Crypto glossary

A wallet design that moves account rules into programmable logic so authentication, recovery, batching, and fee payment can be customised.

Related: Smart account · Gas · MPC

Software or hardware that manages signing keys and prepares instructions for blockchain accounts.

Related: Private key · Seed phrase

The arrangement that determines who can authorise transactions and restore access to assets.

Related: Self-custody · MPC

A dedicated device designed to isolate private keys and sign transactions away from a general-purpose computer.

Related: Private key · Seed phrase

Multi-party computation: protocols that let several participants compute a signature without reconstructing one complete private key.

Related: Threshold cryptography · Custody

A public identifier used to receive assets or interact with a blockchain account. It does not reveal the private key.

Related: Private key · Wallet

A public network and scarce digital asset that uses proof of work to order transactions without a central operator.

Related: Proof of work · Block

Code deployed to a blockchain that applies deterministic rules to transactions and stored state.

Related: DeFi · Token

A signed instruction that asks a network to transfer value or execute application logic.

Related: Gas · Confirmation

An ordered batch of validated transactions added to a blockchain’s shared history.

Related: Confirmation · Consensus

A system that coordinates assets or messages between separate networks using a particular custody and verification model.

Related: Smart contract · Validator

Evidence that a transaction has been included in the network history and is becoming harder to replace.

Related: Block · Finality

The rules and incentives that let distributed participants agree on a valid transaction history.

Related: Proof of stake · Proof of work

A programmable public blockchain used for smart contracts, tokens, and decentralised applications.

Related: Gas · Smart contract

The point at which a network treats a transaction or block as practically or cryptographically irreversible.

Related: Confirmation · Consensus

The unit used to measure computational work and calculate transaction fees on networks such as Ethereum.

Related: Transaction fee · Ethereum

A consensus family in which validators place capital at risk and participate in proposing and confirming network history.

Related: Consensus · Validator

A consensus family that uses costly computation to make block production competitive and attacks expensive.

Related: Bitcoin · Consensus

A participant that checks transactions and helps a proof-of-stake network agree on its history.

Related: Proof of stake · Consensus

Financial applications implemented through smart contracts, often allowing users to trade, lend, or borrow directly from a wallet.

Related: Smart contract · Liquidity

The available depth for buying, selling, borrowing, or redeeming an asset without a large price impact.

Related: DeFi · Slippage

A token whose identifier and metadata distinguish it from otherwise interchangeable units.

Related: Token · Smart contract

A digitally represented unit created and managed by a protocol or smart contract.

Related: NFT · Smart contract

The speed and magnitude of price changes over time. High volatility increases both opportunity and loss risk.

Related: Liquidity · Slippage

Secret signing material that proves authority over a blockchain account. Anyone with the key can usually authorise its transactions.

Related: Address · Seed phrase

A human-readable backup from which a wallet can derive its private keys. Exposure usually means loss of control.

Related: Private key · Hardware wallet