Every term a business operator actually runs into — defined in clear, everyday language. Organized in three reading tiers, with the terms that work together linked to each other, because vocabulary is a map, not a list.
Definitions describe how things work — they never tell you what to buy or do. That part stays with you.
Foundation is where to start; Operator is the working vocabulary of running a business near this technology; Advanced covers deeper mechanics — useful the day you meet them.
Where control lives — the keys decide everything downstream.
Software or hardware that lets you view your crypto holdings and authorize transactions. The wallet stores your keys, not the coins themselves — the coins live on the blockchain.
Works with Private Key · Custody · Address · Blockchain
A wallet where a company holds your keys for you, similar to a bank holding your money. You access it with a login rather than a private key.
Works with Private Key · Wallet
A wallet where you alone hold the keys. No company can access or freeze the funds, and no one can recover them for you if the keys are lost.
Works with Wallet
A wallet connected to the internet, such as a phone or browser app. Convenient for frequent use and more exposed to online threats than offline storage.
Works with Wallet
A wallet kept offline, such as a hardware device or paper backup. Used for storing holdings that are not accessed often.
Works with Wallet
A physical device that stores keys offline and signs transactions internally, so the keys never touch an internetconnected computer.
A secret value that authorizes spending from a wallet. Anyone who has it controls the funds, so it is never shared.
Works with Public Key · Signing · Seed Phrase · Wallet
A value derived from the private key that can be shared. It is used to generate receiving addresses and verify signatures.
Works with Private Key
A list of 12 or 24 words that can recreate a wallet and all its keys. It is the master backup and is never entered into websites or shared with anyone.
Works with Recovery Phrase · Seed Phrase Theft · Wallet Backup · Wallet
Another name for a seed phrase — the words used to restore a wallet on a new device.
Works with Seed Phrase · Wallet
An optional extra word or password added on top of a seed phrase to create a separate hidden wallet. Sometimes called a 25th word.
Works with Seed Phrase · Wallet
A string of characters that funds are sent to, similar to an account number. Addresses are derived from public keys and can be shared freely.
Works with Receiving Address Verification · Test Transfer · Address Poisoning
An address generated to contain a chosen pattern of characters, such as a name. Cosmetic only and does not change how the address works.
Works with Address
The matched private key and public key that together control a wallet.
Works with Private Key · Public Key · Wallet
The act of using a private key to approve a transaction or message, proving the request came from the key holder without revealing the key.
Works with Private Key · Transaction
A saved copy of the seed phrase or keys that allows a wallet to be restored if the device is lost or damaged.
Works with Seed Phrase · Wallet
Who actually holds and controls an asset. Every wallet, platform, and payment setup answers this question one way or another — it is the single most useful question to ask about any crypto arrangement.
Works with Custodial Wallet · Self-Custody · Custodian · Wallet
Holding your own keys, so you alone control the funds. Maximum control, and maximum responsibility: there is no company to call if keys and backups are lost.
Works with Seed Phrase · Recovery Risk · Hardware Wallet
A wallet set up with only the public address, so you can see balances and activity but cannot spend. Useful for monitoring without exposing keys.
Keys or a seed phrase written or printed on paper and stored offline. Simple and offline, but vulnerable to fire, water, loss, and anyone who reads it.
Works with Seed Phrase
The rails themselves: what the ledger is and who keeps it honest.
A shared digital ledger maintained across many computers. Records are grouped into blocks and linked in order, making past entries very hard to change.
Works with Block · Node · Public Ledger
A batch of transactions recorded together on a blockchain, time-stamped and linked to the block before it.
Works with Blockchain
A computer running blockchain software that keeps a copy of the ledger and helps check and relay transactions.
Works with Blockchain
The live, real-value version of a blockchain where actual transactions take place.
Works with Blockchain
A practice version of a blockchain using valueless test tokens, used to try things out without risking real funds.
Works with Blockchain
A base blockchain that settles its own transactions, such as the main networks themselves.
Works with Blockchain
A network built on top of a Layer 1 to process transactions faster or cheaper, then record results back to the base layer.
A separate blockchain connected to a main chain that runs under its own rules while allowing assets to move between them.
Works with Blockchain
A tool that moves assets or information from one blockchain to another. Bridges add steps and have been a frequent target of technical problems.
Works with Wrapped Token · Wrong Chain Error · Network Selection · Blockchain
The process by which a network agrees on which transactions are valid and what the shared record says.
A consensus method where computers compete to solve a calculation to add the next block, consuming energy in the process.
A consensus method where participants lock up tokens for the chance to validate blocks, generally using far less energy than proof of work.
Works with Proof of Work · Consensus
A participant that checks and confirms transactions under a proof-of-stake system.
A participant that adds blocks under a proof-of-work system by performing the required calculations.
A fixed-length fingerprint produced from data. Any change to the data produces a completely different hash, which helps detect tampering.
A public website for looking up transactions, addresses, and blocks on a given network.
A connection point that lets wallets and apps read from and send transactions to a blockchain network.
Works with Blockchain
The degree to which control of a network is spread across many independent participants rather than held by one party.
Works with Spread
A change to a network's rules. A soft fork is backward-compatible; a hard fork creates a separate path that older software will not follow.
A Layer 2 design that processes many transactions off the main chain, then posts a compressed summary back to it. The main way busy networks scale today.
A number that uniquely identifies a blockchain network. Wallets use it to make sure a transaction is signed for the intended network and not replayed on another.
Works with Transaction · Blockchain
A service that hands out small amounts of valueless testnet tokens so developers and learners can practice without real funds.
Works with Testnet
A scheduled event on some networks, most famously Bitcoin, where the reward for adding new blocks is cut in half — slowing how fast new coins are created.
Works with Miner · Proof of Work · Supply
A payment layer built on top of Bitcoin that routes many small, fast payments through channels, settling back to the main chain later.
What actually happens when value moves, and what it costs.
An instruction recorded on a blockchain, such as moving tokens from one address to another.
Works with Confirmation · Finality · Transaction Hash · Blockchain
Each additional block added after the one containing a transaction. More confirmations make a transaction increasingly settled.
Works with Transaction · Block
The point at which a transaction is considered permanent and will not be reversed. Different networks reach finality differently.
Works with Transaction
The property that a confirmed blockchain transaction generally cannot be undone, refunded, or cancelled by any party.
Works with Chargeback · Test Transfer · Crypto Refund · Transaction
The fee paid to have a network process a transaction. The amount changes with how busy the network is.
Works with Gas Fee · Priority Fee · Network Congestion · Transaction
The total cost of a transaction's gas, paid in the network's own token.
Works with Transaction · Token · Gas
A general term for the cost of getting a transaction processed by a blockchain network.
Works with Transaction · Blockchain
A counter attached to each transaction from an address that keeps transactions in order and prevents duplicates.
Works with Transaction · Address
The waiting area where submitted transactions sit before being included in a block.
Works with Block
A transaction that has been submitted but not yet confirmed in a block.
Works with Transaction · Block
A transaction that did not complete. On some networks a fee is still charged for the attempt.
Works with Transaction
The difference between an expected price and the actual price when a trade settles, common during fast-moving conditions.
An amount of crypto so small it is worth less than the fee required to move it.
The unique identifier of a transaction, used to look it up on a block explorer. Also called a TxID.
Works with Block Explorer · Transaction · Block
An extra reference some networks require alongside the address so the recipient knows which account a payment belongs to.
Works with Address
An optional extra fee, sometimes called a tip, paid to get a transaction processed sooner when a network is busy.
Works with Transaction
Combining several payments into a single transaction to save fees — common practice for exchanges and businesses that send many payments.
Works with Transaction
A period when more transactions are submitted than a network can quickly process. Fees rise and confirmations slow until it clears.
An address a sender designates to receive funds back if a payment cannot be completed. Some payment processors ask for one up front because blockchain payments have no automatic reversal.
Works with Crypto Refund · Payment Processor · Blockchain · Address
The things that move — coins, tokens, and what stands behind them.
A digital asset recorded on a blockchain that can be transferred between addresses without a central intermediary.
Works with Blockchain
A digital asset native to its own blockchain, used to pay that network's fees.
Works with Blockchain
A digital asset created on top of an existing blockchain rather than having its own network.
Works with Blockchain
A token designed to hold a steady value, often tied to a currency such as the US dollar.
Works with Stablecoin Peg · Proof of Reserves · Fiat · Token
Government-issued currency such as dollars or euros, as opposed to crypto.
A service that converts government currency into crypto.
A service that converts crypto back into government currency.
A token that represents an asset from another chain, allowing it to be used on a network where it does not natively exist.
Works with Token
The target value a stablecoin aims to hold, such as one dollar. A 'depeg' is when it drifts from that target.
Works with Collateral · Proof of Reserves · Stablecoin
A token that represents ownership of a specific unique item rather than an interchangeable amount.
Works with Token
A shared set of rules that tokens follow so wallets and apps can handle them consistently.
The amount of a token that exists. Circulating supply is the portion currently available; max supply is the upper limit if one is set.
Works with Token
How finely a token can be divided. This affects how amounts are displayed and entered.
Works with Token
Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an unusable address.
Works with Address
Creating new tokens or NFTs and recording them on the blockchain.
Works with Blockchain
A distribution of tokens to many addresses, sometimes used for promotion. Unexpected airdrops can also be a lure used in scams.
Works with Dusting Attack · Scam
A published attestation that a platform or issuer actually holds the assets it claims to hold. Methods and rigor vary widely — the existence of a report is a starting point for questions, not the end of them.
Works with Custodian · Stablecoin · Compliance
Assets locked up to back a loan, a position, or a stablecoin. If the collateral loses value, the arrangement built on it comes under pressure.
Works with Stablecoin
A central bank digital currency — a digital form of a national currency issued by its central bank. Different from crypto in that a central authority runs it.
A token created around a joke, meme, or moment rather than a described use. Prices are driven almost entirely by attention and can move violently in both directions.
Works with Token
A token representing something outside crypto, such as a treasury bill, invoice, or property share. The token is only as good as the legal and operational structure connecting it to the real thing.
Where crypto is bought, sold, and held by platforms.
A platform for buying, selling, or swapping crypto.
Works with Centralized Exchange · Decentralized Exchange · Custodian
An exchange run by a company that holds customer funds and manages accounts, often shortened to CEX.
Works with Exchange
An exchange that lets users trade directly from their own wallets through smart contracts, often shortened to DEX.
Works with Exchange
A live list of buy and sell offers on an exchange.
Works with Exchange
An instruction to trade immediately at the best available current price.
An instruction to trade only at a chosen price or better.
How easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving its price much.
A shared pot of tokens that a decentralized exchange uses to enable trading.
Works with Liquidity Provider · Impermanent Loss · Decentralized Exchange · Exchange
An asset's price multiplied by its circulating supply, used as a rough measure of relative size.
Works with Supply
The total amount of an asset traded over a given period.
The gap between the highest buy offer and the lowest sell offer.
Two assets quoted against each other, showing how much of one it takes to get the other.
'Know Your Customer' — the identity checks many platforms perform to meet regulatory requirements.
Works with Compliance · Centralized Exchange
Moving crypto out of a platform account to an external wallet address.
The address a platform gives you to send funds into your account there.
Works with Address
A company whose business is holding assets safely on behalf of others. Exchanges act as custodians for funds kept on the platform.
An over-the-counter service that arranges large trades directly between parties instead of on the open order book, reducing price impact for big amounts.
Works with Order Book
The two fee rates most exchanges charge: makers add offers to the order book, takers accept existing ones. Taker fees are usually higher.
Works with Order Book
When an exchange removes an asset from trading. Holders are typically given a window to withdraw before support ends.
Works with Exchange
Programs that hold and move money by themselves — and the permissions you grant them.
A program stored on a blockchain that runs automatically when its conditions are met, without a middleman.
Works with Smart Contract Audit · Approval · dApp · Blockchain
A decentralized application that runs on smart contracts rather than a single company's servers.
Decentralized finance — financial services such as lending or trading provided through smart contracts.
Linking your wallet to an app so it can request transactions. The app cannot move funds without you approving each request.
Works with Wallet
Permission you grant a contract to use a certain token from your wallet. Broad or unlimited approvals are worth reviewing carefully.
Works with Token Allowance · Revoke · Malicious Approval · Wallet
The specific amount a contract is permitted to spend from your wallet under an approval.
Withdrawing a permission previously granted to a contract.
Locking up tokens to support a network or service, sometimes in exchange for rewards. Terms and risks vary by program.
Works with Proof of Stake · Validator · Yield · Exchange
A return some platforms describe on deposited or staked assets. Stated yields are not guaranteed.
Someone who deposits tokens into a liquidity pool to support trading.
Works with Liquidity Pool · Liquidity
A service that feeds outside information, such as prices, into smart contracts.
The maximum amount of gas you allow a transaction or contract interaction to use.
Works with Transaction · Gas
A token that grants a vote in decisions about a project or protocol.
Works with Token
A decentralized autonomous organization — a group coordinated through smart contracts and member voting rather than a traditional company structure.
The total value of assets deposited in a protocol, often shortened to TVL.
An independent review of a contract's code by an outside security firm, looking for flaws before real funds rely on it. An audit reduces risk; it does not eliminate it, and unaudited contracts carry unmeasured risk.
Works with Bug Bounty · Testnet · Audit Trail
A standing offer to pay outside researchers who responsibly report security flaws — a signal a project takes its attack surface seriously.
When those who order transactions profit by inserting or reordering trades around yours, sometimes worsening your price. One reason large trades use protections or OTC desks.
A loss liquidity providers can experience when the prices of pooled tokens move apart. The name undersells it — the loss is real if you withdraw after the move.
Works with Liquidity
Crypto as a payment rail: requests, settlement, and getting it into the books.
Paying for goods or services by transferring crypto from a customer's wallet to a merchant's address.
Works with Payment Request · Settlement · Network Selection · Address
A message or code specifying an address and amount so a customer can pay correctly.
Works with Address
A bill that may include a payment address, amount, and reference for a crypto payment.
Works with Crypto Payment · Address
A scannable image that fills in payment details automatically to reduce typing errors.
The point at which a payment is final and the funds are usable by the recipient.
A reversal of a payment by a bank or card network. Standard blockchain payments do not have an equivalent automatic reversal.
Works with Blockchain
A wallet a business uses to receive customer payments, often kept separate from operating funds.
Works with Segregation of Funds · Payment Processor · Wallet
A service that helps businesses accept payments and may handle conversion or record-keeping.
Works with Auto-Conversion · Payment Link · Payment Rail
A payment recorded directly on the blockchain.
Works with Blockchain
A payment handled by a provider's internal system and not individually recorded on the blockchain.
Works with Blockchain
Matching received payments against invoices or records to confirm the books are accurate.
Works with Export Path · Audit Trail · Invoice
Choosing the correct blockchain for a payment. Sending on the wrong network is a common and often unrecoverable mistake.
Works with Wrong Chain Error · Chain ID · Test Transfer · Blockchain
Confirming an address is correct before sharing it, often by checking the first and last characters.
Works with Address
The underlying network a payment travels on — a card network, a bank transfer system, or a blockchain. Each rail has its own speed, cost, and failure behavior.
Works with Blockchain
A shareable link that opens a hosted checkout with the amount and details pre-filled, so the payer never types an address by hand.
Works with Address
A processor feature that converts incoming crypto to a stablecoin or bank currency immediately at receipt, reducing exposure to price swings between sale and settlement.
Works with Stablecoin · Settlement
Returning funds from a crypto payment. Because there are no chargebacks, refunds are a manual, deliberate payment back to the customer — which is why merchants record a refund address and reference at the time of sale.
Works with Refund Address · Crypto Payment · Address
A very small payment, often under a dollar, practical only on rails whose fees are lower than the payment itself.
Money sent across borders, often by workers to family. A frequently cited use for crypto rails because traditional remittance fees are high.
The traps that actually catch people, and the calm habits that bounce them off.
A trick that imitates a trusted site or message to capture keys, seed phrases, or logins.
Works with Impersonation · Social Engineering · Seed Phrase Theft
A scheme designed to take funds through deception, false promises, or impersonation.
Works with Impersonation
When the people behind a project disappear with funds or abandon it suddenly.
Manipulating a person into revealing secrets or approving actions, rather than attacking technology directly.
The loss of funds that follows when someone obtains your recovery words. This is why the words are never typed into websites.
Sending an asset on a network the recipient is not watching, which can make the funds unreachable.
Sending to an incorrect address. Because transactions are generally irreversible, the funds usually cannot be retrieved.
Works with Address
A second login step beyond a password, such as a code from an app, often shortened to 2FA.
Works with SIM Swap · Passkey · Password Manager
A contract permission that grants more access than expected, sometimes used to drain wallets.
Pretending to be a known company, person, or support agent to gain trust.
A trick that places a look-alike address in your history hoping you copy it by mistake.
Works with Clipboard Malware · Receiving Address Verification · Address
Sending a tiny amount first to confirm an address and network work before sending the full amount.
Works with Wrong Address Error · Irreversibility · Address
Keeping holdings offline to reduce exposure to online threats.
The reality that self-custodied funds cannot be restored by any company if keys and backups are lost.
An attack where someone convinces a phone carrier to move your number to their device, then intercepts your text-message login codes. A key reason app-based or hardware 2FA beats SMS.
Malicious software that silently replaces a copied wallet address with an attacker's address. The defense is verifying the pasted address in full before sending.
Sending tiny amounts of crypto to many addresses to track activity or bait interaction. Unexpected small deposits are best left untouched.
A phishing-resistant login method that uses a cryptographic key stored on your device instead of a password. Increasingly supported by exchanges and platforms.
Works with Phishing
An app that generates and stores strong, unique passwords. Foundational hygiene for every account that touches money — though seed phrases stay offline, not in it.
The other technology wave on your desk — directed with judgment.
Software that performs tasks normally associated with human reasoning, such as recognizing patterns or generating text.
Works with Large Language Model · AI Agent · Machine Learning
A type of AI that improves at a task by learning from data rather than following fixed rules.
An AI system trained on large amounts of text to understand and generate language, often shortened to LLM.
AI that produces new content such as text, images, or code.
The instruction or question given to an AI system to get a response.
The information an AI system learns from. Its quality and limits shape the system's behavior.
When an AI produces information that sounds confident but is inaccurate or invented.
Works with Training Data · Prompt
A trained AI system that takes input and produces output based on what it learned.
Using software to perform repetitive tasks with little or no human involvement.
A defined way for software systems to talk to each other and exchange data or actions.
Works with Exchange
Emerging approaches that combine AI services with blockchain records or payments.
Works with Blockchain
Representing a real or digital asset as a token on a blockchain. In AI, the term separately means breaking text into small units a model processes.
Works with Blockchain · Token · Model
An AI system that can take multi-step actions toward a goal — browsing, filling forms, calling tools — rather than only answering. Powerful, and worth clear boundaries about what it may touch.
Works with Prompt Injection · Automation · API
The amount of information an AI model can consider at once. Anything outside it is effectively forgotten, which explains why long conversations can lose the thread.
Works with Model
An attack that hides instructions inside content an AI reads — a webpage, email, or document — trying to hijack what the AI does next. A reason to limit what agents can access and act on.
The act of a trained model producing an answer. Training happens once at great cost; inference happens every time you use the model.
Works with Model
An AI system that works across more than one kind of input or output — text, images, audio — rather than text alone.
Running it like a business: records, access, and repeatable process.
The original value recorded for an asset, used as a reference for record-keeping. Tax treatment varies and is outside this reference.
Works with Reconciliation · Export Path
A clear, reviewable record of transactions and actions.
Works with Public Ledger · Export Path · Incident Log
The openly viewable record of transactions on a blockchain.
Works with Blockchain
Addresses are not directly tied to names, but activity is public and can sometimes be traced.
Works with Chain Analytics · Public Ledger
Naming or tagging wallets and addresses to keep records organized.
The funds an organization holds and manages, including any crypto holdings.
Works with Segregation of Funds · Spending Policy · Wallet Labeling
Following the laws and rules that apply to an activity. Specifics depend on jurisdiction and are outside this reference.
A pre-approved list of addresses permitted for certain actions.
A setup that requires approval from several keys before a transaction can proceed, often shortened to multisig.
Works with Access Control · Spending Policy · Treasury · Transaction
Internal rules an organization sets for how and when crypto can be moved.
Keeping different pools of money in separate wallets or accounts — customer payments, operating funds, reserves — so records stay clean and one problem cannot touch everything.
Deciding and documenting who can view, move, or approve funds and under what conditions. The operational backbone behind multi-signature setups and spending policies.
Works with Multi-Signature
A defined way to get transaction records out of a wallet or platform and into your books — CSV, API, or reports. Worth confirming before the first payment, not after.
Works with Transaction · Wallet · API
Tools and services that trace and label on-chain activity. Used by exchanges and investigators, and a reminder that public ledgers are public.
A written record of what happened, when, and what was done during a payment problem or security event. Turns a stressful moment into a documented, improvable process.
No terms match that search. Try a shorter word, or clear the filters.
Terms give you the map; the Wallet Simulator gives you the motions, and the Readiness Pulse tells you where you stand. When you want a guide alongside you, the services ladder is built for exactly that.