Glossary

An airdrop is a distribution of cryptocurrency tokens to wallet addresses to reward users, bootstrap a community, or decentralize protocol governance.

ASIC mining uses chips purpose-built for one hash algorithm, most often SHA-256. Bitcoin’s network relies almost entirely on ASICs.

Bitcoin halving is a protocol rule that cuts each mining reward in half every 210,000 blocks (roughly four years) until the 21M supply cap.

A distributed digital ledger that records transactions across a network, with each block cryptographically linked to the previous one for security.

A collateral token is a cryptocurrency pledged inside a DeFi lending protocol to secure a borrowed position, with automatic liquidation if its value falls below a threshold.

A cold wallet is an offline crypto storage method that keeps private keys disconnected from the internet, reducing the risk of hacking and unauthorized access.

A consensus algorithm is a protocol that lets a distributed network agree on which block is added next, securing the blockchain without a central authority.

A crypto ETF is an exchange-traded fund that holds cryptocurrency directly or via futures, letting investors access digital assets through brokerage accounts.

A central bank digital currency (CBDC) is digital money issued as a direct liability of a central bank, available in retail or wholesale forms.

Cross-chain is the ability to move data or assets between separate blockchains via bridges, messaging protocols, or interoperability networks.

A decentralized application that runs its backend on a blockchain via smart contracts, combining on-chain logic with a standard web front-end.

Decentralized finance leverages blockchain protocols and smart contracts to enable lending, trading, and borrowing without banks or traditional intermediaries.

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) lets computers across locations validate transactions and update records simultaneously across a synchronized network.

An Ethereum technical standard defining a common interface for fungible tokens, specifying six core methods and two events so wallets, exchanges, and contracts can interact with any token uniformly.

ERC-721 is Ethereum’s non-fungible token standard. Each token has a unique uint256 tokenId so assets like art, collectibles, and deeds can be uniquely owned.

The Ethereum Virtual Machine is the runtime environment that executes smart-contract bytecode across every Ethereum node, using a 256-bit stack architecture and gas-metered computation.

A gas fee is the transaction cost paid to Ethereum validators for the computational effort needed to process and confirm blockchain operations.

A hot wallet is an internet-connected crypto wallet for fast transactions and DeFi access, but it carries higher security risks than offline storage.

Hash rate measures the total computational power miners use to process and validate transactions on a proof-of-work blockchain like Bitcoin.

A Layer 1 is the base blockchain layer that settles its own transactions, enforces its own consensus, and secures its own ledger. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana.

A Layer 2 is a secondary blockchain built on top of Ethereum that bundles transactions off-chain and posts compressed data back to the main chain, cutting fees and raising throughput.

Bitcoin’s layer-2 protocol routing off-chain payments through bidirectional channels secured by HTLCs, settling in milliseconds at fractions of a cent.

MegaETH is a high-performance Ethereum Layer-2 blockchain built on the OP Stack, targeting sub-10ms block times and over 100,000 transactions per second using node specialization and EigenDA.

A non-fungible token is a unique blockchain-based asset that verifies ownership of digital or physical items such as art, collectibles, or real-world assets.

A smart contract is a self-executing program stored on a blockchain that automatically enforces agreement terms when predefined conditions are met, without intermediaries.

A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency tied to a reserve asset like the US dollar, designed to maintain a stable value for trading, payments, and transfers.

Staking is the process of locking cryptocurrency in a proof-of-stake network to help validate transactions and earn rewards, replacing energy-intensive mining.

TRC-20 is the TRON blockchain‘s smart-contract token standard for fungible tokens. It is fully compatible with Ethereum’s ERC-20 at the interface level and powers most on-chain USDT circulation.