Dictionary

Address

The address identifies a specific account on the cryptocurrency network and allows the receipt of cryptocurrencies. Example of an address within the Bitcoin network: 1K31KZXjcochXpRhjH9g5MxFFTHPi2zEXb

Airdrop

A method of distributing a new cryptocurrency by donating coins to users (according to a predetermined key).

Altcoin

All cryptocurrencies that are not Bitcoin are collectively referred to as altcoins. The word altcoin comes from a combination of the words alternative and coin.

AML

Anti-money laundering. AML collectively refers to a set of laws and regulations designed to combat the laundering of funds derived from criminal activity (so-called money laundering), but also to combat the financing of terrorism. In the world of cryptocurrencies, centralised exchanges typically require KYC-AML procedures where they identify the customer and then actively prevent money laundering.

Aplikačné tokeny

Inak nazývané aj ako úžitkové tokeny. Tieto tokeny majú špecifické využitie, ktoré umožňuje prístup k rôznym funkciám krypto projektu alebo k špeciálnym produktom a službám.

ATH

All-Time High. The highest price up to the date. For instance, Bitcoin achieved its ATH in November 2021 when its price climbed up to $68 000.

Barter

Druh obchodu, v ktorom sa vymieňa tovar za tovar. Tento druh obchodu sa používal ešte pred vynálezom peňazí, kedy si medzi sebou ľudia vymieňali rôzne statky.

Bear Market

A bear market is a label for a trend of long-term declining prices in a particular market. Example: The cryptocurrencies found themselves in the bear market in 2018 and 2019.

Binance

The largest cryptocurrency exchange originating in China. Binance was founded in 2017 and in its short existence has become the most popular cryptocurrency exchange in the world.

Bitcoin

The world's first cryptocurrency, created by Satoshi Nakamoto. Bitcoin is the designation of individual coins as well as the entire network. It was created as an independent financial system to transfer value. It has no central authority, is open to all, is global in nature, and no one in the network has the right to censor transactions.

Blockchain

The technology that underpins Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies. It involves writing individual transactions to blocks of data. The blocks are created by miners and then linked together using cryptographic rules. It is essentially an open ledger that the entire network agrees on and cannot be manipulated backwards.

Block

The data structure within the blockchain in which transactions are stored.

Bull Market

A bull market is a label for a trend of long-term rising prices in a particular market. Example: 2017 was a bull market for cryptocurrencies.

Centralisation

A trait of a system with a hierarchical structure controlled by a central authority. National fiat currencies are typically governed in such a way as they are regulated by central banks.

Cold peňaženka (wallet)

A cryptocurrency wallet that is disconnected from the internet and therefore not at risk of hacking or attack in the digital space. These are usually hardware wallets.

DDoS

Typ útoku na internetovú stránku a službu, ktorého hlavným cieľom je znefunkčniť alebo znemožniť prístup ostatným používateľom. Najčastejšie sa uskutočňuje prostredníctvom odosielania obrovského množstva požiadaviek na server, ktoré spôsobia jeho preťaženie.

Deflácia

Deflácia je opakom inflácie. V tejto situácii dochádza k poklesu cenovej hladiny tovarov a služieb a kúpna sila peňazí narastá. Cenová deflácia je často znakom zdravej ekonomiky, no má aj svoje riziká.

Decentralisation

A type of system that is independent of a central authority, and is managed by a network of peer nodes. Bitcoin is a decentralized cryptocurrency because there is no central authority deciding what happens within the network.

Decentralised applications

Applications based on decentralized technology that minimize the necessity of trusting a central authority. They typically use smart contract technology. The most popular platform for decentralized applications is Ethereum.

Decentralised Autonomous Organisation (DAO)

An organization built using smart contracts that together create an autonomous system. The coin owners of a given DAO decide the direction of the organisation's development.

Double-spend attack

A double coin spending attack, i.e. when an attacker spends the same coin in two different transactions.

ERC-20

A standardized format for creating tokens on the Ethereum network. Most of the tokens on the ETH network use the ERC-20 standard.

Ethereum

Ethereum is the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. The main feature of the network is the possibility of creating complex smart contracts and decentralized applications.

Exit scam

Podvodný spôsob získania finančných prostriedkov od investorov, napríklad prostredníctvom prvotnej ponuky mincí (ICO), v ktorom autori určitej kryptomeny jednoducho zmizli spolu so získanými finančnými prostriedkami bez toho, aby investorom zanechali akékoľvek informácie.

Fiat

Fiat peniaze sú tradičné mince a papierové peniaze, s ktorými sa stretávame prakticky kdekoľvek. Tieto peniaze sú častokrát označované aj ako peniaze s vnútorným obehom alebo peniaze bez vnútornej hodnoty. Typickým príkladom je euro alebo dolár. 

Finalizing the transaction

The period of a blockchain transaction when that transaction is considered irreversible. On the Bitcoin network, transactions are considered finalized after about 60 minutes. There are other types of blockchains, such as Tendermint, where the finalization of a transaction is almost instantaneous.

Flippening

Change in the top spot among cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. In other words, also dethroning Bitcoin as the dominant cryptocurrency. The closest to flippening was Ethereum in 2017, when BTC's capitalization accounted for 38% of the cryptocurrency market and Ethereum was at 31%.

FOMO

Fear Of Missing Out - The fear that an investor will miss out on profits by investing late in an asset. When prices rise massively, retail investors are usually quick to buy because they are afraid of "missing the train".

Fork

Môže znamenať dve veci: 1. Rozdelenie siete na dve separátne siete. 2. Zmenu pravidiel (protokolu) v danej sieti.

Genesis block

The first block within a particular blockchain, from which all other blocks subsequently derive.

Halving

Within Bitcoin, miners are rewarded with a fixed amount per block mined. This reward halves every 210,000 blocks (approximately 4 years) and this is called halving.

Hashrate

The amount of computing power that ensures network security in Proof-of-Work algorithms. The higher the hashrate of a given network, the harder it is to conduct an extreme attack on it.

Hardware wallet

This is a specialised version of cryptocurrency wallets where private keys are stored securely on a physical device that is separate from the internet, so there is no risk of hacker attacks. The most well-known hardware wallets are Ledger and Trezor.

Hard Fork

Implementation of new rules within the protocol that are not compatible with the previous version, i.e. if some nodes in the network do not implement the changes, the network is split into two, creating a new cryptocurrency. A classic example is the fork of Bitcoin Cash or Ethereum Classic.

HODL

It means to hold, that is, to hold cryptocurrency. It originated as a corruption of the English word hold. Hodl in the cryptocurrency space means that investors hold their cryptocurrencies for the long term in anticipation of future profits and do not sell even during extreme price drops.

ICO

Initial Coin Offering is an initial coin offering (similar to an initial share offering). When a new cryptocurrency is created, its creators distribute coins at a fixed price, usually funding its development at the same time. An investor buys a cryptocurrency in an ICO, expecting it to increase in price when it hits the various exchanges. The space of initial coin offerings is known to have a high concentration of fraud.

IEO

Initial Exchange Offering is the initial offering of coins through cryptocurrency exchanges. It is a modified version of an ICO. Some of the most prominent platforms for IEOs include the exchanges Binance, Huobi and Okex.

Interoperability

In the cryptocurrency space, interoperability refers to the ability to communicate between networks. Pioneers in interoperability are e.g. Cosmos, ICON or also Chainlink.

Cryptocurrency

Digital currency secured by cryptography against counterfeiting and double-spend attacks. It is a type of currency that is not based on the authority of nation states and that is based on the principle of decentralisation.

KYC

Know Your Customer - This is a standard in the investment environment where exchanges or brokers are forced to know their customers. The main reason was investor protection, now it is a regulatory framework to combat "money laundering" and terrorist financing.

Lightning Network

The most well-known solution for speeding up transactions on the BTC network. This is the so-called second layer above Bitcoin, where BTC can be sent for a low fee.

Liquidity

Liquidity is a property of a particular asset. A liquid asset is one that can be easily converted into cash. Bitcoin is a highly liquid cryptocurrency. Works of art or real estate are not very liquid.

Mainnet

A live (or even production) version of the blockchain network. Blockchain, like other software, usually originates as so-called testnets, where no real value is transferred, only tested to see if the network concept works. After the testing comes the Mainnet, where the network is already in live operation.

MiCA

Návrh nariadenia o trhoch s kryptoaktívami pochádzajúci z dielne Európskej komisie, ktorého cieľom je podpora digitalizácie finančného trhu a harmonizácia regulácie kryptoaktív v rámci Európske únie.

Miner

Človek, resp. uzol v sieti, ktorý sa zúčastňuje procesu ťažby kryptomien typu Proof-of-Work. Ťažba je proces, ktorý zabezpečuje spracovanie transakcií a vytváranie nových blokov, napríklad v sieti Bitcoin.

Node

Node is the basic unit of a blockchain network. It is usually a computer or server that ensures the operation of a given network. A blockchain network consists of thousands of individual nodes that operate on common rules. Node versus miner.

Oracle

A specialized unit that ensures the flow of data from one system to another. A classic representative of decentralized oracles in the cryptocurrency space is the Chainlink project or Band protocol.

Paper wallet

This is one of the options for securing private keys offline. The user prints his private key and public address on paper.

Peer-to-peer

Typ počítačovej siete, v ktorej sú si subjekty v sieti rovnocenné a komunikujú medzi sebou bez servera. Opačným príkladom je sieť typu klient-server, v ktorej existuje nadradený počítač, nazývaný ako server.

Plasma Network

Similar to the Lightning Network, the Plasma Network focuses on higher speed and quantity of transactions. Plasma Network is a specific speed boosting solution for Ethereum.

Private key

The private key is the identifier of a specific account. It is a secret key that only the owner can know. Using the private key, he can sign a transaction and the network will then identify him as the owner of specific coins. The private key must remain secret at all times. Example of a private key for Bitcoin: E9873D79C6D87DC0FB6A5778633389F44532
13303DA61F20BD67FC233AA33262

Proof of Stake

It is a blockchain network security mechanism that is not based on electricity consumption. The weight of influence within the network is directly proportional to the amount of coins, not the amount of computing power, as is the case with Proof-of-Work in Bitcoin.

Proof of Work

A method of securing a blockchain network through energy-intensive computation.

Pump and Dump

Druh podvodnej schémy, v ktorej skupina investorov nakúpi určité aktívum pri nízkej cene a následne ho masívne propaguje s cieľom prilákania nových investorov pod efektom FOMO. Po raste ceny skupina aktívum vypredá s obrovským ziskom, čo spôsobí pokles ceny aktíva často až na počiatočné hodnoty.

Satoshi

Bitcoin is divisible to eight decimal places. The smallest Bitcoin unit, 0.00000001 BTC, bears the name Satoshi. It was named after the founder of BTC named Satoshi Nakamoto.

Satoshi Nakamoto

Anonymous Bitcoin author whose identity is unknown. It is not yet known whether this is a single person or a group of people.

Smart contract

A smart contract is a computer program existing on a particular blockchain.

Software wallet

A software wallet is a type of wallet that does not rely on any specialized hardware (such as a safe or Ledger) and works on a regular computer or mobile phone.

Soft Fork

Implementation of new rules and a change to the protocol that is compatible with the previous version of the protocol. Thus, if some nodes in the network do not implement the changes, the network is not split in two. It is like an upgrade.

Stable Coin

Stable coins are cryptocurrencies that are pegged to the value of a physical asset. Most often they are pegged to the euro or the dollar. There are also stablecoins that are for example pegged to gold (e.g. PAX Gold).

Token

There are two key concepts in the cryptocurrency space. Coins and tokens. A coin refers to the native unit of the network. For Bitcoin, it is BTC (Bitcoin). On the Ethereum network, the coin is Ether. Some blockchains, such as Ethereum, allow for the creation of other "cryptocurrencies", more specifically tokens, within their network.

TPS

TPS (Transactions per second) is a basic indicator for measuring the speed of a particular blockchain network. Bitcoin handles 7 transactions per second (7 TPS). Ethereum handles approximately 20 transactions per second.

Transaction

In the context of blockchain technology, a transaction is considered to be any data entry, e.g. about the transfer of cryptocurrency or other funds (money), which is adequately signed and verified by validators in the network according to cryptographic rules. The transaction is then communicated across the network and indelibly written into the blockchain.

Validator

A node in a blockchain network that processes and verifies transactions.

Public key

A public key is a cryptographically generated code that is derived from a private key. Using the public key, other network participants can verify that a given transaction is signed with the correct private key.

Volatility

Fluctuations in the price level of an asset. Bitcoin is extremely volatile because its price exhibits extreme fluctuations. The dollar, on the other hand, is low volatile because its value is highly stable.

Web 3.0

Web 3.0 is a loose term for technologies whose implementation is bringing a new era to the Internet environment. These technologies include blockchain.