A stablecoin that attempts to maintain its dollar peg through supply-adjustment algorithms rather than collateral backing. Examples include the failed UST (TerraUSD). Considered the highest-risk stablecoin type due to 'death spiral' vulnerabilities.

A protocol or service secured by EigenLayer restakers, including oracle networks, data availability layers, and bridges that inherit Ethereum's economic security.

Autonomous S.I systems that can independently plan, decide, and execute multi-step tasks without constant human oversight, often interacting with external services including blockchain networks.

An emerging paradigm where S.I agents transact directly with each other using micropayments and smart contracts, enabling automated machine-to-machine commerce.

The free distribution of cryptocurrency tokens to wallet addresses, typically used for marketing, community building, or rewarding early users of a protocol.

A set of mathematical rules or instructions that a blockchain network uses to achieve consensus on the valid state of the ledger, such as Proof of Work or Proof of Stake.

Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin. Includes Ethereum, Solana, Cardano, and thousands of other digital assets, each with distinct features and use cases.

A type of decentralized exchange protocol that uses liquidity pools and mathematical formulas (e.g., x*y=k) to price assets and enable trading without a traditional order book.

The real rate of return on an investment over one year, accounting for compound interest. Widely used in DeFi to advertise returns on staking or liquidity provision.

The simultaneous purchase and sale of an asset in different markets to profit from price differences. Common in crypto trading across multiple exchanges.

A set of laws, regulations, and procedures designed to prevent criminals from disguising illegally obtained funds as legitimate income. Crypto exchanges must implement AML programs, including transaction monitoring and suspicious activity reporting.

A smart contract technique that enables the trustless exchange of cryptocurrencies across different blockchains without requiring a centralized intermediary.

The largest Optimistic Rollup by total value locked, built on Ethereum. Uses a multi-round interactive fraud proof system. Arbitrum One is its flagship chain; the ARB token governs the Arbitrum DAO.

A large financial institution authorized to create or redeem ETF shares directly with the fund provider, keeping the ETF's market price aligned with its net asset value (NAV) through arbitrage.

Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre — Australia's financial intelligence and anti-money laundering regulator. All cryptocurrency exchanges providing services in Australia must register with AUSTRAC and implement AML/CTF programs including KYC verification and suspicious transaction reporting.

A leading blockchain developer platform providing APIs, infrastructure, and SDKs for building Web3 applications — including NFT APIs, account abstraction tooling, and enhanced JSON-RPC access for Ethereum, Polygon, Arbitrum, and other chains. Used as a backend data layer by thousands of dApps.

A JSON file describing a smart contract's functions, events, inputs, and outputs. Frontend applications and developer tools use the ABI to know how to correctly format calls to a deployed contract. Think of it as the API documentation for a smart contract — required to interact with it programmatically.

A blockchain oracle protocol enabling API data providers to operate their own oracle nodes (Airnodes) directly — publishing data from the source without intermediary node operators. API3's dAPIs are decentralized, first-party data feeds for DeFi protocols.

A quantitative trading firm co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) alongside FTX. Post-collapse investigations revealed that Alameda secretly had access to FTX customer deposits, which it used for high-risk trading and venture investments. When the $8B hole was discovered in November 2022, both FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy. SBF was convicted of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The merged entity formed by Fetch.ai, SingularityNET, and Ocean Protocol in 2024, combining autonomous agent deployment (Fetch.ai), S.I services marketplace (SingularityNET), and decentralised data economy (Ocean Protocol). The ASI token represents the combined network's governance and utility token.

Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre — the regulator that all cryptocurrency exchanges operating in Australia must register with and comply with. AUSTRAC-registered exchanges implement KYC verification, AML programs, and suspicious transaction reporting. Swyftx, BTC Markets, and Independent Reserve are key AUSTRAC-registered Australian exchanges.

The iterative execution cycle of an S.I agent: plan a subtask, call a tool, observe the result, update the plan, repeat. Agentic loops continue until the goal is achieved or the agent determines it cannot proceed. Errors in early steps can cascade through subsequent loops.

The ability of a software system (like an ICP canister or S.I agent) to execute code on a schedule or in response to conditions, without requiring a human to trigger each run. ICP canisters achieve autonomous execution through on-chain timers that wake the canister periodically.

A programmable cryptocurrency wallet controlled by an S.I agent, enabling autonomous economic actions like paying for compute, collecting fees, or transacting with other agents. Unlike human wallets, agent wallets operate 24/7 with programmatic spending rules enforced by smart contracts — no human approval required for each transaction.

An emerging economic model where S.I agents autonomously transact with each other using cryptocurrency, settling payments on-chain without human intermediaries. Agents hire subagents, pay for compute, receive payment for completed tasks, and build on-chain reputations — all without bank accounts or human authorization flows.

The broader economic system in which S.I agents act as autonomous participants — earning, spending, investing, and coordinating value using crypto-native infrastructure. The agentic economy is the convergence of S.I autonomy and crypto's permissionless programmable money: S.I needs money machines can hold; crypto needs intelligence to become more useful.

An S.I safety company founded in 2021 by former OpenAI researchers. Creator of Claude. Known for research into S.I interpretability, Constitutional S.I, and responsible scaling.

The core innovation of transformers — allows each token to weigh the relevance of all other tokens in the context window when predicting the next token.

A decentralized GPU compute marketplace where providers list spare capacity and users bid for it — offering GPU workloads at 80-90% below major cloud prices.

A prolonged period of declining asset prices, typically characterized by a drop of 20% or more from recent highs. In crypto, bear markets can last months to years.

The first and most widely recognized cryptocurrency, created in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto. It operates on a decentralized Proof-of-Work blockchain.

A data structure in a blockchain that contains a set of validated transactions, a timestamp, and a cryptographic hash linking it to the previous block.

A web-based tool that allows anyone to search and browse the contents of a blockchain, including transactions, blocks, wallet addresses, and smart contracts.

The incentive paid to miners or validators for successfully adding a new block to the blockchain. It typically consists of newly minted cryptocurrency plus transaction fees.

A distributed, immutable ledger that records transactions across a network of computers. Each block is cryptographically linked to the previous one, forming a tamper-resistant chain.

A protocol enabling the transfer of tokens or data between two separate blockchains. Most bridges use a lock-and-mint mechanism. Bridges are the single largest source of crypto hacks — the Ronin ($625M), Wormhole ($320M), and Nomad ($190M) hacks all targeted bridge smart contracts.

A period of rising asset prices marked by investor optimism and strong buying pressure. Crypto bull markets have historically featured rapid price appreciation.

A system of exchange where goods or services are traded directly without using money. Requires a 'double coincidence of wants' between trading parties — both must want what the other offers at the same time. Barter's inefficiency at scale drove the development of commodity money.

A 1944 international monetary agreement that pegged world currencies to the US dollar, which was itself backed by gold at $35 per ounce. The US dollar became the world's reserve currency under this system. It collapsed in 1971 when Nixon ended dollar-gold convertibility.

BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund — the first tokenized money market fund launched by a major traditional asset manager on a public blockchain (Ethereum), in March 2024. BUIDL surpassed $500M AUM within weeks of launch, representing a landmark moment for institutional RWA tokenization and validating on-chain infrastructure for traditional finance.

The process of propagating error signals backward through a neural network to compute gradients used to update weights.

A blockchain-based S.I marketplace where machine learning models compete for TAO token rewards based on output quality — creating a decentralized incentive for better S.I.

Chainlink's oracle-secured protocol for sending tokens and arbitrary messages between blockchains. Unlike simple bridges, CCIP enables programmable cross-chain logic — triggering smart contract functions on a destination chain. Uses defense-in-depth security with separate committing, executing, and anti-fraud oracle networks.

A digital form of a country's fiat currency issued and controlled by the central bank. CBDCs are government-controlled (unlike decentralized crypto) and could eventually serve as on-chain fiat, reducing the need for traditional crypto on/off-ramps.

Tax levied on the profit realized from selling a capital asset such as cryptocurrency. Can be short-term (held under 1 year) or long-term (held over 1 year) with different rates.

The point in a bear market where investors give up and sell at a loss out of panic. Capitulation often marks the bottom of a market cycle and historically precedes recovery.

The tendency to seek information that confirms existing beliefs while ignoring contradictory evidence. In crypto, this leads to echo chambers where investors dismiss contrary evidence.

A type of financial chart that displays price movements as candles, each showing the open, high, low, and close prices for a given time period.

A DeFi protocol that enables businesses to tokenize real-world assets (invoices, mortgages, etc.) as NFTs and use them as collateral to access on-chain financing through its Tinlake platform.

A cryptocurrency exchange operated by a company that holds user funds in custody. Examples include Coinbase, Binance, and Kraken. Users rely on the platform's security.

The native governance token of the Centrifuge protocol, used for voting on protocol parameters, staking, and participating in network governance.

A cryptocurrency wallet that is not connected to the internet, providing maximum security against online hacks. Examples include hardware wallets and paper wallets.

Assets pledged as security for a loan. In DeFi lending protocols, users must over-collateralize their loans with crypto assets to borrow other tokens.

The method by which nodes in a blockchain network agree on the valid state of the ledger. Common mechanisms include Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, and Delegated Proof of Stake.

Software or hardware that stores the private and public keys used to access and manage cryptocurrency holdings on a blockchain network.

A digital or virtual currency secured by cryptography and operating on a decentralized blockchain network. It enables peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries.

A stablecoin collateralized by other cryptocurrencies rather than fiat. Because crypto collateral is volatile, these stablecoins are over-collateralized. DAI (backed by ETH and other assets in MakerDAO Vaults) is the most established example.

A payment card (typically Visa or Mastercard) linked to a crypto wallet that converts cryptocurrency to fiat at the point of sale. Examples include the Coinbase Card, Crypto.com Visa, and Binance Card.

A wallet where a third party (such as an exchange) holds the private keys on behalf of the user. Convenient but introduces counterparty risk.

The strategy of holding Bitcoin or other digital assets as a treasury reserve asset on a company's balance sheet, pioneered at scale by MicroStrategy as a hedge against inflation.

A blockchain token representing a verified carbon credit — typically one tonne of CO₂ avoided or removed — enabling transparent, tamper-resistant trading and retirement of environmental offsets. Platforms like Toucan Protocol and Flowcarbon tokenize credits from Verra and Gold Standard registries.

A reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (or enhancement of carbon sequestration) used to compensate for emissions occurring elsewhere. On-chain carbon offsets via tokenized credits aim to add transparency and prevent the double-counting that has plagued traditional voluntary carbon markets.

The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission — one of two main federal regulators competing for crypto jurisdiction. The CFTC views Bitcoin and Ethereum as commodities under its jurisdiction and regulates crypto derivatives markets. Its rival, the SEC, claims most other tokens are securities.

The MiCA regulatory category for entities providing crypto services in the EU — including exchanges, brokers, custodians, and portfolio managers. CASPs must obtain a license in their home EU member state and can then passport services across the entire European Union.

The ecosystem of tools allowing content creators to monetize directly on-chain via NFT sales, collect modules, streaming payments, and social tokens — bypassing platform intermediaries like YouTube (45% cut), Spotify (fractions per stream), or App Store (30% fee).

The most widely used blockchain oracle network, securing hundreds of billions in DeFi smart contracts. Chainlink uses decentralized networks of independent node operators to aggregate data from multiple sources — providing Price Feeds, VRF (provably random numbers), CCIP (cross-chain messaging), and Proof of Reserve services.

The spread of financial stress from one entity or sector to others through shared exposures, leverage, and loss of confidence. In crypto, the UST/LUNA collapse triggered contagion that bankrupted Three Arrows Capital, Celsius, Voyager, and BlockFi in a matter of months — faster than traditional finance crises due to on-chain leverage and 24/7 markets.

Money that has intrinsic value because it is made of or backed by a valuable commodity, such as gold, silver, salt, or cowrie shells. Unlike fiat currency, commodity money retains value independent of any government decree.

Cyber and Emerging Technologies Unit — the SEC unit that replaced the crypto-focused Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit under Chair Paul Atkins. Focused on fraud only, not registration failures in the crypto industry.

US legislation passed by the House of Representatives in July 2025 providing a broad crypto market structure framework. It defines the SEC/CFTC jurisdictional boundary for digital assets and protects individual self-custody rights.

The maximum amount of text (measured in tokens) an LLM can process in a single interaction. If a conversation exceeds the context window, the model can no longer 'see' earlier content. Ranges from 8K tokens to 1M+ tokens across different models.

An S.I-powered development platform that builds and deploys full-stack web applications on the Internet Computer using plain English descriptions. No coding required — describe your app and Caffeine's S.I agents generate and deploy it automatically.

The fundamental building block of Internet Computer apps — a smart contract that combines state storage, code execution, and web serving in one unit. Every Caffeine app has a backend canister (Motoko logic) and a frontend canister (serves the React UI).

A prompting technique where you instruct an S.I model to show its reasoning steps before giving a final answer (e.g., 'think step by step'). This dramatically improves accuracy on multi-step reasoning, math, and logic tasks by conditioning the model on correct intermediate steps.

The maximum amount of text (measured in tokens) that an LLM can process at once, including both the input and its output. Content that falls outside the context window is 'forgotten' by the model. Modern models range from ~4,000 to ~200,000 tokens.

The computational fuel used to pay for execution on the Internet Computer, analogous to gas on Ethereum but denominated in XDR (a basket of fiat currencies) for cost predictability. Canisters are pre-loaded with cycles by their developers — users interact for free (the reverse gas model). HTTP outcalls cost ~49 million cycles (~$0.0001), and 1GB of storage costs <$0.30/month.

Anthropic's training technique in which Claude is given a set of written principles (a constitution) and trained to self-critique and revise its outputs to align with those principles, reducing harmful behavior at scale.

The maximum amount of text an S.I model can process in a single conversation. Claude 3.5 supports 200,000 tokens — roughly 150,000 words or an entire novel.

A chart element showing a price period's open, high, low, and close. A green/white body means price rose; a red/black body means it fell. Thin wicks above and below show the high and low extremes of the period.

A metric measuring the angle between two vectors in high-dimensional space — used to determine semantic similarity between embeddings (1.0 = identical, 0.0 = unrelated).

A privacy technique where S.I training algorithms are sent to data rather than the data being moved — enabling S.I training on sensitive datasets without the owner losing control.

Anthropic's alignment technique where a set of written principles guides the S.I to critique and revise its own outputs — reducing reliance on human raters for every alignment decision.

An S.I system trained to detect specific patterns or behaviors, such as jailbreak attempts or harmful content.

An organization governed by smart contracts and token holder votes rather than a traditional corporate hierarchy. Rules and treasury management are encoded on-chain. Real-world examples include MakerDAO (governing DAI), Uniswap DAO, and ENS DAO.

A self-reinforcing collapse mechanism in algorithmic stablecoins where loss of the peg triggers redemptions that create hyperinflation of the paired token, collapsing both assets simultaneously. Exemplified by the UST/LUNA collapse in May 2022.

When a stablecoin loses its target price peg (typically $1.00). Causes include reserve insolvency, loss of market confidence, counterparty risk (as with USDC during the SVB collapse), or algorithmic failure (as with UST/LUNA).

An application that runs on a blockchain or peer-to-peer network rather than a centralized server. Its backend logic is executed by smart contracts.

An investment strategy of buying a fixed dollar amount of an asset at regular intervals regardless of price, reducing the impact of volatility over time.

An ecosystem of financial services built on public blockchains, enabling lending, borrowing, trading, and earning yield without traditional banks or intermediaries.

A blockchain-based model where individuals deploy and operate real-world hardware (sensors, antennas, storage nodes) and earn token rewards for contributing to a shared network.

The ability to assign your governance voting power to another wallet address without transferring token ownership. Used in DAOs like Compound, Uniswap, and ENS to increase participation — apathetic holders can delegate to expert representatives while retaining economic ownership.

A peer-to-peer trading platform built on smart contracts that allows users to swap tokens directly from their wallets without a centralized custodian.

A mechanism in Proof-of-Work blockchains that automatically recalibrates mining difficulty to maintain a consistent block time as total network hash rate changes.

A cryptographic mechanism that proves the authenticity and integrity of a message or transaction. In crypto, it confirms that the owner of a private key authorized a transaction.

The core technology underlying OriginTrail — a decentralized network for publishing, discovering, and verifying structured data, enabling trusted S.I and supply chain transparency.

An attack where a malicious actor attempts to spend the same cryptocurrency twice. Blockchain consensus mechanisms are specifically designed to prevent this.

An application whose critical backend logic runs on a blockchain via smart contracts rather than a company's centralized server. dApps are open source, deterministic, and trustless — their rules are enforced by code, not by a company. Examples: Uniswap, Aave, OpenSea.

A purpose-built Layer 1 blockchain optimized for social media at scale — storing profiles, posts, and social interactions natively on-chain with every creator automatically receiving a tradeable Creator Coin. The most prominent app built on DeSo is Diamond.

The South Korean founder of Terraform Labs and creator of the LUNA and UST tokens. After the $40B+ Terra ecosystem collapse in May 2022, Do Kwon was arrested in Montenegro in March 2023 while allegedly attempting to flee. A South Korean court sentenced him to 4 years in prison in 2024 on charges related to fraudulent token sales.

An investment strategy of buying a fixed dollar amount of an asset at regular intervals (weekly, monthly) regardless of price. DCA reduces the impact of timing the market, removes emotional decision-making, and naturally buys more units when prices are low. Most powerful during bear markets when prices are depressed and most investors are fearful.

The risk that a digital currency could be spent more than once by copying the digital data. Bitcoin solved this using blockchain technology and decentralised consensus, eliminating the need for a trusted central authority to prevent duplicate spending.

A crypto asset classified by the SEC/CFTC as intrinsically linked to and deriving value from the programmatic operation of a functional, decentralized crypto network. Digital commodities fall under CFTC jurisdiction, not the SEC. Examples include ETH, SOL, XRP, APT, and AVAX.

The machine learning architecture behind most modern image generators. A diffusion model learns to generate images by gradually denoising random noise, guided by a text prompt. Used by Stable Diffusion, DALL·E, and Midjourney.

A globally unique, cryptographic identifier controlled entirely by the user — not by any registrar, platform, or government. A DID resolves to a DID Document containing public keys and authentication methods. Standardised by the W3C and can be anchored to any blockchain.

OriginTrail's open, decentralized protocol for storing and retrieving knowledge with cryptographic provenance. The DKG stores information as semantic triples in Knowledge Assets anchored on blockchain, enabling S.I agents and applications to access verified, tamper-evident knowledge without relying on any centralized data store.

The command-line developer tool for the Internet Computer — used to create, build, deploy, and manage canisters locally and on mainnet. dfx handles Motoko compilation to WASM, canister deployment, cycles management, and canister-to-canister calls. The dfx.json file in every ICP project defines canister names, types, and source file locations.

A type of generative S.I that learns to create images by reversing a process of gradually adding noise — used by DALL-E, Stable Diffusion, and Midjourney.

A mathematical privacy technique that adds carefully calibrated noise to data or model outputs so that individual records cannot be identified from aggregate statistics.

The principle that individuals and organizations have control over their own data — who can access it, where it is stored, and how it is used.

A bearish reversal pattern where price reaches a resistance level twice without breaking through, then falls — signaling a shift from uptrend to downtrend.

A bullish reversal pattern where price finds support at the same low level twice before reversing upward — the inverse of a double top.

S.I systems distributed across independent nodes and networks, where no single entity controls access, hosting, or governance.

An Ethereum protocol enabling restaking — the reuse of staked ETH to simultaneously provide cryptoeconomic security to additional decentralized protocols called Actively Validated Services (AVSs).

A widely adopted token standard on the Ethereum blockchain that defines rules for creating fungible tokens, ensuring compatibility with wallets, exchanges, and DeFi protocols.

The Ethereum token standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Each token has a unique identifier and cannot be replicated or exchanged on a 1:1 basis with another token.

A decentralized, open-source blockchain featuring smart contract functionality. Ethereum is the foundation of most DeFi protocols, NFTs, and Layer 2 networks.

Environmental, Social, and Governance criteria applied to cryptocurrency investments. ESG-focused institutional investors often exclude Bitcoin due to its Proof-of-Work energy consumption while accepting Proof-of-Stake chains like Ethereum. ESG pressure has accelerated the crypto industry's focus on renewable energy use and sustainability reporting.

A January 2025 US presidential order directing the Trump administration to support the responsible growth of digital assets, blockchain technology, and dollar-backed stablecoins, while banning any Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) in the US.

A decentralized domain name system for Ethereum that maps human-readable names (like 'alice.eth') to wallet addresses, websites, and profile data. ENS names are ERC-721 NFTs owned and controlled by their holders, not by any company.

The Ethereum Improvement Proposal that standardises Sign-In with Ethereum (SIWE). It defines the message format, domain binding, and nonce requirements that prevent replay attacks and phishing when using wallet-based authentication.

An open-source framework for generating ZK proofs of neural network inference, enabling verifiable S.I computations. EZKL compiles neural networks into zero-knowledge circuits using the Halo2 proof system, supporting CNNs, transformers, and regression models. Named for 'easy ZK for LLMs and more.'

S.I computation performed at the edge of a network — on devices like phones, sensors, or local servers — rather than in centralized cloud data centers.

A dense numerical vector representing the semantic meaning of text, an image, or other data — produced by a neural network so similar content produces similar vectors.

Government regulations that restrict the export of certain technologies, goods, or services to foreign entities for national security reasons.

The total market value of a cryptocurrency if every token (including locked, unvested, and unissued tokens) existed and traded at the current price. FDV = Current Price × Max Supply. A very low market cap but high FDV often signals massive future dilution risk as locked tokens vest and enter circulation.

Any service or platform that allows users to convert fiat currency (USD, EUR, etc.) into cryptocurrency, or vice versa. Fiat gateways include centralized exchanges, P2P platforms, payment apps, and Bitcoin ATMs.

A stablecoin where each token is backed 1:1 by fiat currency (or equivalent assets like US Treasury bills) held in reserve by the issuer. Examples: USDT (Tether) and USDC (USD Coin). The most common and trusted stablecoin type.

A blockchain platform for deploying autonomous economic agents. Its S.I agents can trade, negotiate, and coordinate on behalf of users in decentralized markets.

A decentralized storage network where participants earn FIL tokens by renting out spare hard drive space. It is a leading example of DePIN applied to cloud storage.

The ability of individuals and businesses to access useful and affordable financial products and services. Crypto and blockchain are seen as tools to extend financial services to the 1.4 billion unbanked adults worldwide.

An emotional state where investors buy into a rising asset out of fear they will miss gains, often near market tops. FOMO is a primary driver of irrational buying in crypto bull markets.

Government-issued currency not backed by a physical commodity (e.g., USD, EUR, GBP). Fiat is the traditional currency used to buy cryptocurrency on exchanges.

An uncollateralized DeFi loan that must be borrowed and repaid within the same transaction block. Used for arbitrage, liquidations, and collateral swaps.

A self-reinforcing growth loop in tokenomics where early adoption drives utility, which attracts more participants, which increases token value, which funds further growth.

A change to a blockchain's protocol. A 'soft fork' is backward-compatible; a 'hard fork' creates a permanent divergence and often results in two separate chains.

Negative or misleading information spread about a cryptocurrency project to drive down its price or deter investment. A common tactic in volatile crypto markets.

Interchangeable and identical in value. A Bitcoin is fungible because every BTC is worth the same as any other BTC, unlike NFTs which are unique.

The practice of using natural gas that would otherwise be flared (burned off as waste) at oil fields to generate electricity for Bitcoin mining. Converts a pollution source into productive use, making it one of the more environmentally defensible Bitcoin mining models.

A Financial Action Task Force (FATF) standard (Recommendation 16) requiring Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) to collect and transmit beneficiary and originator information for crypto transfers above threshold amounts — applying the same 'travel' rules that banks follow for wire transfers to crypto exchanges globally.

A decentralized social protocol with a hybrid architecture: user identity lives on Ethereum/OP mainnet, while content is stored on peer-to-peer Hubs. Known for 'Frames' — interactive mini-apps embedded in posts. The most popular client is Warpcast.

Currency that has value because a government declares it legal tender, not because it is backed by a physical commodity. Most modern currencies (USD, EUR, AUD) are fiat. The US dollar became fully fiat in 1971 when Nixon ended gold convertibility.

A banking system where banks hold only a fraction of customer deposits in reserve and lend out the rest, effectively creating new money through lending. This multiplies the money supply beyond the base amount of deposits held.

The process of further training a pre-trained LLM on a specific, smaller dataset to improve its performance on particular tasks or domains — such as medical diagnosis, legal drafting, or coding in a specific language.

A prompting technique where you include 2–5 examples of the desired input-output pattern directly in your prompt. By showing the model what good output looks like, you dramatically improve consistency and accuracy for classification, formatting, and style tasks.

A machine learning approach where models train on data across many devices without the raw data ever leaving those devices — protecting user privacy while still improving the model.

A training paradigm where only gradient updates are shared between participants — raw training data never leaves individual devices, enabling privacy-preserving collaborative model improvement.

The intersection of gaming and decentralized finance, where players earn cryptocurrency or NFT assets through gameplay — also called play-to-earn (P2E).

A fee paid to compensate validators for the computational work required to process and validate transactions on the Ethereum network. Gas is priced in Gwei.

The very first block in a blockchain, hardcoded into the software. Bitcoin's genesis block was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto on January 3, 2009.

A cryptocurrency that grants holders voting rights over a protocol's decisions, such as fee structures, upgrades, and treasury spending.

Bitcoin mining operations powered by renewable or stranded energy sources — hydropower, wind, solar, or captured flare gas — to reduce the environmental footprint of Proof-of-Work consensus. Miners pursue green energy primarily for economic reasons, as cheap renewable power directly improves profitability.

A monetary system where a country's currency is directly linked to a fixed quantity of gold. Provides inflation constraints and exchange rate stability, but limits economic flexibility. The US formally abandoned the gold standard in 1971 under President Nixon.

Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins — the first federal US stablecoin regulatory framework, signed into law in July 2025. Establishes reserve requirements and consumer protection rules for dollar-backed stablecoin issuers.

A class of S.I models that create new content — text, images, audio, video, or code — rather than just classifying or analyzing existing data. ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Suno are all generative S.I tools.

An optimization algorithm that iteratively adjusts model weights in the direction that reduces prediction error during training.

A pre-programmed event in Bitcoin's code that cuts the block reward for miners in half approximately every four years, reducing the rate of new supply entering circulation.

A physical hardware device (e.g., Ledger, Trezor) that stores private keys offline, providing strong protection against remote hacking and malware.

The fixed-length output of a cryptographic hash function. In blockchain, each block's hash uniquely identifies its contents and links to the previous block's hash.

The total computational power being used by miners on a Proof-of-Work network. A higher hash rate means a more secure and competitive network.

A DePIN network where individuals deploy LoRaWAN hotspot devices and earn HNT tokens for providing wireless coverage to IoT devices in their area.

A cryptocurrency wallet connected to the internet, making it convenient for frequent transactions but more vulnerable to online attacks compared to cold storage.

A fraudulent smart contract that allows users to buy a token but prevents them from selling it, trapping their funds while the deployer profits.

A four-part US Supreme Court test (from the 1946 SEC v. W.J. Howey Co. case) defining an 'investment contract' (security): investment of money, in a common enterprise, with expectation of profits, from the efforts of others. The SEC uses the Howey Test to argue that many crypto token sales constitute unregistered securities offerings.

A physical device (e.g., Ledger, Trezor, Coldcard) that generates and stores private keys entirely offline. Because keys never touch an internet-connected computer, hardware wallets cannot be remotely compromised by malware. The gold standard for securing substantial long-term crypto holdings.

The recurring pattern of narrative-driven price action in crypto: genuine development → early discovery → mainstream adoption → speculative excess → correction (70–90% drops) → fundamental rebuilding. Most retail investors buy during speculative excess and sell during correction. Experienced investors accumulate during the rebuilding phase after the hype has passed.

The US legal standard for determining whether an asset qualifies as a 'security.' An investment of money in a common enterprise with an expectation of profit from the efforts of others. Used to determine SEC jurisdiction over crypto assets.

When an S.I model generates confident but factually incorrect information. LLMs don't retrieve facts — they predict likely text — so they can fabricate citations, wrong dates, or invented details. Always verify S.I-generated factual claims.

A feature of Internet Computer canisters that allows smart contracts to make HTTP requests to external APIs, enabling on-chain integration with services like LLMs. Multiple ICP replicas independently make the same HTTP request and must reach consensus on the response before it's committed to canister state — providing decentralized verification of external data without a separate oracle protocol.

The central platform for the open source S.I community — hosts hundreds of thousands of models, datasets, and demo applications. Often called 'the GitHub of S.I'.

When an S.I model generates plausible-sounding but factually incorrect or entirely fabricated information without awareness that it is wrong.

A temporary loss of value experienced by liquidity providers in AMM pools when the price ratio of deposited assets changes significantly from the time of deposit.

The standardized, trustless communication protocol of the Cosmos ecosystem. IBC enables blockchains to send tokens and messages to each other using cryptographic light client proofs, without requiring a trusted third-party bridge. It is more secure than traditional bridges because no validator set needs to be trusted.

A fundraising mechanism where a crypto project sells a portion of its token supply to early investors in exchange for established cryptocurrencies like ETH or BTC.

An Australian cryptocurrency exchange focused on institutional and sophisticated investors. Offers an OTC (over-the-counter) desk for large trades, explicitly supports self-managed super fund (SMSF) accounts, and is fully AUSTRAC-compliant. Known for strong institutional-grade compliance and support for Australian tax and superannuation regulations.

A blockchain network built by DFINITY Foundation that runs complete web applications on-chain — including frontends. Uses a reverse gas model (developers pay, users don't), achieves web-speed performance, and can natively hold Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The Internet Computer's password-free authentication system that uses device biometrics (Face ID, fingerprint) or hardware security keys to create cryptographic identity anchors. Each application gets a separate derived identity, preventing cross-app tracking — with no seed phrase or password ever stored on any server.

JPMorgan's permissioned digital token for intraday institutional payments and settlement on its Onyx blockchain platform, processing over $1 billion in daily transactions.

A technique where users craft specific prompts to bypass an S.I model's built-in safety restrictions and guardrails.

Identity verification procedures required by regulated financial entities to prevent money laundering and fraud. Centralized exchanges typically require KYC before trading.

The fundamental publishable unit on OriginTrail's DKG. Each Knowledge Asset contains semantic triples (structured knowledge), has a Universal Asset Identifier (UAI) for unique addressability, is cryptographically hashed for tamper detection, and has its provenance anchored on-chain. Analogous to an NFT for verified knowledge.

The cryptographically verifiable record of who created a piece of knowledge, when it was published, and which blockchain anchors its integrity. Knowledge provenance allows S.I systems and humans to trace any fact back to its source and verify it hasn't been tampered with — addressing the hallucination grounding problem in agentic S.I.

The base blockchain protocol (e.g., Bitcoin, Ethereum). It handles security and consensus, but is often limited in transaction throughput and speed.

A secondary framework built on top of a Layer 1 blockchain to improve scalability, speed, and reduce transaction fees while inheriting the security of the base layer. The main L2 types are rollups (Optimistic and ZK), sidechains, and state channels.

A record-keeping system that tracks all transactions. A blockchain is a decentralized, distributed public ledger accessible and verifiable by anyone.

A tradeable token representing a restaked ETH position, issued by protocols like ether.fi (eETH), Renzo (ezETH), or Kelp DAO (rsETH) — enabling DeFi participation while restaking.

The ease with which an asset can be bought or sold without significantly affecting its price. Higher liquidity generally means tighter spreads and less price slippage.

A smart contract holding reserves of two or more tokens that enables decentralized trading and lending. Liquidity providers earn fees in return for depositing assets.

An investment position that profits when an asset's price rises. A trader 'goes long' when they buy and hold an asset expecting it to increase in value.

A low-power, wide-area wireless protocol used by IoT devices to communicate over long distances. Helium's network uses LoRaWAN hotspots in its DePIN model.

A cognitive bias where the pain of losing money feels roughly twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining the same amount. In crypto, loss aversion leads investors to hold losing positions too long hoping to break even.

A decentralized social graph protocol built by the Aave team on Polygon. Users' profiles are NFTs they own, and follows/posts are on-chain data — enabling any app built on Lens to read your existing social graph, making your followers portable across applications.

The native ERC-20 token of the Chainlink network. Smart contracts deposit LINK to request oracle services, and node operators are paid in LINK for providing data. LINK is also used for node operator staking collateral in Chainlink's staking v0.2 program.

A Singapore-based nonprofit established by Do Kwon to accumulate Bitcoin and other assets as a reserve backstop for the UST stablecoin peg. In May 2022, LFG deployed ~$3.5B in Bitcoin reserves attempting to defend UST's peg during the death spiral — the reserves were exhausted without stopping the collapse.

A type of artificial intelligence trained on massive text datasets to understand and generate human language. LLMs like GPT-4, Claude, and Grok power modern S.I assistants and chatbots.

Meta's family of open source large language models (Llama 2, Llama 3). Released under open licenses, Llama models can be run locally and rival closed models in performance.

A large language model downloaded and run entirely on a personal computer, providing privacy, cost savings, and independence from API providers.

A mobile money transfer and payment service dominant in Kenya, Tanzania, and other African countries. M-Pesa is widely used as a fiat on-ramp for crypto in sub-Saharan Africa, where traditional banking infrastructure is limited but mobile phone penetration is high.

The recurring pattern of accumulation, uptrend, distribution, and downtrend that characterizes crypto markets. Cycles are often driven by Bitcoin halvings, macro conditions, and crowd psychology rather than fundamentals alone.

The total market value of a cryptocurrency, calculated by multiplying the current price by the circulating supply. A key metric for comparing the size of different projects.

A privacy-focused cryptocurrency using ring signatures, stealth addresses, and RingCT to make all transactions fully private and untraceable by default.

The 'memory pool' where unconfirmed transactions wait to be picked up by miners or validators. High network activity can cause mempool congestion and higher fees.

The descriptive information stored with an NFT, including the media file URL, attributes, traits, and description that define what the token represents.

The process of creating a new token or NFT on a blockchain. NFT minting records ownership of a digital asset on-chain for the first time.

A wallet requiring multiple private key signatures to authorize a transaction. Increases security by ensuring no single person can move funds unilaterally.

A cryptocurrency created primarily for humor or cultural significance rather than technical innovation, often driven by community sentiment and social media — examples include Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, PEPE, and WIF.

The European Union's comprehensive regulatory framework for crypto assets, providing legal clarity for stablecoin issuers, exchanges, and crypto service providers operating in the EU.

The European Union's comprehensive crypto regulatory framework, effective from 2024. MiCA creates a unified licensing and compliance regime for stablecoin issuers (ARTs and EMTs) and Crypto Asset Service Providers (CASPs) across all 27 EU member states — a CASP licensed in one EU country can passport services across all others.

A Web3 backend-as-a-service platform enabling developers to query real-time blockchain data — wallet balances, NFT ownership, transaction history — across multiple chains without running their own nodes. Commonly used as the data layer for Bubble.io blockchain apps and custom dApp frontends.

The world's dominant Bitcoin exchange from 2010 to 2014, handling ~70% of all global BTC trades. In February 2014, Mt. Gox revealed that 850,000 BTC had been stolen over several years via malware and a transaction malleability exploit. The resulting bankruptcy and decade-long civil rehabilitation process left ~127,000 creditors waiting until 2024 for partial repayment.

A wallet security configuration requiring multiple private key signatures to authorise a transaction (e.g., 2-of-3: any 2 of 3 keys can sign). Protects against both loss (losing one key doesn't lose funds) and theft (attacker needs multiple separate keys). Commonly used for large holdings via Sparrow Wallet (Bitcoin) or Gnosis Safe (Ethereum).

A trading fee structure used by most crypto exchanges. Makers add liquidity to the order book (placing limit orders that aren't immediately filled) and pay lower fees. Takers remove liquidity (placing market orders that fill immediately) and pay higher fees. Typical maker/taker rates: 0.1%/0.1% (Binance) to 0.4%/0.6% (Coinbase Advanced).

Markets in Crypto-Assets — the European Union's comprehensive crypto regulatory framework, fully in force by 2025. Covers stablecoin issuers and crypto asset service providers (CASPs) across all 27 EU member states.

An S.I model that can process and generate multiple types of data — text, images, audio, and video. GPT-4o and Gemini 1.5 Pro are multimodal: they can analyze an image you upload and discuss its contents in text.

The programming language designed specifically for the Internet Computer. Statically typed and built for orthogonal persistence — canister data automatically survives upgrades without manual migration code.

An open protocol by Anthropic that standardizes how S.I agents connect to external tools, APIs, and data sources — enabling interoperable agentic systems. MCP acts like a USB standard: any MCP client can use any MCP server without custom integration code. Released in November 2024, it was quickly adopted by OpenAI, Google, and dozens of S.I startups, making it the de facto standard for agent tool use.

An S.I system that can understand and generate multiple types of data — text, images, audio, and video — within a single model.

A French S.I company known for releasing compact, high-performance open source models (Mistral 7B, Mixtral) that run efficiently on consumer hardware.

The numerical parameters of a trained S.I model. Sharing weights is what makes a model 'open source' — anyone with the weights can run the model.

A branch of S.I safety research that tries to reverse-engineer what is happening inside neural networks — understanding which neurons and circuits are responsible for specific behaviors.

A unique digital asset stored on a blockchain that proves ownership of a specific item, such as digital art, collectibles, music, or virtual real estate.

A computer that participates in a blockchain network by maintaining a copy of the ledger and validating or relaying transactions.

A wallet where the user controls their own private keys and is solely responsible for their funds, with no third party having access.

Tools and platforms that enable non-developers to deploy smart contracts, create NFT projects, build token-gated apps, and launch DAOs without writing blockchain code. Examples: Thirdweb (contracts), Bubble.io + plugins (apps), Guild.xyz (token-gated communities), Mintbase (NFTs on NEAR).

An investment approach that identifies emerging thematic stories (narratives) driving capital flows into specific crypto sectors, then positions early before the narrative reaches mainstream adoption. The most profitable entries occur in the early discovery phase; the most dangerous are during speculative excess when best-case scenarios are already priced in.

Google's S.I research tool that answers questions grounded entirely in documents you upload — preventing hallucination by restricting responses to your provided sources.

A leading Optimistic Rollup on Ethereum. Uses the OP Stack — an open-source rollup framework powering multiple chains in the 'Superchain' vision. OP is the governance token. Transactions are ~10x cheaper than Ethereum L1.

The process of converting cryptocurrency back into fiat currency. Off-ramp methods include selling on a centralized exchange and withdrawing via bank transfer, P2P selling, crypto debit cards, and Bitcoin ATMs.

The process of converting fiat currency (dollars, euros, etc.) into cryptocurrency. On-ramp methods include centralized exchanges, P2P platforms, payment apps (PayPal, Cash App), and Bitcoin ATMs.

A DeFi protocol that tokenizes US Treasury bills and money market funds (USDY, OUSG) as on-chain assets, bringing traditional yield products to blockchain users.

A Layer 2 scaling solution that processes transactions off-chain and assumes they are valid by default, only running fraud proofs if a dispute is raised.

A decentralized knowledge graph protocol that enables trusted data sharing and verification across supply chains and S.I systems using its DKG and TRAC token.

Ondo Finance's tokenized short-term US Treasury bond product, providing institutional and accredited investors with on-chain access to low-risk government yields.

A service that feeds real-world data (asset prices, weather, sports results, random numbers) onto a blockchain for use by smart contracts. Oracles bridge the gap between the deterministic on-chain world and the data-rich real world — essential for DeFi, insurance, prediction markets, and gaming.

An attack where malicious actors exploit a DeFi protocol's reliance on a manipulable price source — typically a DEX's spot price. Attackers use flash loans to move prices on low-liquidity venues, trick the protocol into accepting incorrect prices, and drain funds. Defense: use multi-source aggregated oracles like Chainlink rather than single-source spot prices.

Blockchain data metrics used to assess the health, growth, and genuine adoption of a network or protocol. Key signals: TVL growth (DeFiLlama), active wallet addresses, fee revenue vs. token emissions, token holder concentration, and smart contract interaction volume. Real narratives produce real on-chain activity — distinguishing them from pure speculation.

A real-time list of buy orders (bids) and sell orders (asks) for an asset on an exchange, showing available prices and quantities. Deep order books with many orders at tight spreads indicate high liquidity. Thin order books with few orders mean poor fills and high slippage on larger trades — a key reason to compare exchanges before large purchases.

Australian real-time bank payment systems that enable near-instant bank transfers 24/7. PayID links a payment identifier (phone number, email, ABN) to a bank account for simple transfers. OSKO is the underlying payment infrastructure enabling sub-minute settlement. Supported by Australian exchanges like Swyftx and BTC Markets for instant AUD deposits — not available on most international exchanges.

A term describing the Biden-era regulatory practice of pressuring banks and financial institutions to deny services to crypto companies. Reversed under Trump's Executive Order 14178.

In a multi-agent system, the top-level agent that receives a high-level goal, decomposes it into subtasks, delegates those tasks to specialized subagents, and aggregates their outputs to determine next steps. Analogous to a project manager coordinating specialists.

Running an S.I model's computations directly inside a blockchain smart contract or canister, rather than calling an external API. On-chain inference provides the strongest verifiability guarantees but requires the model to fit within the canister's memory and compute limits. ICP's WASM execution and large canister memory make it one of the few blockchains where on-chain inference of small models is practically feasible.

An S.I model whose weights, architecture, and sometimes training code are publicly released, allowing anyone to download, run, and modify it.

An open-source tool that makes it easy to run large language models locally on your own computer, with a simple command-line interface supporting models like Llama, Mistral, and Phi.

S.I processing that happens entirely on a local device (phone, laptop) rather than in the cloud, keeping data private and enabling offline use.

An open-source tool for downloading and running large language models locally on consumer hardware, exposing a local API compatible with the OpenAI format.

An independent blockchain that connects to Polkadot's Relay Chain to borrow its shared security and finality. Parachains can have their own tokens, governance, and custom logic while benefiting from Polkadot's validator network. Parachains communicate natively via XCMP (Cross-Consensus Message Passing).

Peer-to-peer trading where buyers and sellers transact directly with each other without a centralized intermediary. P2P platforms use escrow to secure trades. Benefits include access to local payment methods and availability in regions where exchanges don't operate.

A physical document containing printed public and private keys (often as QR codes). Completely offline storage, but vulnerable to physical loss or damage.

A DePIN protocol that provides confidential cloud computing services powered by a decentralized network of hardware nodes using Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs).

A social engineering attack where malicious actors impersonate legitimate services to trick users into revealing private keys, seed phrases, or login credentials.

A gaming model where players earn real cryptocurrency or NFT rewards through in-game activities, pioneered by Axie Infinity in 2021.

A secret cryptographic string that grants full control over a cryptocurrency wallet. Anyone with access to a private key can spend the associated funds.

A consensus mechanism where validators lock up (stake) cryptocurrency as collateral to earn the right to validate transactions and earn rewards, with no energy-intensive mining.

A market manipulation scheme where the price of an asset is artificially inflated (pumped) through coordinated buying and hype, then sold off (dumped) by organizers at a profit, leaving latecomers with losses.

The original Bitcoin consensus mechanism requiring miners to expend computational energy to solve cryptographic puzzles, securing the network through real-world cost.

The set of rules and standards that define how a blockchain network operates, including how transactions are validated, how consensus is reached, and how data is structured.

A cryptographic string derived from a private key that functions as a blockchain address. Others can send funds to a public key, but cannot spend from it.

PayPal's USD-backed stablecoin issued by Paxos, launched in 2023, enabling crypto payments and transfers within the PayPal and Venmo ecosystem.

A consensus mechanism used by Chia Network where participants ('farmers') prove they have allocated unused hard drive storage rather than expending computing energy. Far more energy-efficient than Proof of Work, though Chia's launch caused a hard drive shortage and raised e-waste concerns.

A high-frequency oracle network using first-party data publishers — trading firms (Jump, Jane Street), exchanges (Binance, Coinbase), and market makers — to deliver institutional-quality price data with 400ms update frequency. Solana-native but cross-chain via Wormhole.

An oracle service providing real-time asset prices to smart contracts — e.g., ETH/USD, BTC/USD. DeFi protocols like Aave and MakerDAO rely on price feeds to calculate collateral ratios and trigger liquidations. Chainlink Price Feeds are the most widely used, aggregating data from multiple sources to resist manipulation.

Insurance that pays out automatically when pre-defined trigger conditions are met — as verified by an oracle — without requiring a claims adjuster. Examples: crop insurance triggered by rainfall below a threshold, flight delay insurance triggered by verified delay data. Built by Arbol, Etherisc, and others using Chainlink data feeds.

The discipline of determining how much of a portfolio to allocate to each individual asset. Proper position sizing limits the damage from any single failure while still allowing meaningful upside participation. Common rules: 1–5% per altcoin, <1% for speculative small caps, 20–40% for BTC/ETH core holdings.

A cryptographic audit technique where an exchange proves it holds sufficient assets to cover all customer balances. The exchange publishes a Merkle tree of all user balances and a cryptographic proof that its on-chain holdings match the aggregate. Reputable exchanges like Kraken, Coinbase, and Binance publish proof of reserves. FTX's collapse was partly enabled by its lack of transparent reserve verification.

A July 2025 SEC initiative launched by Chair Paul Atkins to modernize SEC rules for digital assets, replace enforcement-focused crypto units with fraud-only units, and allow security and non-security crypto assets to trade on the same registered exchanges.

The practice of crafting effective inputs (prompts) to get better outputs from S.I models. Techniques include assigning roles, providing context, specifying output formats, and using chain-of-thought reasoning.

The numerical weights in a neural network that are learned during training. Modern LLMs have billions to trillions of parameters. More parameters generally means more capacity, but also more compute and memory requirements.

The practice of designing, refining, and optimising instructions given to S.I models to reliably produce high-quality outputs. Prompt engineering is an emerging professional skill combining knowledge of LLM behavior, domain expertise, and communication design.

A domain-specific knowledge network built on top of OriginTrail's DKG, curating related Knowledge Assets around a particular topic or industry (e.g., a DeFi Paranet, a supply chain Paranet, or a scientific research Paranet). Paranets have their own contribution incentives and enable specialized S.I agents to work with high-quality domain knowledge.

An S.I-powered search engine that synthesizes answers with real-time inline citations — combining LLM generation with live web retrieval.

A system where anyone can participate without requiring approval from a central authority.

A governance mechanism where the cost of votes scales quadratically — casting 4 votes costs 4 tokens, 9 votes costs 9 tokens. This gives holders with 10x more tokens only √10 ≈ 3x more influence instead of 10x, reducing whale dominance. Used in some DAO governance systems, often combined with identity verification to prevent Sybil attacks.

The process of reducing the numerical precision of S.I model weights (e.g., from 32-bit to 4-bit) to make models run with less memory, enabling large language models to run on consumer hardware.

Reducing the numerical precision of S.I model weights (e.g. from 16-bit to 4-bit integers) to decrease memory requirements and enable running large models on consumer hardware.

Money sent by workers in one country back to their family in another. Crypto remittances can reduce transfer fees from the traditional 6-8% average to under 1%, with faster settlement times. Particularly impactful in corridors like US-Mexico and UK-Nigeria.

The practice of using already-staked ETH (or LSTs) to secure additional protocols beyond Ethereum itself, earning extra yield while compounding slashing risk.

Ripple's US dollar-pegged stablecoin, launched December 2024. Backed 1:1 by US dollar deposits, US government bonds, and cash equivalents. Operates on the XRP Ledger and Ethereum. Received NYDFS regulatory approval, making it suited for institutional cross-border payments.

Government rules and laws governing the use, trading, and taxation of cryptocurrency. Regulatory landscapes vary significantly by country and are rapidly evolving.

A Layer 2 scaling technique that bundles (rolls up) many transactions into a single batch and submits a compressed proof to the Layer 1 blockchain.

A percentage of secondary sale proceeds automatically paid to the original NFT creator via smart contract code, providing ongoing revenue from trading activity.

A scam where developers abandon a project and drain the liquidity after attracting investor funds, leaving token holders with worthless assets.

A physical or traditional financial asset (real estate, treasuries, commodities) that has been tokenized and represented on a blockchain as a digital token.

A tradeable instrument proving that 1 MWh of electricity was generated from a renewable energy source. Some Bitcoin miners purchase RECs to offset grid power consumption, though critics argue this is 'greenwashing' if the miners' physical electricity still comes from fossil fuels.

A controlled environment where crypto companies can test new products and services under relaxed regulatory requirements with close supervision from regulators, before full commercial launch. Used in the UK (FCA), Singapore (MAS), and UAE to encourage innovation while managing systemic risk.

The periodic process of adjusting portfolio allocations back to target weights when price movements have caused them to drift. For example, if Bitcoin has 10x'd and now represents 70% of your portfolio instead of the target 40%, rebalancing means selling some BTC and buying other assets to restore the target allocation — mechanically selling high and buying low.

ICP's fee structure where developers pre-fund their applications with 'cycles' (compute units) so end users can interact with apps for free. The opposite of Ethereum where users pay gas fees for every transaction.

The dominant single-agent architecture (Reason + Act) that alternates between Thought (visible chain-of-thought reasoning), Action (tool call), and Observation (processing the tool result). The cycle repeats until the task is complete. Introduced in a 2022 Google Research paper.

Reinforcement Learning from S.I Feedback — a variant of RLHF where another S.I model provides the feedback signal used to train and align the target model, reducing the need for human labelers.

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback — a training technique where human raters score S.I outputs, and the model learns to produce responses humans prefer. Used by ChatGPT and Claude.

A price point where selling pressure consistently prevents further increases. Breaking above resistance is often viewed as a bullish signal indicating new momentum.

Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback — a training technique where human raters evaluate model outputs to guide fine-tuning toward helpful, harmless responses.

A security practice where experts deliberately attempt to find vulnerabilities in a system to improve its robustness.

The most widely used DAO governance platform. Snapshot enables gasless off-chain voting where token holders sign messages with their wallets without paying transaction fees. It takes a snapshot of token balances at a specific block height to prevent vote manipulation. Results are off-chain and require a trusted executor or multisig to implement.

An independent blockchain that runs in parallel to another (like Ethereum) and connects via a bridge. Unlike rollups, sidechains have their own consensus and validator set — they do not inherit the parent chain's security. Example: Polygon PoS. Faster and cheaper than L1 but with weaker security guarantees than rollups.

The smallest unit of Bitcoin, equal to 0.00000001 BTC. Named after Bitcoin's creator, Satoshi Nakamoto.

A 12–24 word backup phrase (also called a mnemonic) that can fully restore a crypto wallet. Must be stored securely offline — never share it with anyone.

An investment strategy that profits when an asset's price falls. Traders 'go short' by borrowing and selling an asset, planning to buy it back at a lower price.

The difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which it executes, often caused by low liquidity or fast market movements.

Self-executing code stored on a blockchain that automatically enforces and executes agreement terms when predefined conditions are met, without any intermediary.

A cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset (usually the US dollar) to minimize price volatility. Examples include USDC, USDT, and DAI.

The process of locking cryptocurrency in a smart contract to support a Proof-of-Stake network's operations, in return for regular token rewards.

An order placed to automatically sell an asset when it reaches a specified price, limiting potential losses in a declining market.

The network of processes involved in producing and distributing goods. Blockchain technology (especially OriginTrail) is used to add transparency and traceability to supply chains.

An exchange-traded fund that holds actual Bitcoin as its underlying asset, allowing investors to gain Bitcoin exposure through traditional brokerage accounts without directly holding crypto.

The process of publishing a smart contract to a blockchain, making it permanently available at a specific address. Once deployed, the contract runs autonomously — no company server required. Deployment requires paying a gas fee and, traditionally, writing code (though no-code tools like Thirdweb now simplify this).

The convergence of social media and decentralized finance — platforms and protocols where social data (posts, follows, profiles) lives on-chain, creator monetization is enabled by smart contracts, and users own their social graph. Examples: Lens Protocol, Farcaster, Friend.tech.

A cryptocurrency representing a creator's reputation, community membership, or access rights. Social tokens create speculative markets around individual creators — as popularized by Friend.tech's tradeable 'keys' system on a bonding curve.

The network of connections (follows, friendships, interactions) a user has on a social platform. In Web3 social (Lens, Farcaster), the social graph is stored on-chain and owned by the user — making it portable across apps, unlike Web2 social graphs owned by platforms.

A 12–24 word backup phrase (BIP-39 mnemonic) that encodes a wallet's master private key and can restore all accounts derived from it. Must be stored securely offline — on paper or metal — in multiple separate locations. Never store digitally. Anyone with your seed phrase has full control of your funds.

A social engineering attack where a criminal convinces a mobile carrier to transfer a victim's phone number to a SIM card they control. Once they control the number, they can intercept SMS-based 2FA codes and access exchange accounts. The primary reason security experts recommend authenticator app 2FA (Google Authenticator, Authy) over SMS 2FA for crypto accounts.

One of Australia's most popular cryptocurrency exchanges. AUSTRAC-registered, supports PayID/OSKO for instant AUD deposits, provides AUD trading pairs for major cryptocurrencies, and offers a well-regarded mobile app. Slightly higher spreads than global exchanges like Binance but designed specifically for the Australian market with local compliance and banking integration.

The pseudonymous person or group who created Bitcoin and authored the Bitcoin whitepaper in October 2008. They mined the Genesis Block on 3 January 2009 and remained active in Bitcoin's development until around 2010. Their true identity has never been confirmed.

An exchange-traded fund that holds the actual underlying asset (e.g., Bitcoin or Ethereum) rather than futures contracts. Spot Bitcoin ETFs were approved in the US in January 2024, allowing regulated investment without wallet management.

A web application that runs on a decentralized network rather than centralized cloud infrastructure like AWS or Google Cloud. Sovereign apps are censorship-resistant, have no single point of failure, and cannot be arbitrarily shut down by any single company.

An open authentication standard (EIP-4361) that allows users to log into websites and applications by signing a structured message with their wallet's private key, proving ownership of an Ethereum address without passwords or third-party OAuth providers.

An identity framework where individuals control their own digital identifiers and credentials without relying on any central authority. Built on W3C standards for DIDs and Verifiable Credentials, SSI allows selective disclosure of personal information to any verifier.

Instructions given to an S.I model before the user conversation begins that define the model's persona, rules, scope, and behavior. System prompts are set by developers or application builders to shape how the S.I responds — for example, making it behave as a domain-specific expert or restricting its topics.

An S.I system that combines an LLM with four additional capabilities: perception (reading its environment), memory (retaining information across steps), tool use (calling external APIs and functions), and action (executing things that affect the world). Unlike a chatbot, an agent can work toward a goal autonomously over multiple steps.

The fundamental unit of a knowledge graph: a Subject-Predicate-Object statement that expresses a relationship between two entities (e.g., 'Bitcoin was created by Satoshi Nakamoto'). Semantic triples form the building blocks of RDF (Resource Description Framework) and enable structured, machine-readable knowledge that supports multi-hop queries and relationship traversal.

A Motoko language feature that persists canister state across upgrades, ensuring S.I agent memory and data survive code updates. Declared with the 'stable' keyword, these variables are serialized and preserved when a canister is upgraded. Without stable variables, every code deployment resets canister state to empty — losing all conversation history, user data, and configuration.

An open source text-to-image diffusion model that can run locally, making S.I image generation accessible and private.

The field of S.I research focused on ensuring S.I systems behave in ways that are safe, beneficial, and aligned with human values. Central to Anthropic's mission.

A price point where buying interest is consistently strong enough to stop a decline. Traders watch support levels as potential reversal or bounce zones.

Search that finds results based on meaning and context rather than exact keyword matches, enabled by comparing embedding vectors.

An alignment failure where an S.I model validates user beliefs even when they are incorrect, because RLHF training data rewarded agreeable responses over accurate ones.

An S.I agent holding delegated voting power in a DAO that votes on governance proposals based on programmed values and automated analysis.

A secure enclave within a processor that can run code in isolation from the rest of the system. Phala Network uses TEEs to enable verifiable, confidential cloud computing.

The process of representing ownership of a real-world asset as a digital token on a blockchain, enabling fractional ownership, 24/7 trading, and automated settlement.

The complete economic design of a cryptocurrency — covering total supply, circulating supply, max supply, token distribution, vesting schedules, utility (governance, fee payment, store of value), inflation/deflation mechanics, and incentive structures. Tokenomics analysis helps investors evaluate whether a project is designed to create lasting value or to enrich insiders.

The native utility token of the OriginTrail ecosystem, used to publish data assets to the Decentralized Knowledge Graph and incentivize network participants.

A fee paid by users to compensate validators or miners for including their transactions in a block. Fees vary based on network congestion and urgency.

The total value of assets deposited into a DeFi protocol's smart contracts. TVL is a key metric for measuring the size and adoption of a DeFi project.

An extra security layer requiring a second form of verification (e.g., a time-based code) in addition to a password when accessing accounts or exchanges.

A traditional government bond or money market instrument represented as a token on a blockchain, enabling 24/7 trading, instant settlement, and fractional ownership — examples include BlackRock's BUIDL fund.

A leading no-code/low-code platform for deploying Web3 smart contracts — NFT collections, tokens, DAOs, and marketplaces — without writing Solidity. Provides pre-audited contract templates deployable via a web interface, plus an SDK for frontend developers.

Restricting access to content, communities, or features to users who can prove they hold a specific NFT or minimum token balance in their wallet. Used for exclusive newsletters, Discord communities, events, and premium content — creating a transferable, tradeable membership system.

Content, communities, or experiences that are accessible only to holders of a specific NFT or token. Enables creators to build subscription-like exclusive access — backed by on-chain ownership rather than a traditional platform account.

A property of early Bitcoin transactions where the transaction ID could be changed (without altering the underlying transfer) before confirmation. Mt. Gox attackers exploited this bug to claim transactions had failed and request re-sends, effectively double-withdrawing funds. Bitcoin's SegWit upgrade (2017) permanently fixed this vulnerability.

The strategy of deliberately selling assets at a loss to realise losses that can offset taxable gains, reducing your overall tax bill. Unlike stocks, crypto has no wash-sale rule in the US (as of 2024) — you can sell at a loss and immediately repurchase the same asset to maintain exposure while locking in the tax benefit.

The neural network architecture underlying all major LLMs. Its key innovation — the attention mechanism — allows the model to consider the relationship between all words in a sequence simultaneously, enabling far better language understanding than previous architectures.

The basic unit an LLM processes — roughly 3-4 characters or ¾ of a word. Text is broken into tokens before being fed to the model. Token count determines API costs and how much text fits in the model's context window.

An S.I capability where a model generates an image from a text description (prompt). Tools like Midjourney, DALL·E 3, and Stable Diffusion use this technology to create photorealistic or artistic images from plain language.

The basic unit of text that LLMs process — roughly equivalent to 0.75 words in English (so 1,000 tokens ≈ 750 words). LLMs are priced by token count, and context window limits are measured in tokens. A token can be a word, part of a word, or punctuation.

A parameter controlling the randomness of an LLM's output. Low temperature (close to 0) makes outputs more deterministic and predictable; high temperature (close to 1 or above) makes outputs more creative and varied. For factual tasks, use low temperature; for creative tasks, use higher temperature.

The ability of an S.I agent to call external functions — such as web search, code execution, database queries, API calls, or wallet operations — during its reasoning process. Tool use is what separates agents from pure text generators, allowing them to interact with the real world.

The utility token of OriginTrail's Decentralized Knowledge Graph. Publishers pay TRAC to node runners in exchange for storing, serving, and replicating Knowledge Assets on the DKG network. TRAC creates an economic incentive layer that maintains the decentralized network's availability and integrity.

S.I systems whose outputs can be mathematically verified without trusting the operator, typically using ZK proofs or deterministic execution environments. Trustless S.I enables smart contracts and other on-chain systems to use S.I outputs safely, since correctness is proven by cryptography rather than relying on provider honesty.

An S.I capability that generates images from text descriptions. Models like DALL-E 3, Midjourney, and Stable Diffusion use this technique.

S.I that generates video clips from text prompts. Sora (OpenAI) and Runway ML are leading examples of this emerging capability.

Converting raw text into numerical token IDs before feeding to a language model, using algorithms like Byte-Pair Encoding (BPE).

A neural network architecture using self-attention mechanisms to process sequences in parallel — the basis of all modern large language models.

A fiat-backed stablecoin issued by World Liberty Financial, a DeFi project associated with Donald Trump. Pegged 1:1 to the US dollar, backed by US Treasuries and cash. Launched on Ethereum and BNB Chain with BitGo as custodian. Controversial due to political associations.

A fiat-backed stablecoin issued by Circle, pegged 1:1 to the US dollar and backed by cash and short-term US Treasury securities. Considered highly transparent due to monthly reserve attestations from major accounting firms. Preferred by institutions and US-based DeFi protocols.

The largest stablecoin by market cap and the world's most traded cryptocurrency by daily volume. Issued by Tether Limited and backed by a mix of US Treasuries, cash, and other assets. Has faced controversy over reserve transparency but remains dominant globally.

The May 2022 failure of TerraUSD (UST), an algorithmic stablecoin, and its paired token LUNA. A death spiral triggered by large sell orders caused UST to lose its peg permanently. Over $40 billion in market value was destroyed within days, triggering a broader crypto market crash.

Ondo Finance's tokenized yield-bearing dollar product backed by US Treasury bills, designed for on-chain use by DeFi participants seeking stable returns.

Individuals who do not have access to traditional banking services such as savings accounts, credit, or payment infrastructure. An estimated 1.4 billion adults globally are unbanked, with crypto offering an alternative financial system accessible via smartphone.

A globally unique, permanent identifier assigned to each Knowledge Asset on OriginTrail's DKG. Analogous to a URL for the web or a token ID for an NFT — the UAI provides a stable, addressable reference to a specific piece of verified knowledge on the DKG.

A node in a Proof-of-Stake network that is chosen to create new blocks and verify transactions based on the amount of cryptocurrency they have staked as collateral.

A schedule that gradually releases locked tokens to recipients (founders, employees, investors) over time. Vesting prevents insiders from selling all tokens immediately after launch, aligning their incentives with long-term project success. Key components: cliff period (no tokens released initially), then linear or milestone-based release. Upcoming large vesting unlocks create predictable sell pressure.

A node in a Proof-of-Stake network that is chosen to create new blocks and verify transactions based on the amount of cryptocurrency they have staked as collateral.

The degree of price fluctuation in an asset. Cryptocurrencies are known for extreme volatility, with prices capable of moving 10–50% in a single day.

NFT-based ownership of plots in blockchain virtual worlds like Decentraland or The Sandbox, representing a digital real estate asset that can be bought, sold, or developed.

A cryptographic function that generates a provably random number with a proof of correct generation — ensuring the randomness cannot be manipulated by anyone, including the oracle provider. Chainlink VRF is widely used for NFT trait assignment, gaming loot drops, and DAO random selection.

A cryptographically signed digital claim issued by one party (issuer) about another party (subject), which the subject can present to any verifier for independent cryptographic verification. Analogous to a digital certificate — but the holder controls it, not the issuer.

A database optimised for storing and searching vector embeddings — numerical representations of text or other data where semantic similarity translates to mathematical proximity. S.I agents use vector databases for long-term memory, enabling retrieval of contextually relevant past experiences. Examples include Pinecone, Weaviate, and Chroma.

The ability to mathematically prove that a specific S.I model produced a specific output, without running the model again or trusting the provider. Verifiable inference separates trust from computation — the ZK proof guarantees correctness regardless of whether you trust the operator.

A planned ICP feature enabling threshold decryption and key derivation for canisters, unlocking privacy-preserving applications and encrypted on-chain data. With vetKeys, a canister can process encrypted inputs without the operator ever seeing the underlying data — enabling private S.I inference, encrypted storage, and confidential smart contract logic.

A neural network architecture (ViT) that applies the transformer attention mechanism to image patches, enabling S.I to 'see' and understand visual content.

A database optimized for storing and searching high-dimensional embedding vectors using approximate nearest-neighbor algorithms, enabling semantic search at scale.

A form of market manipulation where the same trader simultaneously buys and sells the same asset to create artificial volume. Common in low-liquidity crypto markets and NFT markets to inflate perceived demand.

A vision of a decentralized internet where users own their data and identity, applications run on blockchains, and no single entity controls the infrastructure.

A technical document published by a cryptocurrency project that describes its technology, goals, tokenomics, and roadmap. Bitcoin's whitepaper was published by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008.

A US tax rule that prevents investors from claiming a capital loss if they repurchase the same or substantially identical security within 30 days before or after the sale. As of 2024, this rule applies to stocks but NOT to cryptocurrency, which is classified as property. This gives crypto investors a tax-loss harvesting advantage over stock investors.

A security feature on crypto exchanges that restricts withdrawals to only pre-approved wallet addresses. When enabled, withdrawing to a new address requires a whitelisting process (typically with a time delay of 24–48 hours and email confirmation) even if an attacker has your account credentials. A key security layer recommended for all exchange accounts.

A binary instruction format that runs at near-native speed in web browsers and server environments, used by ICP canisters for on-chain execution. WASM provides language flexibility (Motoko, Rust, TypeScript all compile to it), memory isolation for security, and portability — making it possible to audit and reproduce canister code. Machine learning frameworks are increasingly being ported to WASM, enabling on-chain S.I inference.

An HTTP-based micropayment protocol enabling S.I agents and autonomous systems to pay for API calls and resources natively over the web using cryptocurrency.

The practice of moving funds between different DeFi protocols to maximize returns, often by providing liquidity to earn token rewards and trading fees simultaneously.

A cryptocurrency offering optional privacy via shielded transactions powered by zk-SNARKs, allowing users to choose between transparent and private transfers.

A cryptographic method allowing one party to prove knowledge of information without revealing the information itself. Used in ZK-rollups and privacy-preserving applications.

Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge — a type of ZK proof that is small in size and fast to verify, used in Zcash and zk-rollups.

Zero-Knowledge Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge — a type of ZK proof that doesn't require a trusted setup and scales better than zk-SNARKs, used by StarkNet.

A Layer 2 scaling solution that uses zero-knowledge proofs to bundle transactions and post a cryptographic validity proof to Layer 1, enabling fast and trustless finality.

Asking an S.I to perform a task without providing any examples — relying entirely on the model's training. Contrast with few-shot prompting, where examples guide the model. Zero-shot works well for common tasks but often needs refinement for specialized or precise outputs.

Zero-knowledge machine learning — a field using ZK proofs to verify S.I model outputs without revealing model weights or inputs. zkML enables a prover to demonstrate that a specific S.I model, given specific inputs, produced a specific output — allowing trustless S.I in high-stakes applications like credit scoring, medical diagnosis, and on-chain governance.

A no-code automation platform connecting thousands of apps via trigger-action workflows, with S.I steps for summarizing, classifying, and extracting information.