Cryptocurrency terms and acronyms can be really confusing. To make matters even more confusing, NFTs have their own unique lingo. Seeing “crypto words” on places like Twitter or Reddit means you either stop and look up the definitions or continue scrolling while confused.
Here’s a list of 50 answers to the most common FAQs for crypto & NFT terms:
Making sense of 50 cryptocurrency terms you should know
- Airdrop: To send someone free crypto things such as NFTs or tokens. This has nothing to do with Apple’s airdrop feature. Sometimes airdropping gives NFT holders something special. But usually airdropping is for giveaways or a sketchy marketing tactic.
- Alpha: This is another term for “insider information.” If someone has “alpha,” they have information the rest of the market hasn’t found out about yet.
- Ape in: To invest a lot of money into a new cryptocurrency or NFT project without doing the proper research first. It comes from the “apes together strong” meme.
- Bearish: The belief that a project is going to lose value over time.
- Blockchain: A type of database. Information is stored in groups (blocks) that can’t be changed after they’re created. The entire group of groups (chain of blocks = blockchain) is copied across many different computers so the data is public and safe.
- Blue chip: As close to a “reliable” investment as you can get in the NFT space. These NFT projects are well-known and generally perceived as having a high value. Bored Ape Yacht Club, CryptoPunks, World of Women are considered bluechips.
- Bullish: The belief that a project is going to gain value over time.
- Coinbase: A popular platform to buy and sell crypto.
- Crypto wallet: A place (app or physical item) where you can keep your crypto holdings (NFTs, Ethereum, etc.) A wallet is necessary to buy things (NFTs) with crypto. Some popular wallets are Coinbase Wallet and MetaMask.
- Crypto wallet address: A public address you can give people so they can send crypto/NFTs to you. Usually it’s a long alphanumeric string, but you can also purchase a shorter domain name if you want.
- Decentralized: Power is spread across many people instead of a through a single person.
- DAO: Short for “decentralized autonomous organization.” This group’s members votes are automatically tallied and used to decide on things. Sometimes actions are automatically taken. The code for all automatic actions are publicly available so everyone can make sure things are run correctly.
- DAPP: Short for “decentralized application,” it’s an app built on the blockchain. Instead of data being collected/manipulated/sold by Big Brother (*cough, cough, Meta*), all data is stored publicly on the blockchain.
- DEFI: Short for “decentralized finance.” It basically means banking but without the fees/approvals for transactions and loans. You can lend, trade, and borrow crypto through public code that automatically stores/verifies transactions.
- Diamond hands: Holding onto a high-risk NFT despite the pressure to sell. Sometimes people use this as justification when an NFT of theirs starts dropping in value. It originates from “diamonds are created under pressure.”
- Doxxed: When the true identities of a team behind an NFT project are revealed. Usually used to build credibility in a project.
- Drop: The initial launch of a new collection or project.
- DYOR: Short for “do your own research.” This is a disclaimer, and honestly pretty good advice, often added to the end of an opinion on an NFT project. It’s pronounced like Dior the brand.
- DOT ETH (.eth): A personal crypto wallet address someone can purchase.
- Ethereum: A popular blockchain used for NFTs often criticized for its slow, expensive transactions. Also home of Ether (ETH), the second most popular cryptocurrency.
- Flip: Buying an NFT and selling it quickly rather than holding it with the intent to try to make immediate profits. It’s a pretty common yet risky strategy.
- Floor: The NFTs at the floor price of a collection.
- Floor price: The lowest market price for NFTs within a collection. Often used as a rule-of-thumb measure of the value of an NFT project.
- Floor sweep: When someone buys all of the NFTs of a collection at the floor price. Buyers can do this because they believe in the project. Sellers can do this to artificially inflate the floor price of the NFT collection.
- FOMO: Short for “fear of missing out.” It’s an emotional factor that drives someone to irrationally buy into a project.
- FUD: Short for “fear, uncertainty, doubt” and is used to express concerns about the legitimacy/value of an NFT project. For example, someone can come into an NFT Discord server and spread FUD.
- Gas fee: Basically a transaction fee for crypto (Ethereum) transactions. The busier the Ethereum network, the more expensive the gas fee. This is one of the most complained-about feature of the Ethereum network.
- GM: Short for “good morning,” it’s a popular greeting on NFT Twitter. It signals that someone is online.
- HODL: A misspelling of “hold” that caught on and earned the acronym “hold on (for) dear life.” The term signals that someone is not selling, despite potential volatility and uncertainty.
- LFG: Short for “let’s fucking go.” Usually used to hype up an NFT project.
- Marketplace: A platform for buying and selling NFTs. Popular NFT marketplaces include OpenSea, Rarible, and Magic Eden.
- MetaMask: A popular crypto wallet. MetaMask has a logo that looks like a fox.
- Metaverse: A virtual world where you have an avatar and you can buy things, play games, and even build businesses. Many different companies (*cough, cough, Meta*) are trying to make a metaverse that “wins” and will become mainstream.
- Minting: Taking a digital asset and putting it onto the blockchain to create an NFT.
- Mooning: Describes the trend when numbers go up. It means growing in price very quickly.
- NGMI: Short for “not gonna make it.” It’s used to roast people and projects that won’t last long in the NFT space.
- OpenSea: A popular NFT marketplace. Currently only supporting NFTs on the Ethereum and Polygon blockchains.
- Paper hands: Selling NFTs under pressure. Usually used by “diamond hands” as a roast against people who actually sell.
- PFP project: Short for “profile picture project.” These are collections launched with the intent of being avatars that people can use as their Twitter profile picture to flex ownership.
- Polygon: A blockchain used for NFTs that’s popular for its lack of gas fees. Technically built on top of Ethereum.
- Pump and dump: A nefarious scheme to artificially “pump” (drive up) the price of an NFT project before selling everything at once, effectively “dumping” the price while making a profit.
- P2E: Short for “pay to earn.” You get paid in crypto/NFTs for playing certain kinds of games.
- Road map: A public general plan for an NFT project. Usually gives insight into the timeline and the utility of the project.
- Rugpull: An NFT project gone wrong. People lie about an NFT project in order to lure others into buying in. Once they’ve collected the money, they abandon the project, leave with the cash, and everyone is left sad and broke.
- Sharding: Breaking down a single NFT into smaller pieces, or shards so a group of people can buy and own an NFT that is otherwise too expensive to be bought in its entirety.
- Solana: A popular blockchain for NFTs known for its cheap, fast transactions.
- Smart contract: Public code attached to an NFT that runs by itself. Usually how the utility of an NFT is enforced. Useful because you don’t have to trust the individual behind a project — you just need to trust the code that you can see and verify yourself.
- Staking: A way to earn passive income by locking up your NFTs on the blockchain for a period of time. You can earn rewards for this in the form of crypto.
- To the moon: A celebratory term used when prices of an NFT project are going up and up.
- Utility: Underlying value of an NFT. Utility is the perks, products, services, benefits, or rights associated with owning an NFT. For example, some NFTS come with 30% off of future products, membership to a private fund, access to an online course, access to private events, or copyright rights to a brand.
