DeFi Glossary

Making crypto wallets smarter and easier to use.

An artificial intelligence program that automatically manages DeFi activities for you.

Free tokens sent to your wallet, usually as a reward for using a project early or holding certain cryptocurrencies.

Any cryptocurrency that isn't Bitcoin.

A trading robot that uses math to set prices automatically.

A blockchain built for just one application.

The yearly interest rate including compound interest.

A way to trade crypto directly with someone on a different blockchain.

A new way for Layer 2s to post data to Ethereum much more cheaply.

A digital ledger that records transactions across many computers.

A website that lets you look up any transaction, address, or contract on a blockchain.

The challenge of making a blockchain fast, secure, AND decentralized at the same time.

A tool that lets you move crypto between different blockchains.

A reward program where projects pay people who find security problems.

A digital currency issued and controlled by a country's central bank.

Crypto services run by regular companies.

The inability for any government or company to stop your transactions.

A crypto trading platform run by a company, like a regular stock exchange.

Hiding the complexity of multiple blockchains from users.

Crypto you lock up as a guarantee when borrowing.

The ability to combine different blockchain apps like building blocks.

Blockchain apps that work together like Lego blocks.

The rules for how a blockchain network agrees on which transactions are valid.

Basic building blocks of blockchain security - the math tricks that make it all work.

A group that makes decisions together by voting online.

An app that runs on a blockchain instead of company servers.

Making sure transaction data can be accessed by anyone who needs to verify it.

A trust fund managed by code instead of lawyers.

Renting computing power from many people instead of big companies like Amazon or Google.

Crypto trading contracts that let you bet on price movements or hedge risk - without a traditional broker or exchange.

A way to prove who you are online without a company controlling your data.

Proving things about yourself without revealing personal details.

Crypto-native protection against hacks, bugs, or failures - without a traditional insurance company.

Human-readable names for crypto addresses.

Social networks where you own your followers and content.

File storage spread across many computers instead of one company's servers.

A new way to do banking without banks.

Laws and rules that governments create to control how DeFi protocols operate.

A trading platform where you keep control of your money.

A tool that finds the best crypto prices across many exchanges at once.

The engine that runs smart contracts on Ethereum.

An attack that takes advantage of bugs or design flaws in code.

A way to turn regular money (dollars, euros) into cryptocurrency.

A loan that must be borrowed and paid back in the same transaction - usually within seconds.

When a blockchain splits into two separate chains.

The cost to use a blockchain, paid to the people who run the network.

Manipulating a voting system by temporarily getting lots of voting power.

A website where token holders can propose and vote on changes to a project.

A special cryptocurrency that lets you vote on how a project is run.

A physical device that keeps your crypto passwords offline, away from hackers.

Holding onto your crypto instead of selling, even when prices drop.

The downside of providing liquidity to trading pools.

A DeFi platform where users pool funds to cover losses from hacks, bugs, or other failures.

Telling an app what you want to achieve instead of exactly how to do it.

Different blockchains being able to talk to each other and share information.

Adding liquidity to a pool for just one transaction, then removing it immediately.

Identity verification required by regulated crypto services.

A faster, cheaper network built on top of a main blockchain.

An app where you can earn interest by lending your crypto, or borrow by putting up collateral.

Borrowing money to make bigger trades than you could afford.

A token you get when restaking that represents your position.

Staking your crypto while still being able to use it.

When a loan gets automatically closed because your collateral lost too much value.

A shared pot of two different cryptocurrencies that people can trade from.

The total value of all coins in circulation.

The waiting room for transactions before they're added to the blockchain.

A way to organize blockchain data so you can quickly check if something is valid without downloading everything.

Virtual worlds where you can own digital land, items, and experiences using blockchain.

Extra profit that people running the network can make by reordering transactions.

Using computers to process transactions and earn crypto rewards.

Splitting blockchain jobs into specialized layers.

A wallet that needs multiple people to approve transactions.

A one-of-a-kind digital item you can own and prove is yours.

A computer that stores a copy of the blockchain and helps run the network.

A way to speed up Ethereum by processing transactions separately, assuming they're valid.

Services that bring real-world information into blockchain apps.

A crypto wallet secured by your device's biometrics instead of seed phrases.

Anyone can participate without asking for approval.

A way to bet on crypto prices going up or down without owning the actual tokens.

A platform where you bet on future events.

How much your trade changes the token's price.

Cryptocurrency designed to hide who sends and receives money.

A secret code that proves you own your crypto and lets you send it.

A way to secure a blockchain where people lock up crypto to participate.

A way to secure a blockchain where computers race to solve puzzles.

A voting system where many small voices matter more than one big voice.

Turning physical assets like buildings or stocks into blockchain tokens.

Proofs that can verify other proofs, allowing for extreme compression of blockchain data while still proving everything...

Using blockchain to fund environmental and social good.

Using your already-staked crypto to secure additional networks and earn extra rewards.

How your wallet talks to the blockchain.

A scam where project creators suddenly take all the money and disappear.

A type of MEV where someone puts transactions before AND after yours to profit.

A list of 12 or 24 random words that acts as the master password to your crypto.

Holding your own crypto instead of letting a company hold it for you.

The service that orders transactions on a Layer 2 network.

Splitting a blockchain into smaller pieces that work in parallel.

A separate blockchain that runs alongside a main one.

A penalty where some of your staked crypto gets taken away if you break the rules or go offline for too long.

The difference between the price you expect and the price you actually get when trading.

A computer program that automatically does what it's told when certain things happen.

A security review of smart contract code by experts.

A cryptocurrency designed to always be worth about $1.

Locking up your crypto to help run a blockchain network.

A trick where someone creates many fake accounts to get more power in a system.

A token that tracks the price of something else without you owning it.

A practice version of a blockchain where tokens have no real value.

A way for multiple people to create one signature together, without any single person ever knowing the full secret key.

A mandatory waiting period before changes take effect.

Permission you give a smart contract to spend your tokens.

A set of rules that tokens follow so wallets and apps know how to handle them.

Turning real things into digital tokens on a blockchain.

The rules about how a cryptocurrency works - how many exist, how they're given out, and what makes them valuable or...

You don't need to trust anyone because the code enforces the rules.

The total amount of crypto deposited in a DeFi app.

The process of withdrawing your staked crypto.

The reward and penalty system that keeps blockchain validators honest.

A smart contract that automatically manages your crypto to earn yield.

A way to create random numbers on a blockchain that everyone can verify are truly random and not rigged.

An app or device that stores your crypto passwords (private keys).

The next version of the internet where you own your data and digital stuff.

Someone who owns a huge amount of cryptocurrency.

A service that automatically moves your money between different apps to get the best returns.

Moving your crypto between different apps to earn the best rewards.

A protocol that automatically moves your crypto between different DeFi platforms to get the best returns.

A way to make blockchain faster and cheaper.