A complete summary of key cryptocurrency terms

A complete summary of key cryptocurrency terms

The cryptocurrency market is experiencing cautious optimism following major events such as the Bitcoin halving and ETF approval.

Changes in U.S. interest rate policy, international regulatory trends, and geopolitical tensions present both opportunities and risks to markets.

nevertheless, Cryptocurrencyis no longer an asset class that only a select few investors are interested in. 

It is deeply embedded in our daily lives, being used for convenience store payments, online shopping, overseas remittances, NFT transactions, game item purchases, and even salary and real estate transactions.

In particular, the MZ generation recognizes coins as a currency of the digital age, beyond a simple investment tool. Now, it has become important to accurately understand basic terms and concepts, as well as price fluctuations that are reported in the news.

In this article, we will systematically organize the core cryptocurrency terms so that even beginners can easily learn them. Let’s learn them together step by step.  

1. Basic Coin/Token Terms

• Circulating Supply: The amount of coins that are actually tradable on the market.
• Market Cap: Market size is expressed as the product of the total issuance of coins and the current price.
• Token: Digital assets issued on other blockchains, e.g. Uniswap (UNI), Chainlink (LINK).
• Coin: Cryptocurrencies with independent blockchains, e.g. Bitcoin, Solana.
• Cryptocurrency: Digital currencies based on cryptography, e.g. Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH).

2. Investment-related terms

• Rice cake topper/rice cake drop: A situation where prices rise (suddenly rise) or fall (suddenly fall).
• Johnver: An abbreviation for 'holding tight', referring to a long-term holding strategy.
• Water ride: A method to lower the average unit price by purchasing additional coins that are losing money.
• Cut loss/cut profit: Selling at a loss (cut loss) / Selling at a profit (cut profit).
• Gimp: Kimchi premium, a phenomenon in which Korean exchange prices are higher than overseas prices.
• Bear Market: Meaning when the market is in a downtrend.
• Bull Market: This means when the market is in an upward trend.
• Good news/bad news: A factor that causes prices to rise (good news) or fall (bad news).

3. Technical Terms

• DAO(Decentralized Autonomous Organization): A blockchain organization that operates through voting without a central administrator.
• DApp(DApp): Decentralized applications that operate on blockchain.
• Smart Contract: A contract that is automatically executed when conditions are met, mainly used in Ethereum.
• Public/Private Key: A unique key pair used for transactions. Private keys should never be shared.
• Wallet: A tool for safely storing cryptocurrency, available in hardware, software, and mobile forms.
• Blockchain: A technology in which transaction records are distributed and stored in block units.

4. Exchange and trading related

• liquidity: An indicator of how easy it is to buy and sell coins.
• Slippage: The difference between the estimated price at the time of ordering and the actual transaction price.
• Spread: The price difference between the buy and sell orders.
• Market: Market based on trading pair, e.g. BTC/USDT market.
• Decentralized Exchange (DEX): Smart contract-based exchanges such as Uniswap and PancakeSwap.
• Centralized Exchange (CEX): Trading platforms managed by central institutions, such as Upbit and Binance.

5. Trading Terms

• Liquidation: A situation where a position is forcibly closed due to insufficient collateral.
• Position: This refers to the direction taken by investors, and is divided into long or short.
• Leverage: A high-risk method of expanding transactions beyond one's own capital.
• Short: A strategy that bets on selling when the price is expected to fall.
• Long: An investment method that involves buying stocks in the expectation that the price will rise.

6. DeFi related

• TVL(Total Value Locked): The total value of assets deposited in DeFi protocols.
• Yield Farming: A strategy to deposit assets in DeFi and earn interest or rewards.
• Staking: A method of depositing coins and receiving rewards.
• DeFi: Decentralized finance, providing financial services without intermediaries.

7. NFT/Metaverse Terminology

• Metaverse: As a virtual world platform, active integration with NFT.
• Profile Picture (PFP): A type of NFT mainly used as social media profile pictures, e.g. BAYC, CryptoPunks.
• Minting: The process of creating a new NFT.
• NFT(Non-Fungible Token): Used to prove ownership of digital assets with non-fungible tokens.

8. Project/Coin Analysis Terms

• Community: A user network supporting the project, mostly active on Discord or X.
• Roadmap: The project's future development and operation schedule.
• Tokenomics: A concept that analyzes the issuance, distribution, and economic structure of tokens.
• White Paper: An official document containing the project's goals, technologies, plans, etc.

9. Terms related to Memecoin

Meme Coin

Cryptocurrencies born from internet memes, humor, and community culture. Based on community popularity or buzz rather than actual use. Examples: Dogecoin (DOGE), Shiba Inu (SHIB).

• Pumping: An act of artificially inflating the price. Common in the Memcoin community.
• Dumping: A situation where the price plummets due to large-scale selling after pumping.
• FOMO(Fear Of Missing Out): A psychology of buying hastily due to fear of missing opportunities in a rising market. Often seen in memcoin investments.
• Lunatics·SHIBArmy: The name of a specific meme coin fandom or community. Indicates the unity and influence of the community.

10. Security and Fraud Terms

• Airdrop: Beware of marketing methods that distribute coins for free, and be confused with scams.
• Scam: Refers to fraudulent coins or projects.
• Rug Pull: A fraudulent act in which a project team embezzles funds and disappears.
• Phishing: A fraudulent technique aimed at stealing private keys or passwords.

finish

Cryptocurrency is no longer a simple investment product, but is becoming the center of a new digital ecosystem. Technology is evolving rapidly, and the 'basics' of understanding new technologies and market trends have become more important.

The terms introduced in this article are like an entrance to the world of cryptocurrency. At first, they may feel unfamiliar and difficult, but as you learn them one by one, information in the news will become easier to understand, and you will gain confidence in investing and utilizing them.

In the future, this world will become bigger and more people will participate. In order to take the lead in it, you need to establish a solid understanding of terminology and concepts, right?

Let's start learning one by one, step by step, from now on. The future of cryptocurrency will give us greater opportunities when we are prepared.