The Dictionary
Explore 227+ clear, technical, and objective definitions defining the decentralized future.
Recently Defined
Gas Fee
A gas fee is the cost paid to process a transaction or execute a smart contract action on a blockchain. It is the fee users pay to the network so their transaction can be included and confirmed.
Genesis Block
The Genesis Block is the very first block of a blockchain.
Governance Risk
Governance risk is the possibility that decisions made through a protocol’s governance process (token voting, multisig, or admin actions) negatively affect users—via malicious proposals, poor parameter changes, or capture by large holders.
Governance Token
A governance token is a token that grants its holders the right to vote on changes to a protocol — fee parameters, treasury spending, code upgrades, or strategic decisions. Holding the token is the on-chain equivalent of owning a share of the project's decision-making.
Hardware Wallet
A physical, offline device (such as Ledger Nano S/X, Trezor Model T, or KeepKey) that securely stores your cryptocurrency private keys and signs transactions without ever exposing the keys to the internet or your computer/phone.
Hash Rate
Hash rate measures the total computational power used in mining.
HODL
"Hold On for Dear Life" — a long-term passive investment strategy of holding cryptocurrencies through volatility without selling, originally from a 2013 Bitcoin forum typo for "hold."
Honeypot
A honeypot is a scam token that allows users to buy but prevents them from selling.
Honeypot Contract
A honeypot contract is a malicious token or smart contract designed so that buyers can purchase it but cannot sell. The code includes hidden restrictions — blacklists, tax functions, or transfer locks — that only trigger when a non-deployer wallet tries to exit.
Hot Wallet
A hot wallet is a crypto wallet connected to the internet, typically used for quick access, trading, transfers, and interacting with decentralized applications.
Iceberg Order
A large order split into smaller visible portions ("display size") while hiding the full quantity to avoid market impact.
ICO (Initial Coin Offering)
An Initial Coin Offering, or ICO, is a fundraising method where a new crypto project sells tokens to early supporters before or near launch in order to raise capital.
Immediate-or-Cancel (IOC) Order
An order that executes immediately what it can at the specified price/limits, then cancels any unfilled portion.
Impermanent Loss
Impermanent loss is the temporary loss in value that a liquidity provider may experience when the price of the tokens in a liquidity pool changes compared with simply holding those tokens in a wallet.
Instant Convert
One-click swap between two cryptocurrencies or fiat-to-crypto at the current market rate (no order book).
Intent-Based Trading
Intent-based trading is an execution model where a user expresses what they want — "sell 1 ETH for at least 3,800 USDC on any chain within 5 minutes" — and a competitive network of solvers figures out how to fulfill it, returning the best outcome.
Internal Transfer
Moving funds between different wallets on the same CEX (spot futures margin, etc.) instantly and for free.
Isolated Margin
Margin mode where a fixed amount of collateral is allocated to one specific position only; losses are limited to that allocation.
JIT Liquidity
JIT Liquidity (Just-In-Time) JIT liquidity is a strategy on concentrated-liquidity AMMs where a sophisticated LP detects an incoming large swap in the mempool, deposits a massive, tightly-ranged position immediately before the swap executes, captures most of the trading fee, and withdraws the position in the next block.
KYC (Know Your Customer)
Identity verification process required by most CEX to comply with regulations (upload ID, selfie, etc.).