially resulting in two separate chains and coins.
- Fren
- Slang term for "friend," commonly used within crypto communities.
- FUD
- Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. Spreading negative, often unsubstantiated or misleading, information about a project to drive its price down or discourage potential investors.
G
- Gas Fees
- Fees paid to network validators/miners to process transactions and execute smart contracts on a blockchain (like Ethereum or BSC).
- Gas Limit
- The maximum amount of gas (computational effort) a user is willing to spend on a transaction. Setting it too low can cause the transaction to fail.
- GM / GN
- Slang acronyms for "Good Morning" / "Good Night," commonly used in crypto communities on social media (like Twitter).
- Gwei
- A small denomination of Ether (ETH), often used to measure gas prices on Ethereum. 1 Gwei = 0.000000001 ETH.
H
- Hardware Wallet
- A physical device that stores cryptocurrency private keys securely offline. Offers high protection against online hacks. (e.g., Ledger, Trezor).
- Hash
- A cryptographic function that converts an input (like transaction data) into a fixed-size string of characters (the hash). Used extensively in blockchains for security and integrity.
- HODL
- Slang (originating from a typo of "hold") for holding onto cryptocurrency long-term, regardless of price volatility.
- Honeypot
- A type of scam smart contract that allows users to buy tokens but contains code preventing them from selling, trapping their funds.
- Hot Wallet
- A cryptocurrency wallet that is connected to the internet (e.g., software wallets like MetaMask, mobile wallets, exchange wallets). More convenient but less secure than cold wallets.
I
- Impermanent Loss (IL)
- A potential risk for liquidity providers (LPs) in AMM pools. It's the difference in value between holding tokens in an LP versus simply holding them in a wallet, if the price ratio between the two tokens changes significantly.
- Inflationary
- An economic model where the total supply of a token increases over time (e.g., through block rewards or staking incentives). Opposite of deflationary.
K
- KYC (Know Your Customer)
- A process where financial institutions and exchanges verify the identity of their customers, typically by collecting personal documents. Usually required by CEXs but not DEXs.
L
- Layer 1 (L1)
- The base blockchain network itself (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana).
- Layer 2 (L2)
- A secondary framework or protocol built on top of a Layer 1 blockchain to improve scalability (speed, cost) or add functionality (e.g., Polygon, Arbitrum, Optimism for Ethereum).
- Leverage
- Using borrowed funds to increase the potential return (and risk) of an investment or trade. Highly risky, especially in crypto, and often offered on derivative platforms, not simple DEX swaps.
- Liquidity
- The ease with which an asset can be bought or sold quickly without significantly affecting its price. In DEXs, it refers to the amount of funds available in a liquidity pool.
- Liquidity Pool (LP)
- A smart contract holding reserves of tokens used by AMMs on DEXs to facilitate trading.
- Locked Liquidity
- When LP tokens provided by the project team are locked in a time-lock contract, preventing premature removal (a rug pull defense).
- Long
- A trading position that profits if the price of an asset increases. Betting that the price will go up. Opposite of Short.
- Low Cap
- Refers to a cryptocurrency with a small market capitalization, generally considered higher risk and higher potential volatility.
M
- Market Cap (Market Capitalization)
- The total market value of a cryptocurrency's circulating supply (Current Price × Circulating Supply).
- Max Supply
- The maximum number of coins or tokens that will ever be created for a specific cryptocurrency, if defined in its code.
- Mempool
- The "waiting area" for transactions that have been submitted to a blockchain network but haven't yet been confirmed and added to a block by miners/validators.
- Meme Coin
- A cryptocurrency typically inspired by internet memes or jokes, often characterized by high volatility, strong community focus, and sometimes limited utility.
- MetaMask
- A popular browser extension and mobile app software wallet primarily used for interacting with Ethereum and EVM-compatible blockchains.
- Mint
- The process of creating new tokens on the blockchain, either as part of the initial supply, block rewards, or for NFTs.
- Moon / Mooning
- Slang for a cryptocurrency's price experiencing a rapid and significant upward movement.
- Multi-Sig (Multi-Signature)
- A type of wallet or smart contract requiring multiple private keys to authorize a transaction, increasing security.
N
- NFT (Non-Fungible Token)
- A unique digital asset representing ownership of a specific item (like art, collectibles) recorded on a blockchain. Not interchangeable like currency.
- NGMI
- Slang acronym for "Not Gonna Make It." Often used self-deprecatingly or to dismiss projects perceived as unlikely to succeed.
- Node
- A computer participating in a blockchain network, typically holding a copy of the ledger and validating transactions or blocks according to the network's consensus rules.
O
- Oracle (Blockchain)
- A service that provides external, real-world data (like fiat prices, weather data) to smart contracts on the blockchain, as contracts cannot access outside information directly.
P
- Paper Hands
- Slang, opposite of Diamond Hands. Refers to investors who sell their holdings quickly at the first sign of trouble or price decline, often out of fear.
- Phishing
- Online scams attempting to trick users into revealing sensitive information (seed phrase, keys, passwords) via fake websites, emails, or messages.
- PnD (Pump and Dump)
- A scheme involving artificially inflating an asset's price ("pump") through hype and coordinated buying, then selling off ("dumping") at the higher price, causing a crash.
- PoS (Proof of Stake)
- A blockchain consensus mechanism where validators are chosen based on the amount of cryptocurrency they "stake" as collateral.
- PoW (Proof of Work)
- A blockchain consensus mechanism (used by Bitcoin) where "miners" solve complex puzzles to validate transactions and create new blocks.
- Private Key
- The secret cryptographic key that allows access and control over cryptocurrency funds associated with a public key/address. Must be kept absolutely secret.
- Public Key
- A cryptographic key derived from a private key, used to generate receiving addresses. Can be shared publicly.
R
- Rekt
- Slang, derived from "wrecked." Refers to suffering significant financial losses from a bad investment or trade.
- Reflections
- A tokenomic mechanism where a percentage of transaction taxes is automatically redistributed to existing token holders.
- Rug Pull
- A scam where developers abandon a crypto project and steal investor funds, typically by removing liquidity.
S
- Scam
- Any fraudulent scheme designed to deceive people and steal their money or assets. Very common in crypto.
- Seed Phrase / Recovery Phrase
- The list of 12 or 24 words acting as the master backup for a crypto wallet. Essential for recovery, must be kept secure and offline.
- Ser
- Slang term for "Sir," often used ironically or informally in crypto communities.
- Sharding
- A blockchain scaling technique that involves splitting the network's database (and sometimes transaction processing) into smaller, faster partitions called "shards."
- Shill
- Promoting a cryptocurrency excessively and often misleadingly, usually for personal gain.
- Short
- A trading position that profits if the price of an asset decreases. Betting that the price will go down. Opposite of Long.
- Slippage
- The difference between the expected price of a DEX trade and the price at which it's actually executed due to price movement.
- Smart Contract
- Self-executing code stored on a blockchain that automatically enforces agreements or protocol rules.
- Software Wallet
- A crypto wallet existing as software on a device (desktop, mobile, browser extension). A "hot wallet."
- Solana (SOL)
- A high-performance Layer 1 blockchain known for speed and low fees.
- Staking
- Locking up crypto holdings to support a Proof-of-Stake network's operations and security, often earning rewards.
- Stablecoin
- A cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value, typically pegged 1:1 to a fiat currency like USD (e.g., USDT, USDC).
- Swap
- Exchanging one cryptocurrency for another, typically on a DEX.
T
- Token
- A type of cryptocurrency residing on another blockchain's platform (e.g., ERC-20 on Ethereum), representing an asset or utility.
- Tokenomics
- The economic characteristics and design of a crypto token (supply, distribution, utility, incentives).
- Total Supply
- The total number of tokens created, minus any burned tokens.
- TPS (Transactions Per Second)
- A measure of a blockchain network's processing speed.
- Trust Wallet
- A popular mobile software wallet supporting multiple blockchains.
- TVL (Total Value Locked)
- The total value of assets currently staked or locked within a specific DeFi protocol or ecosystem.
U
- Up Only
- Slang expressing extreme optimism that an asset's price will only continue to rise (often used humorously or during bull markets).
W
- WAGMI
- Slang acronym for "We're All Gonna Make It." Expresses optimism and community spirit in crypto.
- Wallet
- A digital tool (software or hardware) for managing crypto assets by storing/securing keys.
- Wen Lambo?
- Slang asking "When will this investment make me rich enough to buy a Lamborghini?", often used ironically or to mock excessive focus on price.
- Whale
- An individual or entity holding a very large amount of a specific cryptocurrency.
- Whitepaper
- A detailed document from a crypto project outlining its concept, technology, goals, tokenomics, etc. Quality varies immensely.
- Wrapped Token (e.g., WETH, WBTC)
- A tokenized version of a cryptocurrency from one blockchain that exists on a different blockchain, pegged 1:1 to the original asset. Allows using assets like BTC or ETH within other ecosystems (like DeFi on Ethereum).