Crypto & Security Glossary

Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a symmetric block cipher chosen by the U.S. government to protect classified information. It is implemented software-wide to encrypt sensitive data using 128, 192, or 256-bit keys.

A binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data in an ASCII string format. Commonly used to transmit assets like images or keys safely across text-only protocols without losing formatting.

A protocol event occurring every 210,000 blocks (roughly every 4 years) where the block reward given to Bitcoin miners is cut in half. This reduces the rate of new coin issuance to enforce its deflationary supply limit.

The average cost basis of an investment position, representing the exact price level at which selling the assets yields zero net gains and zero net losses, including exchange transaction trading fees.

The tax levied on the profit realized from the sale or exchange of a non-inventory asset, like cryptocurrencies. Gains are categorized as short-term (held under a year) or long-term (held over a year), taxed at varying rates.

Interest calculated on the initial principal and also on the accumulated interest of previous periods. In cryptocurrency, this is widely utilized to calculate exponential gains on DeFi staking yields (APY).

Dollar-Cost Averaging (DCA) is an investment strategy where you buy a fixed dollar amount of an asset at regular intervals (daily, weekly, monthly). This mitigates pricing volatility and lowers the average entry cost basis.

A mathematical protocol that allows two parties to establish a shared secret key over an insecure public communication channel. This shared secret key is then used to encrypt subsequent communications.

A protocol standard that introduces capitalization-based checksums to Ethereum addresses using Keccak-256 hashes. This protects users from sending funds to incorrect addresses due to typos.

The maximum amount of gas (computational effort) a user is willing to spend for a transaction on the Ethereum network. Simple transfers require exactly 21,000 gas limit units, while smart contract swaps require much more.

A denomination of the cryptocurrency Ether (ETH), equal to 1,000,000,000 Wei or 10⁻⁹ ETH. Gwei is the standard unit used to measure transaction gas fees on the Ethereum network for ease of reading.

Hash-based Message Authentication Code (HMAC) is a cryptographic code that uses a pre-shared secret key and a cryptographic hash function (like SHA-256) to verify both data integrity and data authenticity.

The process of exchanging one cryptocurrency directly for another (wallet-to-wallet) without having to deposit assets on a centralized orderbook exchange, maintaining user custody and privacy.

A utility used to parse, clean, beautify, and validate JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) structures. Identifies parsing errors like trailing commas or missing quotes in data strings.

A compact, URL-safe standard for representing credentials transferred between two parties. Composed of a Header, Payload, and Signature, it is widely utilized for secure API authentication.

The price point at which a leverage futures position is automatically closed by an exchange because the margin balance falls below the required maintenance margin threshold to prevent loss.

A measurement in bits of the randomness and complexity of a password string. Higher entropy scores represent stronger resistance against dictionary and brute-force cracking attacks.

The calculation of how much capital or how many coins to trade based on total account balance and stop-loss distance, ensuring that a predefined risk threshold (e.g. 1% or 2%) is never exceeded.

An index calculator that retrieves live exchange price metrics for digital assets to convert values between different cryptocurrencies (crypto-to-crypto) or fiat currencies (crypto-to-fiat).

Quick Response Code (QR Code) is a matrix barcode designed to store information. In Web3, QR codes are commonly used to share wallet addresses and payment request URI links.

ROI (Return on Investment) is a financial metric used to evaluate the efficiency or profitability of an investment. It is calculated by dividing net profit by the cost basis of the purchase, showing percentage returns.

An asymmetric cryptographic algorithm named after Rivest, Shamir, and Adleman. It uses a mathematically linked public key (to encrypt data) and private key (to decrypt data), standardizing secure digital signing.

A financial conversion tool used to calculate equivalent cryptocurrency salary payouts based on fiat income targets, showing yearly, monthly, weekly, daily, and hourly rates.

The smallest unit of the cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC), named after the pseudonymous creator Satoshi Nakamoto. One Satoshi is equal to 0.00000001 BTC, meaning there are 100,000,000 sats in 1 BTC.

A cryptographic hash function that produces a unique 256-bit (32-byte) signature. It is a one-way function used in data verification, password storage, and is the core hashing algorithm used in the Bitcoin blockchain.

Time-based One-time Password (TOTP) is an algorithm that computes a one-time passcode from a shared secret key and the current Unix time. Commonly utilized globally for secure Two-Factor Authentication (2FA).

A system for tracking points in time, measured as the total number of seconds elapsed since January 1st, 1970 UTC (the Unix Epoch). Standardizes timestamp markers on blockchain transactions.

A 128-bit identifier standard used to identify information without a central registration. Version 4 UUIDs are generated entirely from cryptographically secure random numbers.

A sequence of 12 or 24 readable words chosen from the BIP39 wordlist that acts as a backup seed key to derive public/private wallet address chains for hierarchical deterministic crypto wallets.