Like any industry that comes with jargon, the crypto industry is no different. A passionate community thrust mainstream from Twitter, Reddit, WeChat, forums and more. Jargon often makes things appear overly technical and intimidating, but there is no need for that. We are here to help break that down. No one has to feel lost when it comes to Crypto.
Here are some of the most common buzzwords:
Altcoins or “Alts”: This is any other crypto that is not Bitcoin. DCX10’s 9 other crypto holdings are referred to as “Alts”.
Arbitrage or Arb : Taking advantage of different cryptocurrency prices, from one exchange to the other, or one region to another. Crypto does trade at a slight premium in South Africa.
ASICs: Application-Specific Integrated Circuit. Specially designed chips which process SHA-256 algorithms (Bitcoins algorithm) in order to mine cryptocurrency efficiently and validate transactions and secure the network.
ATH: All Time High. When a crypto breaks its previous record price.
Bagholder: Someone holding onto a crypto that has dropped in price (Sometimes significantly), with the intent of holding until it increases in price.
Bearish: When your belief is that prices are set to decrease.
Bullish: When your belief is that prices are set to increase.
Fiat: Currency issued by the government, like the US Dollar or SA Rand
Flippening: When an Alt surpasses Bitcoin in market capitalization. Has not happened yet…
FOMO: Fear of missing out. The strong feeling/need to purchase a cryptocurrency when the price starts rocketing.
Fork: This is when a blockchain splits into 2 new chains, 2 separate cryptocurrencies. Normally when new rules or updates to the blockchain’s code are built. Bitcoin famously forked into Bitcoin (the original) and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and later BCH forked into BCH and Bitcoin Satoshi’s Vision (BSV)
FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. An “emotion” spread intentionally by the media or a group within the crypto sphere that are typically looking to cause a price drop.
FUDder: Anyone who is intentionally spreading FUD.
The Halving: The date when the rate at which a block reward is mined halves. The most notable being Bitcoins halving that approaches. (less than 100 days away)
HODL: This was an unintentional misspelling of the word “hold” which was used among the cryptocurrency community when encouraging investors to resist the urge to sell their crypto.
Hopium: The emotion displayed by a ‘bagholder’ when being overly optimistic of a struggling Crypto’s recovery.
ICO: Initial Coin Offering. Crowd funding for the crypto world. These startups issue their own proprietary token in exchange for your fiat investment. 2017 was famous for ICOs.
Lightning: The payment protocol which is being developed to sit on top of the Bitcoin blockchain to help it increase the number of transactions the Bitcoin chain is capable of.
Mining: The process where sophisticated computers try solving the block in a blockchain in return, earning newly ‘mined’ Crypto. This process requires an immense amount of computer processing power, but is rewarded with Crypto. Beware, the days of mining Crypto on your laptop are long gone. Watch out for mining schemes promising outlandish returns.
Moon: When the crypto price skyrockets, substantially, out of this world, literally to the moon.
Open interest: Refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts that have not been settled. BTC open interest has spiked 60% since the start of 2020 at a staggering $ 4 Billion.
Private key: A private number that allows you to unlock your cryptocurrency wallet. If you lose it, you lose your crypto. If you buy DCX10 you don't need to worry about this, we hold the underlying crypto.
Public key: Typically referred to as a Bitcoin or crypto address, this is a string of numbers and letters that you need in order to send or receive cryptocurrency from an exchange or wallet.
Pump and Dump: This is typically when an altcoin gets a ton of attention leading to a very quick price increase, then followed by a massive crash. These can be both coordinated and uncoordinated. The ICO craze of 2017 saw many such events.
Satoshi Nakamoto: The anonymous creator of Bitcoin.
Shilling: Pushing and advertising a crypto for their own personal gain because they are currently invested in it.
Stable coins:They are in the media a lot lately, think Facebook's Calibra. A type of cryptocurrency that is designed to maintain a stable market price. Their values are fixed by pegging them to the price of another asset. Most of them are pegged to the US dollar. The most popular, in terms of market cap is Tether (USDT) where 1 USDT = 1 $.
There are stablecoins pegged to the price of other cryptocurrencies, or even commodities, like silver or gold. By being pegged, these coins avoid the wild price swings. Due to them being pegged, they are not included in DCX10. There are two main reasons for the popularity of stablecoins. Firstly, they provide the convenience of transactional ability of cryptocurrencies and secondly, they offer the stability of fiat.
New to the crypto markets
and want to know more about the DCX 10 index?
Read: Crypto in 2020 - fuel for the rocketship
Digital Token FAQs can be found here for even more information
Any opinions, news, research, reports, analyses, prices, or other information contained within this research is provided by Earle Loxton, CEO of DCX Capital (Pty) Ltd as general market commentary, and does not constitute investment advice for the purposes of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002. First World Trader (Pty) Ltd t/a EasyEquities (“EasyEquities”) does not warrant the correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or completeness of any information (i) contained within this research and (ii) received from third party data providers. You must rely solely upon your own judgment in all aspects of your investment and/or trading decisions and all investments and/or trades are made at your own risk. EasyEquities (including any of their employees) will not accept any liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage, including without limitation, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on the market commentary. The content contained within is subject to change at any time without notice.