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ipedia - your finance and crypto dictionary

Economy

An economy refers to a system in which activities including production, consumption, and trading of goods and services are connected. 

 

What is produced automatically determines what is consumed; similarly, what is consumed makes way for value generation. 

 

There is the free market economy where as the name implies, productions in this type of economy are self-regulated. And then there's the command-based economy where production is controlled by a governmental body.

 

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Emission

Emission, alternatively referred to as the "emission rate" in the cryptocurrency space typically refers to the rate of creation of specified assets and additionally, the rate at which they are being released.

 

Inflationary and deflationary are two models of economic emission used in cryptocurrency, each determining at what rate or pace and by what volume a certain cryptocurrency is created and circulated.

 

Mining, yield farming, crypto staking, and airdrops, all are subject to different models of value distribution.

 

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Encryption

Encryption is the conversion of data, usually readable or humanly decipherable information called plaintext, into a ciphertext which is basically an encoded form of data in cryptography.

 

Encryption is purposed to secure data and the transmission of information, data is passed through a cryptographic algorithm that converts plaintext into ciphertext, giving only authorized individuals the ability to decrypt it.

 

Digital signatures are required to break or decode encryption, these are often attained via private and public keys.

 

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Equity

Although an "equity market"  is popularly called the "stock market", unlike regular stocks, equity can be tradable and non-tradable.

 

Equity is basically a sum of money extracted from a company's balance sheet after the layoff of its liabilities.

 

Typically, equity is an instrument of ownership, shareholders gain equities of a company while also, as in the case of stocks earn dividends.

 

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ERC-20

ERC-20 is typically a token standard on the Ethereum network, representing fungibility to be exact, this is in contrast to ERC-721 which is used in NFTs.

 

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ERC-721

ERC-721 is a token standard used in NFTs, these virtual assets typically represent valuable data, so they can be seen as a container. 

 

That said, ERC-721 as seen with NFTs is a non-fungible token standard, meaning that each ERC-721 token cannot be interchanged for another in a way that fungible currencies like bitcoin can.

Escrow

An Escrow is a third party in a financial contract. Typically, what an escrow does as a middleman is receive and retain assets or funds of a transacting party, holding custody until the terms of the transacting parties are agreed upon.

 

An escrow only releases the assets when terms are meant, it serves as a temporal custodian, aiding in keeping the transaction secure and not exposed to fraud.

 

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Ethereum(ETH)

Ethereum is an open-source platform, blockchain, and cryptocurrency that was introduced on 30th July 2015 as an added benefit to Bitcoin

 

The Ethereum blockchain has smart contract capabilities which generally draws the line of difference from Bitcoin. Ether is what the network's native coin is called. 

 

Ethereum functions on stake-based governance called proof-of-stake(PoS), this is a consensus mechanism applied on the network to attain security and authentication of data transferred on the blockchain.

 

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Ethereum Classic(ETC)

Ethereum Classic(ETC) is an open-source project, a blockchain, and cryptocurrency that was birthed due to the 2016 hack of The DAO, a decentralized venture fund that was considered as the most successful ICOs in the history of Ethereum

 

Ethereum Classic came to be as a result of a disagreement on network rollbacks to reimburse The DAO, the network split into two.

 

ETC was originally Ethereum, As such, the current beholder of the name "Ethereum" can be considered a fork.

 

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Ethereum Name Service(ENS)

Ethereum Name Service(ENS) is an open-source naming system, similar to Domains Name System (DNS).

 

Note, ENS isn't designed to replace the DNS, however considering that it's built on a distributed data structure, the Ethereum network, ENS serves as a secure and decentralized naming system living on the blockchain.

 

As a core focus, ENS aims to rid the cryptocurrency space of one of its major hassles; public keys generally referred to as cryptocurrency addresses.

 

Similar to what DNS does with websites, creating a name for a string of numbers that would originally represent a website, replacing IP addresses with human-readable names like twitter.com or icoverage.io, ENS replaces long and complicated crypto addresses that are almost impossible to remember or present at the fingertips with simple names like John.eth.


 

ENS takes what would originally look like this; Ox6azaqs3h4ishklv36dYqs8quk6a7xo0 and turns it into John.eth.

 

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Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM)

Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is simply the heart of major functionalities on the Ethereum network.

 

The nodes on the Ethereum blockchain all run on the EVM to maintain consensus, it is often viewed as a virtual engine or computational engine that embodies all smart contracts

 

The EVM plays a crucial role in the Ethereum network as it is affiliated with the execution and deployment of smart contracts on the protocol.

 

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Etherscan

Etherscan is typically a block explorer used to access data from the Ethereum network. The blockchain is a distributed ledger, data passed through or stored on the blockchain are accessible by anyone due to its open nature. 

 

Block explorers make this possible, Etherscan is a block explorer based on Ethereum, it's like the frontend to all that goes through the Ethereum network.

 

Etherscan allows you to scan through the network as the name implies, this includes scanning addresses, hashes, blocksblock heights, and typically transactions on the Ethereum blockchain to the exact.

 

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Exchange

An exchange is typically a marketplace where goods and services are traded. A cryptocurrency exchange, following the previous definition, is basically a marketplace where cryptocurrencies are traded.

 

These exchanges may be centralized or decentralized, however, both serve as a medium for trade, aiding individuals to engage in contracts of different trade agreements.

 

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Exchange Traded Fund(ETF)

An exchange-traded fund is generally referred to as a pool of tradable investments, tracking a particular asset and much like stocks, are tradable in the equity market. if you're familiar with mutual funds, then you have a picture, but if not;

 

An Exchange Traded Fund(ETF) typically holds securities ranging from either commodities or other assets.

 

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Exit Liquidity

In a case of a liquidation carried out by a scam project perhaps, exit liquidity typically refers to the amount of money that was readily available to carry out the liquidation.

 

Cryptocurrencies are digital assets, with certain value variables, liquidities enable trade, and these assets can have diverse trading pairs ranging from stablecoins to volatile assets like bitcoin.

 

Being exit liquidity means being the one that gets traded the bag of coins soon to be worth nothing as the project was a scam.

 

Although not limited to scams, bankrupt companies can likewise liquidate their assets leaving individuals with worthless holdings, the liquidity that was present at the time of operation is referred to as exit liquidity.

 

Both centralized exchanges(CEX) and decentralized exchanges(DEX) rely on liquidity to operate, which by design, are oftentimes centralized!

 

However, Atomic swaps do not rely on this, and so, it is considered a truly decentralized exchange with p2p capabilities.

 

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Exit Scam

Ann Exist Scam typically refers to the fraudulent act of vanishing with investors' money after a desire or close target is met.

 

In the space of cryptocurrency, there is quite the vulnerability of investors who do little research to fall victim to exit scams.

 

The scammers typically launch a cryptocurrency project, promote it via marketing, luring investors to their concept or investment idea, and then disappear after extracting money from them.

 

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Fan Token

Fan tokens are cryptocurrencies created for the sole purpose of giving fans a direct influence on the decision-making of their favorite teams.

 

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Fantom

Fantom is often described as a high-performance layer 1 blockchain with scalable frameworks aiding in smart contract executions.

 

Fantom is EVM-compatible, built on the Lachesis consensus mechanism, Fantom believes to have solved the blockchain trilemma.

 

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Fear Of Missing Out(FOMO)

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a triggered emotion or feeling that one is missing out or going to lose an opportunity or chance to be in a better position.

 

In the cryptocurrency space, it's usually the fear of not having to buy into a particular project before it goes mainstream.

 

Actions taken out of FOMO are usually not advised as most safety indications are often ignored. Investing in cryptocurrency projects should be a diligent decision, made after thorough research and proper assessment.

 

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Fear Uncertainty and Doubt(FUD)

FUD is a popularly used abbreviation in the crypto ecosystem. FUD, which is short for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt typically describes the uncultured spread of unhealthy information in an attempt to create fear, uncertainty, and doubt as the name implies.

 

No-coiners are well-known FUD spreaders. As an investor, it's advisable to stay away from such companies and dedicate more time to a personal assessment of investment contracts.

 

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Federal Reserve (The Fed)

The Federal Reserve, also known as the Federal Reserve System is the U.S central banking system, created on December 23, 1913, the Fed has since grown into the most powerful financial institution, overseeing the monetary operations in the country, whilst ruling in monetary policies to govern the nation-states.

 

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Fiat Currency

The word "Fiat" in Latin means "let it be done". Initially, currencies were backed by precious metals, however, having had a failed system of asset-backed currencies, a new system was proposed and the gold standard was dissolved in 1971, fiat currency values are now maintained by government policies.

 

With the Feds in place, the fate of fiat currencies lies in the hands of its monetary policies. That said, Fiat currencies are basically legally accepted money, which is backed by nothing more than government policies.

 

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Finance

Finance encompasses the creation, management, and investment of money.

 

Finance as action refers to the funding of something, ranging from non-profit to for-profit funding such as an investment or business startup.

 

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Financial Asset

Financial assets are usually claims of ownership class assets and/or assets with contractual rights pertaining to rights to future cash flow or simply profit making. 

 

Financial assets are most often not physical, like stocks, however, they present themselves to be more liquid than physical assets.

 

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Financial Institution

Financial Institutions are companies set up with the primary purpose of finance dealings.

 

Alternatively called the banking institution, they are positioned to carry out financial and monetary operations ranging from receiving deposits and providing diverse financial tools for savings and investment.

Fintech

Fintech is the merging of two sectors of operations to make one great industry. Fintech is short for "Financial Technology". 

 

Primarily, this refers to the adoption of technology to enhance the process of transacting, thereby giving financial institutions a more spacious room to evolve in their monetary and business operations.

 

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Flippening

The flippening is a term used to describe an event where "Ethereum" outgrows "Bitcoin" to become the largest cryptocurrency.

 

Some analysts and investors have made these claims the belief that Ethereum is potential enough to flip Bitcoin, or much simpler, has more potential than Bitcoin.

 

Although it is primarily a reference to Ethereum's ability to grow larger than Bitcoin, the term can as well be used to describe similar events with other cryptocurrencies.

 

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Forks

Forking is simply an incident caused by a change in consensus.

 

Forks occur in a blockchain when an alternative chain emerges as a result of different block records.

 

A fork can be observed when miners cannot come to a consensus to verify transactions, this can be short-lived or may be permanent, creating a new chain in the process, these new chains are called forks of the original network or protocol.

 

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Full Node

A full node typically stores all the records of a blockchain, these nodes often receive transactions from each other, verify them and relay them back to one another, ultimately keeping the network secure.

 

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Gas Price

Typically used as a reference to transaction costs on the Ethereum network, Gas price is simply the valued amount or fee required to successfully perform a transaction on the Ethereum blockchain.

 

This fee is paid in Ether and applies to basically all transactions across the Ethereum blockchain including DApps built on the network.

 

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Gas Limit

Gas Limit refers to the amount one is willing to spend for his or her transaction to process.

 

Miners earn these fees in addition to block rewards for verifying transactions thus, the higher the gas amount used, the faster a transaction is likely to get processed.

 

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Genesis Block

Genesis Block is a term used to reference the first block of transactions on any blockchain.

 

It is called "genesis" as a way of addressing a "beginning", the blockchain being structured in the form of " blocks" containing a series of transactions, typically, data on the blockchain are always linked to the very first block, the " genesis block".

 

Although the term is much more applied in bitcoin, where lots of references are made to the first bitcoin block which was mined by Satoshi Nakamoto the term can however be applied to other networks.

 

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Greater Fool Theory

The Greater Fool Theory typically refers to an investment theory that suggests that one can make money buying up overvalued assets because there will be people foolish enough to buy them out for an even higher amount.

 

The "Greater Fool" comes into play when more individuals keep buying out the bag of overpriced or overvalued assets. The risks of believing and following this concept of investing are that you never know if you'll be the last one with the investment, becoming the greater fool or as some would address it in the crypto space a bagholder.

 

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Gwei

Gwei is a unit of measurement, typically the smaller units of Ether, the native coin of the Ethereum blockchain.

 

Just like cent is for the dollar, and satoshi(sats) is for bitcoin, gwei is one-billionth of one ether, primarily used as a measurement of gas price.

 

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Hard Cap

A hard cap is a supply limit parameter that disallows the further creation or expansion of a cryptocurrency supply, any attempt in changing the hard cap of a given asset will result in an entirely new cryptocurrency.

 

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Hard Fork

A Hard Fork typically occurs on a blockchain network when miners or validators turn to an alternative chain, neglecting the previous chain parameters, thus a consensus is not met across the previous common chain.

 

In simpler terms, a hard fork splits a network into two separate blockchains, running parallel to each other.

 

Transactions onwards on both chains disassociate, meaning they cease to exist or appear on both chains' records, both networks now operate with a new name and cryptocurrency asides from each other.

 

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Hash

A Hash is typically an encrypted output of fixed length, differing from the length or size of the data it holds. Hashes are one-way in nature, meaning that decrypting a hash isn't possible and a specific set of data will always produce the same hash.

 

Typically, different hash functions are used to encrypt data, an example is the SHA-256 hashing algorithm used in Bitcoin to define a target hash that ensures the mining difficulty meets network requirements.

 

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Hash Rate

A Hash Rate is simply the computational power used across a proof-of-work(PoW) blockchain like Bitcoin.

 

Typically, the higher the hash rates, the higher the mining difficulty, but at the same time, may imply faster transaction processing or verifying time.

 

The higher the hash rate a miner has, the more chances it has to solve the mathematical puzzle to earn block rewards.

 

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Halving

Halving refers to the splitting of block rewards in half on the Bitcoin network.

 

The proof-of-work(PoW) powered blockchain was designed to cut down its emission through mining rewards every 210,000 blocks or call it 4 years estimate.

 

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Hedge

A hedge is simply an investment approach devised to manage risks of potential losses or effects of price volatility

 

Investors tend to take alternate positions on investment contracts as a way to offset the risks or limit the impact of losses.

 

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Hedge Fund

A hedge fund is an investment pool that utilizes risky strategies to make profits off the market. Hedge funds are targeted at wealthy people as there's often a defined minimum required to be a member.

 

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Hive

Hive is a cryptocurrency and blockchain based on a delegated proof of stake(DPoS) mechanism. Hive also has a designated platform for blogging, where users earn hive coins for creating content.

 

The hive blockchain is secured via a DPoS consensus mechanism, where witnesses are elected to verify transactions and secure the network.

 

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Hive Backed Dollar(HBD)

Hive Backed Dollar (HBD) is a decentralized algorithm stablecoin of the hive blockchain.

 

HBD is backed by hive via an algorithm that tracks the price value of the native coin thereby printing, selling, buying, and burning HBD to maintain a value of $1. 

 

Typically, HBD doesn't track the USD, it tracks hive coins to ensure that it is always exchangeable for $1 worth of hive at all times.

 

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Hive Power(HP)

Hive Power(HP) is simply staked hive. When a user holds hive coins as stakes on the platform, it is referred to as HP. 

 

Typically, a hive power determines how much value one can distribute via curation and at the same time, a measure of one's governance influence. Staked hive or HP also increases one's resource credit, aiding in more network fuel to perform transactions.

 

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HODL

"Hold On for Dear Life" 

 

HODL is a common term used to describe an event where a cryptocurrency investor refuses to sell off his assets or holdings, instead, an idea of hodling, which is a way of saying "holding" for a longer period of time is driven.

 

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Howie Test

The Howie test is simply a determinant of what falls under "security" and what doesn't.

 

Typically, when a transaction translates to the investment of money in a common enterprise, with the expectations of profits, to be derived from the effort of others, the transaction is termed an "investment contract" which simply is a "security".

 

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