Crypto Rewards & Safety Glossary

Account Abstraction A technology that lets crypto accounts behave like smart contracts, enabling features like recovery, spending limits,… Address Poisoning A scam that plants a look-alike address in your transaction history, hoping you copy it by… Advance-Fee Scam A fraud that demands a small upfront payment to release a promised larger sum, prize, or… Air-Gapped A device or wallet kept completely disconnected from the internet and other networks to protect keys… Airdrop A distribution of free crypto tokens to many wallet addresses at once, often to reward early… APR vs APY APR is a simple yearly rate; APY includes the effect of compounding, so APY looks higher… Blind Signing Approving a transaction or message whose full details you cannot clearly see or understand, a common… Block Explorer A public website for searching and viewing blockchain data, such as transactions, addresses, balances, and contracts. Blockchain A shared, tamper-resistant digital ledger maintained by many computers, recording transactions in linked blocks that are… Bridge A tool that moves assets or messages between different blockchains, letting you transfer value from one… Campaign A time-limited promotional programme where a project bundles quests, rewards, and marketing to attract and reward… Circulating Supply The number of a token's units currently available and trading in the market, excluding locked, reserved,… Claim Window The limited time period during which eligible users can claim an airdrop or reward before it… Clipboard Hijacker Malware that detects a copied crypto address on your device and silently replaces it with an… Confirmation Each additional block added after your transaction, increasing certainty that it is permanent and cannot be… Consensus The method a blockchain's participants use to agree on which transactions are valid and what the… DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) A community-run organization that coordinates through on-chain voting and smart contracts rather than a traditional company… DeFi (Decentralized Finance) Financial services like trading, lending, and earning built on public blockchains using smart contracts instead of… Delegation Assigning your staking power to a validator so it can stake on your behalf while you… DEX (Decentralized Exchange) A marketplace where you trade crypto directly from your own wallet through smart contracts, without depositing… Dusting Attack Sending tiny amounts of crypto to many wallets to try to track their owners or set… Eligibility Criteria The published rules that decide who qualifies for an airdrop, quest reward, or campaign, such as… EOA (Externally Owned Account) A standard crypto account controlled by a private key, as opposed to a smart contract account,… ERC-20 The common technical standard for fungible tokens on Ethereum and similar chains, letting wallets and apps… ERC-721 The common Ethereum standard for non-fungible tokens, defining how unique, one-of-a-kind tokens are created and transferred. Faucet A service that dispenses small amounts of free crypto, usually valueless test tokens, so you can… Finality The point at which a blockchain transaction is considered irreversible and can no longer be undone… Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV) A token's theoretical total value if its entire maximum supply were already in circulation at the… Gas The unit that measures the computational work a blockchain transaction requires; you pay for the gas… Gas Fee The fee you pay to have a blockchain process your transaction, paid in the network's native… Gas Limit The maximum amount of gas you allow a transaction to use, protecting you from runaway costs… Giveaway Scam A fraud promising to multiply any crypto you send, or to give free crypto, provided you… Governance Token A token that grants voting rights over a project's decisions, letting holders influence changes to the… Gwei A small denomination of Ether used to express gas prices, making tiny per-unit fees easier to… Hardware Wallet A physical device that stores your private keys offline and signs transactions internally, keeping keys away… Honeypot A malicious token or contract that lets you buy in but secretly blocks you from selling,… Hot vs Cold Wallet A hot wallet is connected to the internet for convenience; a cold wallet stays offline for… Impermanent Loss The potential shortfall a liquidity provider faces when the paired tokens' prices diverge, compared with simply… Impersonation Scam Fraud where someone poses as a trusted figure, brand, or support team to gain your trust… Layer 2 A secondary network built on top of a base blockchain to make transactions faster and cheaper… Learn-to-Earn A model where you earn small crypto rewards or points for completing educational lessons and quizzes… Liquid Staking Staking that gives you a tradable receipt token representing your staked position, so your value is… Liquidity Pool A shared pot of two or more tokens that a DEX uses to enable trading, funded… Lockup and Unbonding A waiting period during which staked or vested tokens cannot be moved, either while committed or… Look-Alike Domain A web address deliberately made to resemble a real one, using small spelling tricks to fool… Mainnet The live, real-money version of a blockchain where transactions carry actual value and are permanent, as… Market Cap The total value of a token's circulating supply, calculated as price multiplied by the number of… Max Supply The highest number of a token's units that can ever exist, when the protocol enforces a… Mempool The waiting area where broadcast but not-yet-confirmed transactions sit before validators include them in a block. Message Signing Using your private key to cryptographically sign data, proving control of a wallet without necessarily moving… MEV (Maximal Extractable Value) Profit that block producers or bots capture by reordering, inserting, or censoring transactions within a block. Minting Creating new tokens or NFTs and recording them on the blockchain, whether at a token's launch… Multisig A wallet that requires several independent approvals before funds can move, so no single key or… NFT (Non-Fungible Token) A unique blockchain token representing ownership of a specific item, unlike interchangeable tokens where every unit… Node A computer that runs a blockchain's software, storing and verifying the ledger to help keep the… Non-Custodial vs Custodial Wallet In a non-custodial wallet you hold the private keys yourself; in a custodial one a company… On-Chain Anything recorded and verifiable directly on the blockchain, as opposed to happening off-chain in a private… Paper Wallet An offline record of a wallet's keys or seed phrase printed or written on paper, kept… Passphrase An optional extra secret word added to a seed phrase, creating a hidden wallet that is… Phishing Tricking you into revealing secrets or approving malicious actions by impersonating a trusted brand, person, or… Pig Butchering A long-con scam where fraudsters build trust or romance over time, then lure victims into a… Points Program A system that awards non-monetary points for activity, which a project may later convert into token… Private Key The secret cryptographic code that lets you spend the crypto in a specific address; possessing it… Proof of Stake A consensus method where validators are chosen to confirm blocks based on the amount of crypto… Proof of Work A consensus method where computers compete to solve hard puzzles to add blocks, securing the network… Public Key The shareable cryptographic counterpart to your private key, used to derive your address and verify your… Quest A guided task or set of tasks a project offers, often on-chain, that you complete to… Recovery Scam A follow-up fraud targeting people who already lost crypto, falsely promising to recover the stolen funds… Restaking Reusing already-staked crypto to help secure additional services or networks, aiming for extra rewards but adding… Revoke Cancelling a token approval you previously granted, so a smart contract can no longer move that… Rewards Rate How fast a staking or earn product pays out rewards, usually shown as an annual percentage… Rug Pull A scam where a project's creators suddenly withdraw all the liquidity or funds and disappear, leaving… Seed Phrase A list of 12 to 24 words that backs up your entire wallet; anyone who has… Self-Custody Holding your own crypto by controlling the private keys yourself, without relying on any company to… Slashing A penalty on a proof-of-stake network that destroys part of a validator's staked tokens for misbehaviour… Slippage The difference between the price you expect on a trade and the price you actually get,… Smart Contract Self-executing code on a blockchain that runs exactly as written, powering tokens, DeFi, airdrops, and more… Smart Contract Audit A professional review of a project's code to find security flaws before or after deployment, reducing… Smart Contract Wallet A wallet governed by on-chain code rather than a single private key, allowing advanced security and… Snapshot A recorded picture of blockchain balances or activity at one specific block, used to decide who… Social Engineering Manipulating people psychologically, through trust, fear, or urgency, into revealing secrets or approving harmful actions. Stablecoin A token designed to hold a steady value, usually pegged to a currency like the US… Staking Locking up crypto to help secure a proof-of-stake network and earn rewards, similar in feel to… Staking Pool A shared pot where many people combine tokens to stake together, making it easier for small… Sybil Attack When one person creates many fake wallets or identities to grab more than their fair share… Testnet A practice version of a blockchain that uses valueless test tokens, letting developers and users try… Token Approval A permission you grant a smart contract to move a specific token from your wallet, sometimes… Token Burn Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an unspendable address, often done to reduce… Token Generation Event (TGE) The moment a project first creates and releases its token to the public, often when airdrops… Token vs Coin A coin is the native currency of its own blockchain, while a token is an asset… Tokenomics The economic design of a token, including its supply, distribution, incentives, and how new tokens are… Total Value Locked (TVL) The total worth of all crypto currently deposited in a DeFi protocol, used as a rough… Transaction Hash A unique identifier for a specific blockchain transaction, used to look it up and confirm its… Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) A second login step beyond your password, such as an app code or security key, that… Validator A participant in a proof-of-stake network that proposes and confirms blocks, and can earn rewards or… Vesting A schedule that releases tokens gradually over time instead of all at once, common for team,… Wallet Address A public string of characters that identifies your account on a blockchain, which others use to… Wallet Drainer Malicious code or a scam site that tricks you into signing a transaction or approval that… Wrapped Token A token that represents another asset on a different blockchain, letting you use, for example, Bitcoin's… Yield Farming Actively moving crypto between DeFi protocols to chase the highest rewards, often by providing liquidity or…