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Welcome to Web3. A world filled with diehards, market-moving memes, and slang that only crypto people can understand.
It is usual for people to slog on when they are diving into a new industry — especially the terminology can be a little harder than a piece of cake, but don’t worry – RZLT academy is at your service. This glossary will help you navigate your way through web3.
The terms defined in this article range from basic crypto terms (like airdrop) to general internet slang (GMI, lambo) to more complex terms (dutch auction).
No FUD, let’s roll! 👇
1:1 Art
1:1 art is a single piece of NFT of an artist. It is more valuable than usual NFT collections since it is more unique.
AB
Art Blocks, aka AB, is an Ethereum-based NFT project that generates original digital artwork pieces on the blockchain via an algorithm. What makes AB important is that the secondary market sales skyrocketed in August 2021, with a slew of single NFT sales over $1 million worth of ETH each.
Airdrop
Airdrop is a marketing strategy that involves sending free coins or tokens to wallet addresses in order to promote that coin/token/NFT.
AMA
AMA is short for “Ask Me Anything”, in which usually crypto/NFT projects create sessions for the community to ask their questions. Many NFT projects make AMAs regularly to keep the community updated and still tied to the project.
Ape in
Apeing in is to invest all of your money in a coin or NFT with haste. The term originated from the ‘apes together strong’ meme.
Bot
Bot is an automated software that performs designated actions such as conducting trades, answering frequently asked questions, offering mini-games to their communities, sending memes to Discord channels on a daily basis, etc.
Bridge
Bridge enables you to move a token between two separate chains. Both chains can have different protocols, rules and governance models, but the bridge provides a compatible way to cooperate securely on both sides.
Copy cat
Copy cat refers to a knock off NFT project that has been created after a popular NFT project in hopes that it would also get the hype.
DAO
Short for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. DAOs are internet-native organizations collectively owned by their members and lacking any central authority.
dApp
Short for decentralized application. dApp is like a digital app found on any smartphone or laptop, with the additional feature of employing blockchain technology to keep users’ data out of the hands of the organizations behind it.
DeFi
Short for decentralized finance. Refers to finance without intermediaries such as banks. Instead, the transactions happen on smart contracts.
Degen
Short for degenerate, refers to DeFi diehards who engage in complicated strategies that pile on the risk.
Delist
Delist is to cancel the listing of an NFT on a marketplace. It can happen either as a request from the project team or when the asset itself no longer upholding the listing requirements.
Devs
The term devs is used for crypto/NFT project developers.
DEX
Short for decentralized exchange. A decentralized exchange is a peer-to-peer marketplace where transactions happen between traders without an intermediary.
Discord
Discord is the most popular social media platform for NFT and crypto projects. It’s the place where we gather, discuss, get insights; most NFT projects have their Discord channels to keep the community engaged and informed.
DYOR
It is short for “do your own research”. It’s usually used when talking about a project that could be pumped or dumped. So don’t trust people, DYOR.
Dutch auction
In a Dutch auction, the price with the highest number of bidders is selected as the offering price so that the entire amount offered is sold at a single price. A Dutch auction may also refer to a market where prices generally start high and incrementally drop until a bidder accepts the going price.
ERC
Short for Ethereum request for comment, a standard that is used for creating smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.
Flipping
Flipping got more popular in the NFT space. It refers to buying a coin or an NFT at a low price and selling quickly for profit.
Floor price
It is the lowest price of an NFT collection.
Floor sweeping
Floor sweeping refers to buying NFTs at the lowest prices. Sweep the floor!
FOMO
Short for “fear of missing out”. When someone rushes into a coin or NFT just because other people are buying it, it means that the person has FOMO. So, don’t get FOMO, DYOR first!
FUD
Short for “fear, uncertainty and doubt”. It is a strategy to influence perception of certain cryptocurrencies or the cryptocurrency market in general by spreading negative, misleading or false information. People tend to panic sell when there is FUD.
Gas
The fee that we have to pay while doing transactions on the blockchain. Gas is the unit of measure for how much computational work is required to process transactions and smart contracts. High gas fees occur when there is a lot of demand like in the beginning of the minting duration of a new NFT project.
GM
This is an easy one; short for good morning. This is how people are greeting each other on Discord/Twitter communities.
GMI / WAGMI
Short for “gonna make it” / “we’re all gonna make it”. It is said in the belief that our investments will moon and we will have great lives.
Gwei
The term Gwei refers to a small denomination of ether (ETH), which is the native currency of the Ethereum blockchain. Specifically, a unit of Gwei is defined as one-billionth (one Nano) of an Ether. So 1 Gwei equals 0.000000001 ETH.
HODL
Short for “hold on for dear life”. It is used when the coin’s price we invested in falls extremely, but we HODL, because WAGMI. Simply put, we hodl because we believe the coin or token will still pump after this fall. The term originated from a typo, then the crypto community embraced it.
ICO
Short for “initial coin offering”. The selling of tokens to the public in order to raise capital for a crypto-based project . ICOs are a crowdfunding approach, similar to a traditional company’s IPO.
IYKYK
Short for “if you know you know”. Refers to a post or a message will make sense only to the ones who know a certain situation, and not make sense to others.
KOL
Short for “key opinion leader”. Simply it means social media influencer.
LFG
Short for “let’s fucking go”. Traders usually use this expression to show their excitement towards a new coin, token, or project.
Looks rare
Don’t let the term fool you because “looks rare” is actually used for “doesn’t look rare” in an ironic way. It is used in the NFT space since rarity is one of the most influential things in an NFT’s price.
McDonald’s
We all know people who work in McDonald’s don’t earn much. In the crypto community, the term McDonald’s is used as a backup plan in case we don’t get rich through cryptocurrencies or NFTs.
Meatspace
Like IRL, meatspace also refers to real life.
Metaverse
Metaverse is a kind of virtual world which leverages the Web 3.0, blockchain and computer interfaces. With this technology, people can enter the digital world through virtual identity. In this virtual space, people also get a chance to hang out, shop, and meet friends.
Mint
“Minting” an NFT is uniquely publishing your token on the blockchain to make it purchasable. In simpler terms, it means creating an NFT.
Mods
Short for “moderators”. In social channels like Discord, moderators make sure that the community is engaging, healthy and well-informed.
Moon / Mooning
“Moon” means that a coin’s or NFT’s price will go “to the moon”, aka will skyrocket. Mooning is when a specific token’s price is experiencing a spike. To the moooon 🚀
Multisig
Short for “multi-signature”. Multisig is the requirement for a transaction to have two or more signatures before it can be executed. It is often used in DAOs as a more secure way for transactions.
NFA
Short for “not financial advice”. It is used when someone thinks a coin or NFT will moon, but it is only their idea about the situation. So they add NFA at the end of the sentence, meaning that you should DYOR.
NGMI
Short for “not gonna make it”. It is used as the opposite of GMI / WAGMI.
Noob
It is called for newbies and inexperienced people in the crypto / NFT space.
PFP
Short for “profile picture”. It became popular when people started using their NFTs as profile pictures on Twitter.
P2E
Short for “play to earn”. The term is used for play to earn games, which are blockchain-based games that reward players with tokens.
PoH
Proof of history consensus mechanism. PoH strings together transactions to each other to verify transactions on blockchain networks.
PoS
Proof of stake consensus mechanism. PoS stakes cryptocurrency coins to verify transactions on blockchain networks.
PoW
Proof of work consensus mechanism. PoW solves problems to verify transactions on blockchain networks.
Probably nothing
This is another ironically used term. It actually means “probably something important”. Like in “I just sold an NFT for 7 ETH. Probably nothing.”
Rekt
It is the consciously misspelled slang term for “wrecked”. It refers to people who experienced money loss because of bad investment decisions.
Reveal
The term reveal got popular in the NFT space. Many NFT projects have a “delayed reveal” which means that you can not see your NFT or its rarity until the official reveal day. Hence the term “wen reveal?” became popular meaning that “when are we going to see our NFTs”.
Right-click, save as
This one is from normies, the ones who don’t believe that NFTs are important at all and that buying NFTs is stupid. So, they say “why would I pay hundreds of $ on JPEG when I can just right-click and save the image.” Well, no comments on this one 🤷♀️
Rug pull
Rug pull is when the team of a crypto or NFT project leaves the entire project and runs off with the investors’ funds. So, poor investors get “rug pulled”, and this happens more than you would think. Be careful out there.
Secondary market
It is literally the secondary market. After an NFT is minted, it can be sold on a secondary market like OpenSea.
Shilling
Shilling is used as a marketing strategy in crypto / NFT space. It is done by promoting a specific crypto or NFT project on different social media platforms.
Slippage
Slippage refers to the difference between the expected price of a trade and the price at which the trade is made. It is caused by high volatility usually.
Soy boy
A “soy boy” doesn’t have the strength to handle the volatility of the market.
TVL
Short for total value locked, refers to how much $ is “locked” or being used in a protocol.
Vaporware
Vaporware refers to something that is too good to be true, highly advertised but not available or will never be available.
Wen Lambo?
The term refers to “when will our investments pay off enough to afford a Lamborghini?”. Lambo got popular in 2018 when BitMEX rented 3 lamborghinis and parked them outside the event venue to signal the presence of the cryptocurrency investors.
Whale
The term “whale” refers to people who hold a large amount of a particular token or NFT collection. Many people follow whales’ wallets to create themselves an investment roadmap.
Thanks for reading web3 enthusiasts!
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