The Insight Crypto Glossary

Airdrop

A free distribution of tokens to a group of wallet addresses, often used to bootstrap a new project's community.

Altcoin

Any cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin — short for "alternative coin".

Bitcoin

The first and largest cryptocurrency, created in 2009 as decentralised, peer-to-peer digital money with a fixed total supply.

Blockchain

A shared, append-only digital ledger, copied across many independent computers instead of stored in one central place.

Blockchain Bridge

A tool or protocol that lets assets or data move between two otherwise separate blockchain networks.

CEX

A "centralised exchange" — a company-run platform (like a regulated broker) that holds your funds and matches trades on your behalf.

Coin

A cryptoasset that's native to its own independent blockchain, such as Bitcoin (BTC) or Ether (ETH).

DAO

A "decentralised autonomous organisation" — a group coordinated by rules encoded in smart contracts and member voting, rather than a traditional management structure.

dApp

A "decentralised application" — a front end that connects to smart contracts on a blockchain instead of a private company's servers.

DeFi

"Decentralised finance" — financial services (trading, lending, borrowing) built from smart contracts instead of banks or brokers.

DEX

A "decentralised exchange" — a trading platform run by smart contracts, where you trade directly from your own wallet.

FOMO

"Fear of missing out" — the emotional pressure to buy during a rapid price rise, often leading to poorly timed decisions.

FUD

"Fear, uncertainty and doubt" — negative sentiment or information (genuine or manufactured) that pressures people to sell.

Gas Fee

The transaction fee paid to a blockchain network (most commonly Ethereum) to have a transaction processed.

Layer 2

A network built on top of a base blockchain (like Ethereum) to process transactions faster and more cheaply.

Liquidity

How easily an asset can be bought or sold without significantly moving its price.

Market Cap

A cryptoasset's circulating supply multiplied by its current price — a common (but imperfect) size metric.

Mining

The process of validating transactions and securing a proof-of-work blockchain (like Bitcoin) using computational power.

NFT

A "non-fungible token" — a unique, verifiably one-of-a-kind digital token, often used to represent ownership of a specific item.

Oracle

A service that feeds real-world data (like prices) onto a blockchain, which smart contracts can't access on their own.

Private Key

A secret piece of data that proves ownership of a wallet address and is required to authorise any transaction from it.

Rug Pull

A scam where a project's creators abruptly withdraw funds or abandon the project, leaving other holders with worthless tokens.

RWA (Real-World Asset)

A physical or traditional financial asset (like property or bonds) represented as a token on a blockchain.

Seed Phrase

A list of (usually 12 or 24) words generated when you set up a wallet, which can restore full access to its funds.

Slippage

The difference between a trade's expected price and the price it actually executes at, common on decentralised exchanges.

Smart Contract

Self-executing code deployed on a blockchain, which runs automatically and exactly as written when its conditions are met.

Stablecoin

A cryptoasset designed to hold a stable value, usually pegged 1:1 to a currency like the US dollar.

Staking

Locking up cryptoassets to help secure a proof-of-stake network, in return for rewards.

Token

A cryptoasset built on top of an existing blockchain, rather than having its own independent network.

Tokenomics

The economic design of a cryptoasset: its total supply, distribution, issuance schedule, and the incentives built around it.

Validator

A participant that checks and confirms transactions on a proof-of-stake blockchain, in return for a reward.

Wallet

Software or hardware that stores your private keys and lets you authorise transactions — it doesn't actually hold your coins.