The Dictionary
Explore 227+ clear, technical, and objective definitions defining the decentralized future.
Recently Defined
Perpetual DEX
A perpetual DEX is a decentralized exchange specialized in trading perpetual futures contracts. It enables on-chain leverage trading without a centralized custodian or order book operator, typically using an automated market maker, oracle pricing, or an on-chain order book.
Perpetual Futures
Perpetual Futures (Perps) Derivative contracts that track the price of an underlying asset (e.g., BTC) with no expiration date, settled in cash or stablecoins.
Phishing
Phishing is a scam where attackers trick users into revealing private information or signing harmful transactions.
Points Farming
Points farming is the practice of accumulating off-chain "points" issued by a protocol that the protocol may later use to determine token airdrop allocations. Points are not tokens, do not have a guaranteed conversion rate, and are entirely at the issuer's discretion.
Portfolio
The overall view of all your holdings, balances, and current values across spot, futures, and other wallets.
Position Mode (Hedge vs. One-Way)
Account setting determining if you can hold both long and short positions simultaneously (Hedge) or only one direction (One-Way).
Post-Only Order
A limit order flag that ensures the order only adds liquidity to the order book (acts as maker) and is canceled/rejected if it would immediately match/take existing orders.
Private Key
A private key is a secret cryptographic code that proves ownership of crypto assets and allows the holder to authorize transactions.
Proof of Personhood
Proof of personhood (PoP) is a system that verifies an account corresponds to a unique human being, without necessarily revealing that human's identity. It is the cryptographic answer to "how do you ensure one person, one account?"
Proof of Reserves
Proof of Reserves (PoR) is a verification process that demonstrates a centralized custodian (exchange, lender, stablecoin issuer) holds the assets it claims to hold on behalf of its users. The strongest forms are cryptographic and verifiable by any user.
Proof of Stake
Proof of Stake is a blockchain consensus system where validators secure the network by staking coins.
Proof of Work
Proof of Work is a blockchain consensus system where miners use computing power to secure the network.
Proposal
A proposal is a formal suggestion submitted to a DAO or project community for discussion and voting.
Public Key
A public key is the cryptographic key that can be shared openly and is used to receive cryptocurrency or verify a digital signature.
Pump and Dump
A pump and dump is a manipulative scheme where a coin’s price is artificially pushed up through hype, coordination, or misleading promotion, and then quickly sold by insiders at the expense of late buyers.
Real World Assets (RWA)
Real World Assets (RWAs) are tokenized representations of off-chain assets on a blockchain — US Treasuries, real estate, commodities, private credit, equities, invoices. The token grants a claim on the underlying asset, enforced by a legal structure off-chain and a smart contract on-chain.
Real Yield
Real yield is yield paid to token holders from actual protocol revenue (fees, interest, MEV captured) rather than from token emissions. The distinction matters because emissions are dilutive — they pay yield by printing more of the same token — while real yield is value brought in from users.
Realized Cap
Realized Cap calculates the total value of all coins based on the price at which they last transacted on-chain, rather than the current market price. Unlike Market Cap, which values all circulating coins at the current price, Realized Cap reflects the historical cost basis of each coin.
Realized P&L
Actual profit or loss from trades you have already closed (sold or settled).
Recovery phrase
A recovery phrase (also called a mnemonic or backup phrase) is a human-readable list of 12 or 24 words that encodes the master seed from which all private keys in a wallet are deterministically derived.