Learn

Crypto explained without the jargon. Short guides, a safety checklist and a glossary. This is education, not financial advice.

Guides

Glossary

Blockchain: A shared record of transactions that many computers keep copies of. Once something is written to it, it is very hard to change.
Bitcoin (BTC): The first and largest cryptocurrency. It has a fixed limit of 21 million coins and is often called digital gold.
Ether (ETH): The coin of the Ethereum network. It pays the fees for running programs on that network.
Altcoin: Any cryptocurrency that is not Bitcoin.
Token: A digital asset that lives on another blockchain rather than having its own, for example a stablecoin on Ethereum.
Stablecoin: A token designed to stay worth one unit of a currency, usually one US dollar. Some are backed by real reserves, some by code, and they can still lose their peg.
Wallet: An app or device that holds the keys to your crypto. The coins are on the blockchain; the wallet holds the proof that they are yours.
Private key: The secret that lets someone move your coins. Anyone who has it controls your funds, so it is never shared.
Seed phrase: A list of 12 or 24 words that can rebuild your wallet. Anyone who has the words has your money. No real company will ever ask for it.
Exchange: A company where you can buy, sell and swap crypto. Coins left on an exchange are held by the company, not by you.
Self-custody: Holding your own keys rather than leaving coins with an exchange. You are in control, and you are also the only one who can lose them.
DeFi: Decentralised finance: lending, trading and earning interest through programs on a blockchain instead of through a bank or broker.
Smart contract: A program stored on a blockchain that runs by itself when its conditions are met. Bugs in them are a common cause of hacks.
Liquidity: How easily something can be bought or sold without moving its price. Thin liquidity means a small trade can swing the price.
Liquidation: When a trader who borrowed money to bet on a price is forced out because the price moved against them. Waves of liquidations can speed up a fall.
Leverage: Trading with borrowed money. It magnifies gains and losses, and can wipe out a position quickly.
Market cap: The price of one coin times the number of coins in circulation. A rough measure of size, not of how much money is really invested.
Volume: How much of a coin was traded over a period, usually 24 hours.
ETF: Exchange-traded fund. A spot Bitcoin ETF lets people hold Bitcoin exposure through an ordinary brokerage account.
Halving: An event about every four years when the reward for new Bitcoin blocks is cut in half, which slows how fast new coins are created.
Staking: Locking up coins to help run a network in return for rewards. Your coins can be at risk if the network or the service fails.
Gas fee: The fee paid to the network to process a transaction. It rises when the network is busy.
Layer 2: A network built on top of another, such as Ethereum, to make transactions faster and cheaper.
Rug pull: A scam where a project’s creators take investors’ money and disappear.
Phishing: A fake message, site or app that tricks you into giving up a password or seed phrase.
Airdrop: Free tokens sent to wallets, usually to promote a project. Scammers also use fake airdrops to get you to connect your wallet.
KYC: Know your customer: the identity checks an exchange does before you can trade.
Whale: Someone who holds a very large amount of a coin. Their moves can shift the price.
FUD: Fear, uncertainty and doubt. Used for negative talk, fair or not, that drives sellers.
ATH: All-time high: the highest price a coin has ever reached.
Fear and Greed Index: A score from 0 to 100 that tries to sum up market mood. It is a rough gauge, not a forecast.