8 Cryptocurrency Lingo You Should Know: Crypto Glossary

If you have been shot down as a FUD while criticizing cryptocurrencies, and you have no idea what that is, welcome to the club. You have come at the right place. This domain of finance is heavily influenced by a GenZ audience and as an inevitable outcome of that, crypto is full of memes and slangs. While that makes the cryptoverse even spicier to look at from a distance, but, it also poses greater challenges in front of someone who wants to dive in deeper. So today, I decided to cover some of the coolest crypto lingo that I have come across in my little cryptocurrency journey.

What are you waiting for? You need to have diamond hands to be investing in crypto. Okay. That was the last one which I used without explaining you the meaning of it. Let’s dive in straight away into cryptocurrency lingo:

A. ATH/ATL:

Similar to a stock market parlance, ATH and ATL stand for all time high and all time low. These are the highest ever (or lowest) prices hit by a crypto in it’s lifetime. For your reference, BTC ATH is ₹4,808,999 which was made on April 14th, 2021.

Pretty neat right? May you always find your next ATH.

B. Altcoin:

Alternate coins or altcoin in short is an umbrella term given to all the cryptos that are NOT Bitcoin. Initially, I used to search for the price of Altcoin over exchanges but could never find it, just to realize that it isn’t a cryptocurrency but rather a collective term.

There’s no specific origin of the word altcoin, but I think it is devised by purists who believe that no cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin can be the king of the market.

This also makes sense because Bitcoin was the first cryptocurrency that started all this.

So everything you find other than BTC (Eg. Ethereum, Doge Coin) are all altcoins.

C. Cold Wallet:

Where do you store your money? Bank account right? Similarly, cryptos are stored in wallets. These can be further categorized into two types on the basis of connectivity: Hot wallet and a cold wallet.

Cold Wallet, also called a hardware wallet or offline wallet, is a hardware device to store Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies offline. It is not connected to the Internet. The exact opposite of Cold Wallet is Hot Wallet, meaning it is connected to the Internet. 

Makes sense. Innit? Hot because crypto market is highly volatile and it makes your seat…. hot? No? Anyone? I’ll show myself out.

D. DYOR:

This one’s my favorite. Ever asked someone for a crypto tip and they might have cautioned you by saying DYOR?

DYOR or Do your own research, as the name suggests is used to highlight the fact that don’t take anyone’s word for any kind of analysis. In the end we all have to build our own narratives before investing in any asset. Crypto is no different. Next time if someone asks me if Bitcoin would reach 100k, I am going to ask you to DYOR.

E. Diamond Hands:

Usually represented in emoji of a diamond and hands it refers to a person who would maintain their position in a trade with unflinching conviction no matter what the situation is. They say that for investing in crypto, you need to have diamond hands because it is extremely volatile and unpredictable.

Similarly, opposite of diamond hands is paper hands.

F. FUD:

FUD stands for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt.

It was adopted by the crypto community to denounce what supporters see as the intentional spread of misinformation. Skeptics see it used as a way to brush off anything negative. It can also be used for a person who is being critical of cryptocurrency in general.

So, don’t be a FUD and don’t spread FUD are both legit financial jargons. What a time to be alive.

G. HODL:

In reality, it is just ‘hold‘ spelled badly. However it’s widely used as an acronym for “Hold on for your dear life“

It was initially used on 2013 on reddit by some random Bitcoin trader who may be in a frenzy and made a typo. Ever since it became a mantra of the community.

It is used as an advice to the community to swallow up volatility and stay in the game for a long term gain. Are you a HODLer?

H. Whale:

Whale is used to refer to a person who is holding a big chunk of a cryptocurrency. It is said that every move that they make (buy or sell) will create waves in the ocean. Hence the name.

Whales can also be thought of someone who has the ability to manipulate markets because of the sheer size of holdings.

Conclusion:

If you are as millennial as I am, this might be coming as big confusion. Why are people so non serious about money that they are using slangs to depict some key jargons? Well, that’s what we have come to and it is here to stay in my opinion.

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Until next time..

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