Blockchain basics

In cryptocurrency, these are used to send or receive transactions on the network, they usually present themselves as a string of alphanumeric characters.

Often compared to GPUs these are specially made for mining and may offer significant power savings

The first decentralized, open source cryptocurrency that runs on a global peer to peer network, without the need for middlemen and a centralized issuer.

These are packages of data that carry permanently recorded data on the blockchain network.

a shared ledger where transactions are permanently recorded by appending blocks. These serve as a historical record of all transactions that ever occurred, from the genesis block to the latest block, hence its name.

An online tool to view all transactions, past and current, on the blockchain. They provide useful information such as network hash rate and transaction growth.

A form of incentive for the miner who successfully calculated the hash in a block during mining. Verification of transactions on the blockchain generates new coins in the process, and the miner is rewarded a portion of those.

A ledger maintained by a central agency.

The successful act of hashing a transaction and adding it to the blockchain.

Also known as tokens, these items are representations of digital assets.

These mechanisms produce a fixed-size and unique hash value from variable-size transaction input. The SHA-256 computational algorithm is an example.

An application that is open source, operates autonomously, has its data stored on a blockchain,  incentivized in the form of cryptographic tokens and operates on a protocol that shows proof of value.

These can be thought of as corporations that run without any human intervention and surrender all forms of control to an incorruptible set of business rules.

A type of network where processing power and data are spread over the nodes rather than having a centralized data center.

This refers to how easily a data block of transaction information can be mined successfully.

A blockchain based decentralized platform for apps that run smart contracts, and is aimed at solving issues associated with censorship, fraud and third party interference.

A Turing complete virtual machine that allows anyone to execute arbitrary EVM Byte Code. Every Ethereum node runs on this mechanism to maintain consensus across the blockchain.

This creates an alternate version of the blockchain, leaving two blockchains to run simultaneously on different parts of the network.

The first or first few blocks of a blockchain.

Type of fork that renders previously invalid transactions valid, and vice versa.

This type of fork requires all nodes and users to upgrade to the latest version of the protocol software.

The act of performing a hash function on the output data.

used for confirming coin transactions.

Measurement of performance for the mining rig is expressed in hashes per second.

Allows for both Proof of Stake and Proof of Work as consensus distribution algorithms on the network. In this method, a balance between miners and voters (holders) may be achieved, creating a system of community-based governance by both insiders (holders) and outsiders (miners).

The act of validating blockchain transactions.

warrants an incentive for the miners, usually in the form of coins.

These types of addresses provide an added layer of security by requiring more than one key to authorize a transaction.

A copy of the ledger operated by a participant of the blockchain network.

These work as a bridge between the real world and the blockchain by providing data to the smart contracts.

This refers to the decentralized interactions between two parties or more in a highly-interconnected network.

Participants of this type of network deal directly with each other through a single mediation point.

This is the cryptographic hash of a public key. They act as email addresses that can be published anywhere, unlike private keys.

This is a string of data that allows you to access the tokens in a specific wallet. They act as passwords that are kept hidden from anyone but the owner of the address.

A consensus distribution algorithm that rewards earnings based on the number of coins you own or hold. The more you invest in the coin, the more you gain by mining with this protocol.

A consensus distribution algorithm that requires an active role in mining data blocks, often consuming resources, such as electricity. The more ‘work’ you do or the more computational power you provide, the more coins you are rewarded with.

A type of cryptographic algorithm and is used by Litecoin. Compared to SHA256, this is quicker as it does not use up as much processing time.

a cryptographic algorithm used by cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. However, it uses a lot of computing power and processing time, forcing miners to form mining pools to capture gains.

These mechanisms encode business rules in a programmable language onto the blockchain and are enforced by the participants of the network.

In this type of fork only previously valid transactions are made invalid.

This type of fork requires most miners upgrading in order to enforce, while a hard fork requires all nodes to agree on the new version

Ethereum’s programming language for developing smart contracts.

A test blockchain used by developers to prevent expending assets on the main chain

Collection of transactions gathered into a block that can then be hashed and added to the blockchain.

These add up to account for the block reward that a miner receives when he successfully processes a block.

This concept refers to the ability of a machine to perform calculations that any other programmable computer is capable of. An example of this is the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM).

A file that houses private keys.

It usually contains a software client which allows access to view and create transactions on a specific blockchain that the wallet is designed for.

This standard has set of 6 functions and 2 events that need to be included (in a specific agreed upon language and format) in a smart token contract in order to enable interoperability across multiple interfaces and distributed applications (dapps).

• An open source app.
• Back-end code runs on a peer-to-peer network.
• Its data is stored on a blockchain.
• It is incentivized by the use of cryptographic tokens.
• Operates autonomously (i.e. with no entity controlling it), on a protocol that shows proof of value.

Any cryptocurrency other than bitcoin.

A situation where you lose all your money.

Person who buys and hold coins in large quantity hoping to make good profits in the future.

Negative price movement.

This is an indication to buy a coin when it has dumped so hard.

Someone who is always wrong predicting price movements.

When you have a bad loss.

Long green or red candles.

To sell off a coin.

Downward price movement.

Do Your Own Research

Huge green candle

Fear Uncertainty & Doubt.

Zig zag price movement (Upwards and downwards)

is a distributed database that is used to maintain a continuously growing list of records, called blocks. Each block contains a timestamp and a link to a previous block.