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Explore Crypto Terms & Definitions
Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO)
An organisation that uses the decentralised qualities of blockchains and smart contracts to provide governance (decision making) through aligned economic incentive. DAOs try to solve the Principal-Agent dilemma where agents (managers or politicians) within an organisation have decision-making power but don’t feel the consequences of their decisions because they have no skin in the game.
Decentralised Finance (Defi)
Offers new crypto-based financial products in a totally decentralised way. There is no bank or business, no formal account creation, just a protocol managed by smart contract, so all interaction is essentially dictated by code.
Degen
A badge of honour usually specific to DEFI describing someone who approaches opportunities to earn yield with a mindset which blends trading, gaming and gambling.
Depth Chart
The visual representation of the current Limit Orders from Buyers and Sellers, as part of a Trading Interface for a cryptocurrency exchange.
Difficulty Level
Adjusting of the mining hashing algorithm for the Bitcoin blockchain to ensure that blocks are created at a consistent rate of one every 10 minutes. Every 2016 blocks the average time is compared to the previous 2016 blocks; if it faster the Difficulty Level for the algorithm is increased; if slower it is decreased.
Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
Distributed Ledger Technology describes a method for storing information across a network of users none of which have controlling authority. A blockchain is a form of DLT, with blocks of data connected cryptographically and maintained by a network of nodes who stay in sync via a consensus mechanisms - proof of work - that relies on expending CPU power (Mining).
Double Spend Problem
How to ensure that a balance within any money system cannot be spent twice. In centralised systems there are numerous checks and balances to try to minimise double spend, though it still occurs as charge-backs on credit cards. The biggest achievement of Bitcoin was solving double spend with no central authority.
Dust
A tiny amount of cryptocurrency which cannot be used because it is less than the cost of sending.
DYOR
Abbreviation for Do You Own Research, widely used in the crypto community to encourage newcomers to make decisions based on their research and understanding, rather than blindly following opinions of others.
ERC-20
ERC-20 is the technical standard for smart contracts, token issuance and management on the Ethereum blockchain. It is one of the most common ways new cryptocurrencies are created. ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comment. It is just one of many standards for interacting with the Ethereum Network.
Decentralised Exchange (DEX)
A type of cryptocurrency exchange which has no central trading book but instead facilitates access to liquidity via smart contracts.
Deflation
In economics, deflation is a decrease in the general price level of goods and services. Deflation occurs when the inflation rate falls below 0%. Generally, deflation is a term used to describe a fall in price levels.
Delegated Proof of Stake
A variant of the Proof of Stake consensus mechanism where providers of staked assets can delegate their voting rights to another user.
Diamond Hands
Describes someone with the strongest resolve to not sell their crypto even in the face of negative sentiment or declining prices, because of a belief in its fundamental value. Sometimes simply referred to as Strong Hands
Digital Signature
A unique alphanumeric string that identifies a specific piece of digital information.
Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA)
Dollar cost averaging (DCA) is an investment tactic in which you routinely buy an asset for a predetermined sum of money regardless of its price.
Dumping
The sudden sell-off of a cryptocurrency causing an immediate and significant drop in its price.
Dust Attack
An unmasking tactic used by both criminals and law enforcement agencies where trace amounts of a cryptocurrency are sent to large amounts of addresses with the purpose of de-anonymising them.
ELI5
Explain it like I am five. Explaining something in such simple terms that a child of five would understand.
Escrow
The contractual use of an intermediary to hold and distribute assets on behalf of the sender and receiver. The distribution of assets is usually dependent on conditions agreed to by the transacting parties being met.
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