Popular crypto acronyms and terms
What is a Dex?
Dex stands for Decentralised Exchange. These are essentually smart contracts that act like exchanges. They only require you to have some tokens and a wallet. You cannot use these to exchange tokens to fiat currency. You don't normally need to provide any identification for these. Examples are Uniswap, Pancakeswap & Raydium.
What is a Cex?
Dex stands for Centralised Exchange. These are exchanges run by companies that usually require you to provide identification and can swap tokens and coins against fiat currencies. You will need to use these if you want to convert your tokens back to a real-world currency. Examples of these are: Binance, Coinbase, Kraken & Crypto.com.
What is meant by pnd?
PnD is often used when taking about "Pump and Dump" tokens. This is where the owner or another invested party inflates the price of the coin to get more investors to buy in, then dumps all their coins into the market. At which point, the price is considered to have "dumped". This is often used when talking about rugpulls which are a type of scam.
What is FOMO?
FOMO means fear of missing out. Whilst not exclusive to the crypto space, it describes a state of mind where if you dont get involved you will miss out.
What meant by Ape-In?
"Apeing in" to a token is usually fueled by fomo. An investor buys the token without doing any significant research and they just hope the token will go up.
What is a degen?
A degen or "degenerate" is a trader that buys into a token that they cant afford to lose. They often engage in very high risk and speculative trading strategies. It can be used as a derogatory term but in some contexts, also a self-aware lighthearted manor.
What is a DAO?
A DAO is Decentralised Autonomous Organisation. It is a type of digital management structure for contracts, by smart contracts. Users can usually vote on the direction they want the organisation to take.
What does Defi mean?
Defi stands for Decentralised Finance. It usually refers to tokens, nfts or programs that are not controlled by any centralised organisation. This means having tokens in a wallet where you hold the keys. Holding the keys to your own wallet is fundamentially not possible in an CEX.
What is HODL?
HODL is a miss spelling of hold. It is usually used in a lighthearted mannor to hold a token through rough times. The misspelling came about from a popular online post in 2013 and has been with us ever since.
What is DOYR?
DOYR stands for Do Your Own Research. Whilst this is used by lot of financial influencers to cover their own ass, there is a degree of truth that you cant trust anyone but yourself in the crypto world. Research a token or coin fully before deciding to buy in. Don't ape-in. Research typically includes looking at the team, their background, token social status, locked liquidity, how long they have been going and many more items. Read our blog to find out more.
What is an ICO?
This is the crypto worlds equivelant of an IPO. Is stands for initial coin offering. It is where a token is created an a select few are about to purchase it before it goes on general sale to the public. A lot of money can be made and lost here.
What is a dApp?
A dApp is any application that has been built on top of a defi protocol. It stands for decentralised application.
What is EVM?
EVM shands for Ethereum Virtual Machine. It is often used when talking about various different blockchains. It is the technology that was developed by Vitalik Buterin and is used on the Ethereum chain. Since its creation, many new chains have been created as copies with minor tweaks of the original evm chain. E.g. Avalance and Polygon are both evm chains.
What is KYC?
KYC stands for know your customer. It referrs to the steps (usually in centralised exchanges) where they ask you for your personal identification. This is usually mandated by the country in which the cex is registered.
What is a Fiat Currency?
Fiat currencies are those used by us in the real world on a day to day basis. E.g Great British Pound, United States Dollar or the Euro.
What is an AMM?
An AMM is an sutomated market maker. Where traditional cexs use a model where they match your buy order to sell orders, amms uses formulas with liquidity ratios to facilitate trading without buyers and sellers. They are used by dexs and much have liquidity supplied in order to function.
What is meant by Mint?
Minting is the process of making new coins / tokens. Usually, this will push the price of a token down due to supply going up. Native coins that have minting capability can still be safe to invest in as they dont allow anyone to mint an unlimited number of coins. E.g. Bitcoin only mints new coins when a block is mined.
What is meant by Burn?
Buring is the process of removing tokens from circulation. It usually has an inflationary effect and the price goes up. Many native coins and tokens issue burns when engaging in swaps or making a transaction on their associated chain.