If you’ve largely ignored cryptocurrencies for the past few years, their rapid growth can make you feel as if the blockchain is closing in on you now. Investing in and using cryptocurrencies can mean a high degree of risk and will require the understanding of a whole new vocabulary. If you are still confused about crypto, you might first want to read our short guide.
To dive deeper into the crypto sphere, we’ve prepared a short course into crypto slang for beginners (in the order of the Alphabet):
A is for…Ape
No, not the primate, but a verb used in crypto to describe buying into a new cryptocurrency. This means you are an early adopter and buying into the coin before it becomes mainstream and your mum casually asks about it at dinner. Confusing fact: more recently, the cryptocurrency world has been “aping into” an actual ape, albeit an NFT one: the Bored Ape!
B is for…Bags
Not the ones under your eyes as you’re reading this. The coins and tokens in your portfolio are bags in crypto slang. Usually, the term refers to a significant amount of a crypto currency, and it is used to describe investors who refuse to sell despite poor market performance. And if you are a coin hoarder, you’re actually called a bagholder. But you might actually be a HODLer. Confused? They are one and the same.
C is for…Coinbase
Which is the most known cryptocurrency exchange platform, where you can buy, sell, transfer, and store digital currency.
D is for…DAO
But not the Chinese philosophy of life. In the crypto-world, DAO is short for Decentralized Autonomous Organization 
or, in simple terms, a crypto Cooperative where people pool their money together to make crypto purchases. The DAO doesn’t have a leader or CEO; rather, you make a proposal, and anyone holding a token can vote on it. The DAO can run like a start-up, invest in a founder or NFT, or function as a social club.
E is for…Ethereum
You surely heard of this one. But did you know that it operates on a decentralised computer network or a distributed ledger called a blockchain, which manages and tracks the cryptocurrency called Ether?
F is for…FUD
Another one you need to remember. It means fear, uncertainty, doubt, basically anything that can affect a cryptocurrency’s value. In kind of plain terms, it’s “bad juju”.
M is for…Moon
Skip a few letters, and you are shooting for the Moon. Not the actual moon but the verb MOONING, which means the price of your coin is going up.
N is for…Normie
Normies are the crypto non-believers, the people who stayed away from investing in this coin because they don’t believe in it or they think it’s a conspiracy. A NORMIE is also called a NOCOINER.
N is also for…NFTs
We couldn’t move past N without mentioning NFTs. Another term floating in the crypto-sphere is the Non Fungible Tokens. Confusing enough, they are one of the king digital assets that can’t be replaced. Read our NFT guide for more.
P is for…Proof of Stake Technology
This is an alternative crypto mining process that does not require miners and uses much less energy. A lot of cryptocurrencies have committed to adopting this tech, including Ethereum.
R is for…Rug Pull
It’s a crypto scam where developers raise lots of money for a crypto project and then disappear with it. These scams usually happen on decentralised exchanges (DEXs) in the decentralised finance (DeFi) ecosystem, where scammers create a token and list it on a DEX, then pair it with an established cryptocurrency like Ethereum to encourage coin swaps. Once enough people have invested, the creators then withdraw everything from the liquidity pool, causing the price to drop to zero.
S is for…Satoshi Nakamoto
As no one knows who invented Bitcoin, crypto users use this pseudonym to refer to the real founders.
W is for…WAGMI
A jump to W and We’re All Going to Make It. It’s an expression of mutual support and a mantra used by crypto users everywhere. Confusingly, WAGMI is also a token.
And W is also for…White Paper
A white paper is the basis of any blockchain project or cryptocurrency. It goes into the nitty-gritty of the tech and the problem you are set to solve.
Finally, for XYZ reasons…
You should consider keeping up with cryptocurrencies. Their rapid growth, together with more and more global recognition, should be worth, if anything, a small portion of your time.
And here it is – the basics of the crypto slang you need to know for investing or for understanding this world better. And if you need some help enabling crypto payments for your hustle, we know all about it.
