Crypto Glossary
Plain-English definitions of the cryptocurrency, blockchain and trading terms you will meet as you learn.
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Bagholder
A bagholder is an investor holding onto losing tokens, usually after their price has fallen sharply.
Beacon Chain
The Beacon Chain is the coordination chain of Ethereum 2.0, the name once used for Ethereum’s move to proof of stake.
Bear Market
A bear market is a prolonged market downtrend in which prices fall broadly for months and pessimism dominates.
BitLicense
A BitLicense is a business license issued by the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) that allows a company to conduct virtual…
Bitcoin ATM (BTM)
A Bitcoin ATM (BTM) is a kiosk, similar to a cash machine, that allows the user to buy Bitcoin with cash or a card and, on two-way machines, to sell…
Bitcoin Domination (BTCD)
Bitcoin Domination, more often called Bitcoin dominance (BTCD), is the ratio that shows how much of the total cryptocurrency market value belongs to…
Bitcoiner
A Bitcoiner is someone who believes in Bitcoin and expects its price to rise over the long term.
Block Duration
Block duration, often called block time, refers to the time required to generate new blocks in a blockchain-based system.
Block Explorer
A block explorer is an application, usually a website, that allows the user to view the details of a particular block on the blockchain, as well as the…
Block Header
A block header is the compact summary at the top of every block, and hashing it produces the block's unique identifier.
Block Manufacturer
A block manufacturer, more commonly called a block producer (BP), is a person or group whose hardware is selected to validate transactions and create the…
Block Size
Block size refers to the total amount of data that can be inserted into a single block in the chain, and usually means the maximum that a blockchain's…
Blockchain
A blockchain is a type of distributed ledger technology: a shared record of transactions that many computers, called nodes, keep in sync.
Blockchain Tribalism
Blockchain tribalism is when members of a blockchain or cryptocurrency community become ideologically committed to one particular blockchain or…
Bonding Curve
A bonding curve is a mathematical curve that describes the relationship between the price and the supply of an asset, usually a token.
Bull Market
A bull market is a prolonged market uptrend in which prices rise broadly for months and optimism grows.
Burning
Burning is the destruction of tokens to reduce supply. Tokens are either sent to a burn address that no one can spend from or removed by a smart contract…
Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT)
Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) is the property that allows a distributed computer system to reach consensus on its own, without a central coordinator…