Crypto glossary
22 terms you will meet when swapping coins, each explained in a sentence or two.
- Address poisoning
- A scam where an attacker sends tiny amounts from an address that looks like one you use, hoping you copy it from your history.
- AML
- “Anti-money laundering”: rules and screening meant to stop stolen or criminal funds from moving through financial services.
- Block explorer
- A website that shows blocks, transactions and addresses of a blockchain in a readable form.
- Confirmation
- A new block added on top of the block containing your transaction. More confirmations mean the transaction is harder to reverse.
- Cross-chain swap
- Exchanging a coin on one blockchain for a coin on a different blockchain, for example BTC for XMR.
- Custodial exchange
- An exchange that keeps your coins in its own wallets and shows you a balance. Convenient, but you depend on it to withdraw.
- DEX
- A decentralized exchange: smart contracts that swap tokens directly from your wallet, usually within a single blockchain.
- ERC-20
- The token standard on Ethereum. USDT, USDC and many other tokens exist as ERC-20 tokens.
- Floating rate
- A rate that follows the market until your deposit confirms, as opposed to a rate fixed at the moment you create the order.
- KYC
- “Know your customer”: identity checks (ID, selfie, proof of address) that regulated exchanges perform before letting you trade.
- Liquidity
- How much of an asset is available to trade without moving the price much. More liquidity means better rates for large swaps.
- Memo / destination tag
- An extra identifier some networks (XRP, XLM, TON, ATOM) use to credit a deposit to the right user of a shared address.
- Network fee (gas)
- The fee paid to miners or validators to include a transaction in a block. It goes to the network, not to the swap service.
- Non-custodial
- A service that never holds your funds in an account. You keep control of your coins and keys at all times.
- Privacy coin
- A cryptocurrency that hides amounts and addresses on-chain by default or optionally, such as Monero (XMR) or Zcash (ZEC).
- Refund address
- An address of the coin you send, where your deposit is returned if an order cannot be completed.
- Seed phrase
- The 12 or 24 words that can restore a wallet. Anyone who has them controls the funds; never share them with anyone.
- Slippage
- The difference between the expected price of a trade and the price it actually executes at, caused by market movement or thin liquidity.
- Stablecoin
- A token designed to keep a stable value, usually 1 US dollar, such as USDT, USDC or DAI.
- Transaction hash (TXID)
- The unique ID of a blockchain transaction. You can look it up in a block explorer to see its status.
- TRC-20
- The token standard on the TRON blockchain. USDT on TRC-20 is popular because transfers are fast and cheap.
- Wallet address
- A string of characters that identifies where coins can be sent on a specific blockchain. Each network has its own format.