Glossary
Crypto glossary
More than fifty terms from crypto, markets and European regulation, explained in one sentence plus the context you need to use them correctly.
A
AFM
The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets, the MiCA licensing authority for crypto service providers in the Netherlands.
RulesAML
Anti-money laundering: the body of rules meant to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.
TechnologyAMM
Automated Market Maker: a contract that prices trades with a formula based on the ratio in a liquidity pool.
B
Bitcoin node
A computer that keeps the full bitcoin chain and checks every transaction and block against the consensus rules itself.
BasicsBlockchain
A shared ledger in which transactions are recorded in consecutive blocks and maintained by many computers at once.
TaxBox 3
The Dutch tax on wealth, including crypto holdings, based on the value at the reference date.
TechnologyBridge
A service that moves tokens from one network to another, usually by locking them and reissuing them elsewhere.
C
Capital gains tax
Tax on the gain between the purchase and sale price of an asset.
RulesCASP
Crypto-Asset Service Provider: a MiCA-licensed provider of services such as trading, custody or exchange.
MarketsCEX
A centralised exchange that holds client funds and matches orders in its own order book.
SecurityCold storage
Storing keys on a device that is not connected to the internet.
TechnologyConsensus
The rules by which all participants in a network agree on which transactions are valid.
RulesCustody
Holding crypto-assets on behalf of a client by a service provider.
D
DAC8
The European directive requiring crypto service providers to report client data and transactions to tax authorities.
BasicsDCA
Dollar cost averaging: investing a fixed amount at regular intervals regardless of price.
MarketsDepeg
The moment a stablecoin structurally deviates from its intended value.
TechnologyDEX
A decentralised exchange where you swap directly from your own wallet, without an intermediary holding your coins.
RulesDigital euro
A digital form of cash for everyday payments, issued by the European Central Bank.
MarketsDrawdown
The distance between a portfolio's peak and its subsequent trough.
E
F
FDV
Fully diluted valuation: the valuation if all future tokens were already circulating.
TechnologyFork
A split of a network because participants follow different rules.
RulesFSMA
Belgium's Financial Services and Markets Authority, supervising crypto service providers and advertising among other things.
G
H
I
K
L
M
Market capitalisation
The price multiplied by the number of coins in circulation.
RulesMiCA
The European Markets in Crypto-Assets regulation, setting licences and rules for issuers and service providers of crypto-assets.
TechnologyMining
The process where computers bundle transactions into blocks and are rewarded with new coins and transaction fees.
N
O
P
Peg
The link between a token and a reference value, such as one dollar.
SecurityPhishing
Fraud in which someone impersonates a trusted party to obtain your login details or keys.
MarketsPower law
A model describing the bitcoin price as a straight line on a log-log scale against time.
SecurityProof of reserves
A check in which a platform demonstrates it holds at least as many assets as it owes clients.
TechnologyProof of stake
A consensus mechanism in which validators back the correctness of blocks with staked coins.
TechnologyProof of work
A consensus mechanism in which miners spend computing power for the right to add blocks.
R
S
Seed phrase
A series of twelve or twenty-four words from which all keys of a wallet can be regenerated.
TechnologySlashing
Losing part of your staked coins as a penalty for validator faults or misbehaviour.
MarketsSlippage
The difference between the expected and the actually executed price of an order.
MarketsSpread
The gap between the highest bid and the lowest ask in the order book.
BasicsStablecoin
A token that targets a fixed value, usually one euro or one dollar, backed by reserves.
BasicsStaking
Locking coins to help secure a network in return for a reward.
MarketsStock-to-flow
A model dividing the existing stock of a good by annual new production as a measure of scarcity.