Layout and design: Marcia PANNIER - Grafioos
Linguistic advice: Luc PAY & Walter SOETHOUDT
Technological advice and translation: Edwina VAN DER HAEGEN
Secretariat: Sally VERVLIET

© Marc Pairon & Charles Catteau Foundation (BE), 2018

ISBN 978 94 9121 813 2

NUR 794

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a database or retrieval system, or published, in any form or in any way, electronically, mechanically, by print, photoprint, microfilm or any other means without prior written permission from the publisher.

The purpose of this publication is to provide information.
None of the information provided constitutes an investment recommendation.
Investing in cryptocurrency is a high-risk investment.

Contents

Introduction

Legend

Aa

Bb

Cc

Dd

Ee

Ff

Gg

Hh

Ii

Jj

Kk

Ll

Mm

Nn

Oo

Pp

Qq

Rr

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Uu

Vv

Ww

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Yy

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1 - 51

Contact

List of consulted and cited websites

Concise bibliography by Marc Pairon

Introduction

Crypto Language

For those interested in the world of cryptocurrency or in becoming a successful crypto investor or speculator, knowledge of the basic terms used in the specific crypto language and an understanding of the practices of the crypto community are a prerequisite. Those familiar with the key terms can take part in the communication and read between the lines, thereby gradually becoming acquainted with the ins and outs of the unconventional crypto market. These terms provide indispensable information, and ‘knowledge is power’, because those who do not have the necessary basic knowledge are particularly vulnerable in unregulated Cryptocountry.

Crypto language or crypto is an internet dialect that is being developed by the crypto community itself, an already comprehensive virtual community of various individuals that share virtually identical interests. To the outside world, crypto language at first appears to be ‘cryptophasia’, a secret language as may be developed by toddler twins, that is both primitive and unintelligible to third parties. Nevertheless, many of these words, images and terms quickly become accessible upon first reading, because they are often coined as the result of a playful or logical process.

Crypto is a specialised chat language, which is characterised by made-up or corrupted words, abbreviations, letter words, initial words and pictograms. A rebellious language, without formal spelling rules, it is born out of direct communication. A buzzword or a meme may be invented by a single person and quickly be adopted by the whole crypto community.

Apart from their use as technological terms, a number of these terms and derivative terms refer to historical events, are the result of playful jostling, or were taken from common language or some other jargon and then given a new dimension or meaning. Within the crypto community, a single cheesy word or term may give rise to numerous derivative terms, thereby becoming part of the business folklore. Thus, ‘To the moon!’, a general battle cry of enthusiastic crypto speculators with which they refer to, or express their hope for, an astronomical rise of a cryptocurrency, has given rise to various new words: moonboy, moongirl, moonkid, moon mission, moon ride, moonshot, etc. Common crypto language is also laced with irony bordering on sarcasm. For example, a historic crisis caused by Mt. Gox, a Japanese bitcoin exchange that went bankrupt in February 2014 as a result of poor security and incompetent management, produced various crypto terms. Goxed means ‘suffering from technical glitches’ and gox’d is defined as ‘being the victim of a cyberattack in which cryptocurrencies were stolen’. Spelling errors and typos are equally embraced by the crypto community and may rapidly attain the status of generally accepted terms.

Crypto is a fascinating language, which is rapidly expanding and constantly evolving on internet forums and in chat boxes. The typical words and often exhilarating terms are illustrative of the exciting period of cryptocurrency development. The virtual crypto market, investing in blockchain projects and related technological developments will continue to play a major role in the real world’s financial news for a long time to come. Some trendy crypto terms will slowly but steadily become mainstream. Just like the launch of the euro produced a new common language, so will the development of cryptocurrencies. Considering the hundreds of millions of people worldwide involved in cryptocurrency, crypto has long ceased to be a niche language. It may, however, take some time before these crypto terms end up in conventional dictionaries, because the language is still in its infancy. For a term to be included in such a lexicon, it must be encountered regularly for at least a number of years in the language used by a community or a specific sector. Such a descriptive dictionary then serves as an arbitrator when there is doubt about the correct spelling, definition or status of a word. In the as-yet unregulated crypto world, there are no arbitrators, at best there is a democratic consensus. In this world, everything is created by and for the participants. This also includes the language, some terms of which may only be short-lived whereas others will survive over generations.

History

A cryptocurrency is a virtual currency that is recorded in a blockchain, a gigantic digital archive. Leaving the technical details aside, a blockchain can be described as a form of public bookkeeping, where all digital transactions are stored from the outset by means of special software. Outsiders think that cryptocurrency refers only to bitcoin, while the brand recognition of the Bitcoin network is currently the signboard of a rapidly growing crypto market that already comprises more than 1500 different digital currencies – only a few of which are relevant.

In 2009, bitcoin was the first virtual currency launched by the software developer or a group of IT professionals under the alias of Satoshi Nakamoto. However, the person who calls himself Nakamoto is not the inventor of the contemporary cryptocurrency, but is indebted to many software experts. The American computer scientist and cryptograph David Chaum is in any case the founder of the idea that a cryptocurrency could be possible, and had documented as much already in 1982. In the beginning of the 1990s, he put the encryption of virtual transaction to practice. Chaum would enable users to obtain digital assets from a bank and to issue them without being traceable by the bank or another party. His ideas rank as the technical roots of the vision of the CypherPunk movement, which was launched in San Francisco (USA) in 1992.

The core of the CypherPunk movement consisted of brilliant computer scientists and ingenious software developers who had started to code privacy-oriented computer programmes a few years earlier, and would develop many concepts independently from each other that are at the center of the Bitcoin blockchain technology. The CypherPunks wanted to provide technological solutions for societal problems. They were people who attached high value to privacy and were thus keen to strengthen democracy. These people were activists and anarchists who, just like David Chaum, wanted to offer alternatives for the online economy and for the Western political system. They provided the building blocks for the current cryptocurrency that would stand for freedom and independence from banking institutions and governments.

Equating the privacy that CypherPunks had in mind with anonymity is a misconception. Privacy means personal freedom, for example the possibility to decide for themselves whether to draw the curtains in the living room or leave them open, but not to go and live in an untraceable address. This is confirmed when we peruse an original CypherPunk’s manifesto: Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn’t want the whole world to know; but a secret matter is something one doesn’t want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world. (from A CypherPunk’s Manifesto, Eric Hughes, 1993)

A cryptocurrency is therefore not about anonymity, as is often supposed, but about how people can still decide for themselves with whom they wish to share information in a digital world. Most crypto network blockchains are for that matter transparent, so that every cryptocurrency transaction is traceable; furthermore, the first financial step always starts from the real world, so that traces are nearly always left behind. It is not cryptocurrencies that constitute a danger for anonymous (and possibly shady) financial transactions, but the traditional cash of physical money or valuable physical goods, such as precious metals and artworks. Cryptocurrency uses no cash, because it is not tangible, but entails verifiable digital transfers, from one cryptocurrency address to the other.

The CypherPunk’s privacy statement was not so much about cryptocurrencies, but should be understood in a broader sense, namely to restore and protect the personal freedom of an individual, with the dangers entailed by the still young Internet always in mind. The CypherPunks have warned the world that each time interest is shown or an action taken on the internet, a fraction or characteristic of one’s identity is exposed – elements that can be abused by all sorts of persons and organizations. Many have in the meantime lost in particular the capacity to choose for themselves how to share and receive information because of that risk. They must now deal with personalized information and with the awareness that the government is looking over our digital shoulders. That is what the visionary manifesto of 1993 was about: the shrinking and violation of the freedom of an individual who wants to defend himself on that front in the online world. David Chaum, the spiritual father of the CypherPunks, had also anticipated the aggressive marketing practices of internet giants such as Facebook and Google and the abuse of personal digital profiles to manipulate political elections.

The CypherPunks gave high priority to the unlimited independence of each individual. The development of a proprietary means of payment, without the intrusion of governments and banking institutions, was to contribute to that end. Cryptocurrencies would not be used to make money. They had to be a tool to change the world for the benefit of the individual. Crypto-anarchy was born, i.e. the urge to do away with government meddling, particularly by developing cryptographic software for private and fraud-resistant interactions. In 1998, the Chinese computer engineer and CypherPunk Wei Dai described the concept of blockchains as a functional digital economy in his document B-money. This is why Dai is considered as the ultimate founder of contemporary cryptocurrencies, despite the fact that B-money was a revolutionary technological idea, which was not put into practice by him. Dai had nonetheless thought out new possibilities into which a number of Cypher Punks delved deeper with a view to developing a functioning system. A number of these ideas and developments then paved the way for the Bitcoin blockchain technology in the beginning of the 2000s.

The credit crisis erupted in America in 2007, reaching its paroxysm worldwide in the autumn of 2008. A number of major banks went bankrupt, the American housing bubble burst, stock market prices crashed, there were massive redundancies and many individuals and families lost all they had. This was grist to the mill for the crypto-anarchists and a breeding ground for the launch of a currency for the people. The mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto – it is pretty certain that he was a CypherPunk himself – had refined earlier findings relating to blockchain technology, and on 3 January 2009 he launched the Bitcoin network. The first block of the blockchain contained an article that appeared in The Times on 3 January 2009 entitled The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks. Nakamoto mentioned the headline from The Times on that same day to show that the first block had not been previously mined, and thereby referred to the disastrous financial crisis. The foundations of the underlying ideology for the establishment of Bitcoin were to provide an alternative for the inadequate banking systems. It was a protest against the injection of billions in economies where were managed in a wasteful manner by financial institutions and governments over and above the heads of the population.

With Bitcoin, Nakamoto built on the principle of the crypto-analysts, which saw a dream come true. Everyone could carry out mutual transactions, directly from one to the other, without the intervention of a third party. As such, everyone could run his own bank and be responsible for his own information, capital and identity which were stored permanently on the Bitcoin blockchain.

Initially, the Bitcoin project secured little support. For many IT enthusiasts, the mining of the bitcoin – by solving the cryptographic calculation with the help of hardware – was often only a little game. Little computing power was needed, and it could be done with an ordinary PC. Others bought a number of bitcoins for a small amount out of interest in the innovative technology or purely for pleasure. At that time, the bitcoin had only a limited value.

In the years that follow, the Bitcoin project gradually became better known. Two groups of bitcoin investors emerged: the so-called cryptobelievers, who had faith in the future prospects of the blockchain technology, and the speculators, wo wanted to make as much money as possible in a short period of time, but paid little attention to the original ideas. Through all sorts of ups and downs, the value of the bitcoin reached an astronomic height. In the meantime, many programmers throughout the world had got down to work on the Bitcoin source code. New cryptocurrencies were launched on the basis of hip blockchains and loads of money made with them. The crypto market was born in the wake of the bitcoin success. Innovative and cloned digital currencies, but also cryptocurrencies without substantial value and downright scam currencies would define the economic landscape of Cryptocountry. The crypto market warmed up until it overheated.

Many consider 2017, for the time being, as the best cryptoyear ever – the year when cryptocurrencies became generally known and boomed as a result. 2017 is however the worst year that could happen to the principled part of the crypto community. Millions of opportunists began to populate the virtual Cryptocountry, as economic asylum seekers from the real world. They had understood that they could get immensely rich quickly – which ran counter to the intentions of the CypherPunks. The rise triggered thereby undeniably accelerated the fall of crypto-anarchism. The underlying ideology was lost and the crypto market morphed gradually into a poorly regulated banal stock market, with all the disastrous consequences entailed. The biggest mistake that the crypto-anarchists and their software developers made from the outset is that they left open the chance of making a lot of money in a relatively short term by hoarding the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They should have kept it non-profit, because if ridiculously large amounts of money can be made by a certain form of saving money, then it is practically no longer usable as a means of payment.

Wild growth

The wild growth of new cryptocurrencies and the advance sale thereof is one of the adverse aspects of a non-regulated market. The anarchist dream, a situation where all governmental authority is lacking, has in the meantime led to a boomerang effect. The cash flow from the chaotic crypto market is meanwhile particularly sensitive to all sorts of market manipulation, fraudulent practices, and cybercrime. Crypto-investors who became wealthy often hog the headlines, but the many, far smaller investors, who lost their shirt or were robbed, usually remain under the radar. In this glossary, all concepts that entail a risk are marked with a ‘red flag’ – a warning sign – and there are quite a number of such signs.

Knowledge of the underlying technology is a significant advantage in Cryptocountry, and constant self-study an absolute must. Otherwise, there is a risk of being gobbled up in the crypto-ocean as a small shrimp by affluent, skilled crypto-investors – known as crypto-whales – or of falling victim to fraud and/or cybertheft. As regards the latter aspect, it is far easier to heist virtual money than to plunder an account with physical money. Physical money actually belongs to the regulated world, in fact, where liability applies and insurance coverage can be taken out against loss. In the virtual world of cryptocurrencies, there is no recourse (for the time being).

Cryptocountry is the breeding ground of the revolutionary blockchain technology, which will produce all sorts of pioneering applications that will change society profoundly. Nevertheless, Cryptocountry is peppered with many golden mountains that are in fact castles in the air. The promise of high yield makes many crypto-investors blind to the risks, although risk and yield go hand in hand. Blind eagerness often leads to madness. Priority must be given, not to making money quickly, but to the possible technological progress that a well-defined crypto-network has to offer.

Dogecoin

A telling case for the wild growth and the madness that ensued in Cryptocountry is the story of Dogecoin, a cryptocurrency which was launched by the Australian techie and businessman Jackson Palmer as a joke in 2013. Doge is a misspelling of “dog,” and the most popular Internet meme that year was an image of the Japanese Shiba Inu breed, which people photoshopped in funny poses and/or added funny texts to it. By creating the Dogecoin, Palmer wanted to show that everyone with the requisite software knowledge can develop a cryptocurrency, how absurd it was to invest money in a number of crypto-assets, the value or the facts of which are unknown. It was a parody of the numerous useless and worthless digital currencies that had flooded the crypto-market. Despite its clearly rebellious statement against the degradation of that market, the Dogecoin was quickly hyped on the social media. The unexpected happened: after two months, the farce was worth 50 million dollars. Many speculators purchased Dogecoin because it was cheap per coin – although more than 110 billion are in circulation – in the hope of a sharp price appreciation. In 2014, fraudsters and opportunists cheated the Dogecoin community out of millions of dollars. Even that did not stand in the way of the Dogecoin farce attaining a market value of more than 2 billion dollars in the beginning of 2018, ranking in the top 30 most valuable cryptocurrencies, although the software has not been updated since 2014. In 2015, Palmer had distanced himself from the Dogecoin project and declared that he owned no Dogecoins himself, to make it clear that he had no intention of making money from the market himself. ‘It says a lot about the crypto market,’ Jackson Palmer argued, ‘that people are prepared to buy a coin with a funny head of a dog on it. It doesn’t get crazier than that.’

Regulation

Cryptocurrencies can no longer be banned, but calls to regulate the crypto market are now louder than ever, both from governments and a large segment of the crypto community. For other crypto devotees, the curbing of personal freedom is an appalling injustice. Control will nonetheless lead to legal obligations, an adaptation of the tax system, and the protection of the rights of the individual. This is urgently needed, as the lawlessness of the crypto anarchists has proven to be an unviable model. Anarchy is a rich breeding ground for cunning freebooters with countless methods to take advantage of weak crypto-investors. As such, this freedom has so far produced benefits only for those who can play a dominant role thanks to their knowledge and possession of crypto-capital. It is not for nothing that Cryptocountry is called the Wild West or the Wild Wild West, by reference to the uncivilized nature thereof, where many cowboys are still around.

Many authorities still consider the blockchain technology and the cryptocurrencies derived from it as a threat instead of seeing golden opportunities. For them, the ‘fear of change’ must still make room for ‘interest in a development.’ Other organizations and governments (such as in Switzerland) are embracing the technological revolution under the moto if you can’t beat them, join them. Having at least interest that can lead to insight, is a basis for regulation in fact. It is well established that the cryptoworld must grow up urgently, if it does not want to remain on the margins or go under, although this runs contrary to the initial anarchist ideology from which it sprang. Serious crypto devotees and developers will pay particular attention to this coming of age. This can be achieved only through regulation: to punish market manipulations and all sorts of crypto-fraud methods and to fight specific cybercrime related to cryptocurrencies. However painful it may ring in the ears of crypto-anarchists, only regulation can provide greater security for the individual. Such trust and confidence would attract numerous new investors and institutions, so that the market capacity of cryptocurrencies can grow.

Future

Not everyone who lies about the future is a ‘soothsayer’. We cannot predict the future, but we can venture in a number of arguments.

Beyond the hype of the bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, the blockchain technology remains valid. Bitcoin is only a well-known application of that technology, but the possibilities of the blockchain are not limited to creating new forms of money. A blockchain is a digital register where no information can be changed afterwards, because the algorithm builds on the data of previous operations. Furthermore, a blockchain can be decentralized, spread over the computers of all users. Each operation is then verifiable at every moment and by everyone involved. So it is nearly impossible for one party to falsify the data or intermediate steps as no-one can change the rules on his own. This ingenious fraud-proof technology has for some time now no longer been an exclusivity of Cryptocountry, but is developing fully in the real world too. It will bring about a revolution in the world economy and have a greater impact on society than the Internet has had up to now. Blockchain technology can be a breakthrough for all sorts of economic, industrial, financial and social applications. The possibilities are endless, in fact, such as concluding all sorts of self-executing agreements (known as ‘smart contracts’), quality control of food products, the traceability of raw materials, unlocking vehicles or other valuable devices via a smartphone, verifying the accuracy of votes cast, disseminating important medical information, the secure buying and selling of intellectual property, crowdfunding, registering diamonds and other precious stones, providing safety mechanisms when collecting data for scientific research, various governmental applications, protecting copyrighted works, lightning-fast transactions between banks, limiting the administrative hassles in the shipping world, making an honest land registration possible in poor countries, and far more.

As is the case with the internet, it is impossible to paralyze a launched public blockchain. As soon as it is launched, it belongs to humanity. This of course applies also for the blockchain of the Bitcoin network. The question, however, is whether the current – admittedly constantly changing – market value of the bitcoin is in line with possible practical applications. Needless to say, the black and white opinions on the matter are clearly divided. The bitcoin maximalists and crypto-believers advocate the future utility of virtual money, while other condemns it. According to the American investor and multibillionaire Warren Buffet (°1930), who has topped the list of the richest men in the world many times, the bitcoin is not an investment, “but a gamble that will end badly.” “We don’t own any; we’re not short any, and we will never have a position,” Buffett said. He added, albeit laconically, that it was something he did not understand. The opinion of the conservative Buffet – who invests only in companies with growth potential in the long term – is consequently no yardstick, because he had not invested a cent initially either in other innovative technology companies, such as the extremely successful Apple, Google and Facebook.

The current enormous interest in blockchain technology from numerous angles is independent of the value of the bitcoin. Bitcoin was initially an innovative project that came into being thanks to developments by ingenious computer scientists, and was a nice virtual hobby for a number of crypto-anarchists. Bitcoin was to function as a currency by and for the people, a direct means of payment, that was easy and economical. Meanwhile, it turned out that a Bitcoin transaction is excruciatingly slow – it can take hours – and owing to the increased number of such transactions, the costs for them have risen drastically, so when coupled with the transaction times, the economic benefit has been neutralized too. Owing to these among other reasons, and the volatility of its price, the bitcoin can no longer function as a means of payment in practice, certainly when small amounts are involved. The cumbersome dispatch of e.g. 0.000128 bitcoin to pay for a hamburger does not really appeal to the imagination.

At the outset, many thought it would be a matter of anonymous, non-traceable transactions, which is a particularly free translation of the privacy that the CypherPunks and Satoshi Nakamoto had promised. That cannot be so, because transactions with bitcoins are transparent for everyone and cannot compete with the traditional anonymity of cash, in particular.

Furthermore, the scalability of the Bitcoin blockchain, the capacity to be able to meet the processing capacity of the number of transactions, is a problem at present. In several respects, therefore, Bitcoin has fallen victim to its own success. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is limited to just 5 transactions per second, while MasterCard, for instance, can process 38,000 transactions per second. The scope of the blockchain can also be tricky. When it grows to dozens of terabytes, it will no longer fit on the hard disc and servers in datacentres will be needed to store the blockchain. As a result, third parties will be needed to manage the blockchain, and decentralization, the ideology behind Bitcoin, will disappear. The anarchist dream could turn into a nightmare, bearing in mind that the concentration of the power over Bitcoin is now in the hands of a small group of large associations or companies and a small group of big investors, whereby the freedom of the individual is thereby infringed nonetheless. The idealism of the early days was nipped in the bud also by the pure profit motive of the second and third generation of crypto-speculators. And yet there is still an affinity between Bitcoin and anarchism: they are both faced with an image problem.

It should moreover be pointed out that creating new bitcoins – known as mining – requires so much computer power now, that as much electricity is required for one bitcoin as the annual consumption of two average western households. The absurd energy guzzling of all bitcoin miners together would at this time correspond to the total electricity consumption of a country such as Denmark, and a single bitcoin transaction requires nearly as much energy as the monthly consumption of an average household.

Finally, it can be said that Bitcoin has made insufficient use of the possibilities of its blockchain, so the innovative character has come pretty much to a standstill. If the Bitcoin development team does not manage to implement drastic changes, the network will be outdated.

When the afore-summarized problems Bitcoin faces are taken into account, it will come as no surprise to anyone that the Swedish co-founder Emil Oldenburg, who was Chief Technology Officer at Bitcoin, sold all his personal bitcoins in mid-December, apparently not by accident at the moment when the price had hit its historical highest level. Oldenburg had lost faith completely in his own project. “The bitcoin has become practically unusable as a currency,” he said. “Investing in the bitcoin is a particularly risky undertaking at this time. We have stopped developing new services for the Bitcoin network.” Nevertheless we must put his statements and personal selling in a certain perspective, because Oldenburg had in the meantime become a follower of Bitcoin Cash, a competing digital currency which was launched in August 2107 with the Bitcoin blockchain split.

In spite of everything, the Bitcoin evangelists continue to hammer on the survival of blockchain. The blockchain is the holy grail, if practical applications were not needed as well. Finally, Bitcoin has to prove its utility for the longer term, something that applies to all cryptocurrencies. The essential value shall for that matter be determined by the innovative possibilities of the product itself; otherwise, the definition of a crypto network is: ‘a decentralized organization from the virtual world that works on a problem the solution of which is far from clear and success not guaranteed.’ This runs contrary to companies listed on the stock exchange in the real world, where investors can reward and punish demonstrable results.

As long as a cryptocurrency is a castle in the air, a vision of the future based on nothing, it can have no intrinsic value and is purely speculative. The greater fool theory applies in such a case: buying something with a non-defendable value and then trying to find a greater fool who is prepared to pay even more for it – which defies the concept of “investing” completely. In Cryptocountry the greater fool is present in abundance, i.e. poorly informed buyers blinded by greed.

Nevertheless, the Bitcoin network and its currency will continue to exist for a long time, perhaps resurrected from the current concerns. Even if the “grandfather of cryptocurrencies” makes no further technological progress, it remains the digital gold with a certain collection value, perhaps. We should bear in mind that the bitcoin is extremely scarce. The total edition thereof was at the time established at only 1 million such coins maximum. Some 4 million are estimated to have gone lost to date due to errors, omissions, ignorance and accidents. A large number of the remaining currencies – all of which are not in circulation yet – is hoarded by a strong constituency, including large investors and static investors such as the brothers Winklevoss. The other bitcoins – it is possible to purchase a fraction of a currency unit also – are released regularly for the worldwide trade and are now and then available for billions of potential candidates. If a number of these new investors also retain bitcoins for a longer period, the shortage is enhanced and the asking price is driven up again. Theoretically, therefore, the value of one bitcoin can still attain unimagined heights. Some forecasters speak of hundreds of thousands of dollars; other enthusiasts of at least one million.

The crypto market can be changed profoundly and in a good sense by the upcoming regulation. Such an important growth process is necessary to raise this market to a higher level and cast it in a more serious light. It is not impossible that Bitcoin will lose its title of king of Cryptocountry in the near future, and ultimately play a secondary role, alongside cryptocurrencies which seem to continue to innovate. The impact of Bitcoin on the crypto market thereby shrinks. Up to now, the bitcoin unit dragged pretty much all alternative digital currencies in the red along with it like a mudslide, upon every currency correction. The reduced influence of Bitcoin makes it possible for a number of innovative alternative currencies to go their way. The top 10 cryptocurrencies that exist today on the basis of the current market values will look completely different. The ranking changes, some of these may even disappear in the background or be replaced by outsiders, which might not even be listed on the crypto exchanges at this time. It is not impossible for a specific digital currency to increase in value thousands of times because of a hype or actual performance, while others disappear from the focus area and wind up on the crypto-scrap heap. Many fortune seekers will go looking every day for the next bitcoin, a cryptocurrency with a small market value which has not registered the same explosive growth yet. Those who expect the megaprofits of recent years from cryptocurrencies with the highest market value to be repeated are bound to be disappointed. Be that as it may, surprises will never disappear from the cryptoworld, because there is never a dull day in Cryptocountry.

The blockchain of the Ethereum network is getting particularly high attention today from the real financial, industrial and commercial sectors. Ethereum is a decentralized platform which offers its blockchain as a service to private individuals and to companies. Many multinationals and banks are already working on possible applications, but even these are still in their embryonic stage. In addition, the blockchain technology will probably be developed and applied further primarily in the real world because that technology is not protected and can be adapted by every skillful software developer. World players will create their own digital coins – which may or may not be listed on an exchange – as a bond or reward for their customers. These ideas are maturing at Starbucks and Amazon among others. Certain companies may also embrace a cryptocurrency as a means of payment or exchange, but the hyper-volatile cryptocurrencies known to date are excluded. Forms of cryptocurrency can persist for generations, be part of the economic landscape, where they will flourish alongside traditional money. The anarchist dream of an exclusive means of payment by and for the people cannot materialize. The situation in practice has in the meantime veered too far off of those ideals. Paradoxically, that dream has delivered ingenious technological findings which will be used by certain organizations and institutions from the real world.

Warning signs

This publication is a labor of love for the use of crypto language and out of curiosity about the revolutionary changes that the underlying technology can bring. The aim of this publication is to provide information. No element of the contents is a recommendation for investment. Investing in cryptocurrencies is for that matter not on the agenda, as cryptocurrencies are far too speculative. Having said that, nothing stands in the way of placing a little wager with a small amount that one can afford to lose, if only for an interest in the impressive historical events.

This booklet is intended as a succinct compendium for the basic concepts, to help non-initiates understand the complicated cryptoworld better and be able to decide with knowledge of the facts. It is also teeming with red flags, warning signs for all sorts of dangers in the crypto-world, so as to prevent readers from falling into one of the many pitfalls. In this respect, the prevention of needless losses is perhaps the great gain for many.

Method

Crypto language is an Internet language without spelling rules, not yet entered in dictionaries. Wherever possible, I have compared various interpretations of words and concepts and mentioned the most common.

The technological terms are limited to a minimum because that list is endless, and each technological innovation of a specific crypto-network produces new concepts that are interesting only for the seasoned IT expert.

Marc Pairon,
Crypto Valley,
Zug, Switzerland,
June 2018

Legend

typical crypto linguistic usage or basic technological and technical terms

see referenced term

warning sign, financially dangerous, caveat emptor

useful information

Aa

abstract: concise summary of a basic document containing the basic principles and implementation plan of a specific cryptocurrency. cryptocurrency, light paper, white paper

•An abstract is used when launching a cryptocurrency to outline the technical explanations. It is often a preview of the white paper, a document which explains in detail the basic principles and plan of implementation of a particular cryptocurrency.

accidental fork: unintentional splitting of a blockchain that can occur when two crypto miners find a valid hash within a short period of time, so that the blockchain temporarily splits in two. blockchain, fork, hash, miner

account: 1 Crypto portfolio of a person or organization on a crypto trading platform or other location. 2 Total value of a crypto portfolio on a crypto trading platform or other location. balance, cryptofolio, exchange, software wallet

active income coin: cryptocurrency that allows profit to be made through regular trading. Opposite of passive income coin. cryptocurrency, crypto trading, hodling, passive income coin

addict or crypto addict: someone whose passion for cryptocurrencies has become harmful, who is concentrating all his attention on cryptocurrencies, who is consumed by crypto fever. bitbeliever, Bitcoin junkie, crypto-clean, cryptocurrency, crypto fever, crypto junkie, crypto maniac, crypto rehab center, digital gold rush, obsessive cryptocurrency disorder

address or crypto-address: alphanumeric code used for receiving, storing and sending cryptocurrency. Abbreviation: addy (refers to public address). alphanumeric, Bitcoin, cryptocurrency, Genesis address, private key, public address, public key, vanity address

•A digital crypto-address consists of 26 to 35 alphanumeric characters. A fictitious example: 106twqr7L1S6plH3Zx900Pt4ABtvOz117K.

•A bitcoin address always starts with the numbers 1 or 3.

•A crypto-address is the progressive version of a traditional bank account number on which one can also receive, store and send a currency.

•When sending a cryptocurrency to an incorrect address or to an address of another digital currency, the cryptocoins that have been sent can be lost forever.

addy: abbreviation of address or crypto-address, a digital code for receiving, storing and sending cryptomoney. address, cryptocurrency, public address

•The abbreviation addy is used commonly in reference to the public address.

adoption: adoption of a specific cryptocurrency takes place when someone starts using that cryptocurrency as a means of payment. altcoin, bitcoin, cryptocurrency, long confirmation, transaction fee, volatility

•Acceptance of a cryptocurrency may increase depending on the number of people using it as a payment method and by expanding the applications. It is only when a good many people start using a cryptocurrency that such a coin can become useful in both the virtual and in the real world. The ultimate goal of bitcoin and a number of alternative currencies is ‘general adoption’, which would mean that worldwide everyone and all companies and institutions would accept that digital currency as a payment method.

•The disadvantages of a number of cryptocurrencies preventing their adoption are: hypervolatile price fluctuations, often long transaction times, increase in transaction fees, etc.

advocate or crypto advocate: person or organization that supports the technology of a specific crypto network. Bitcoin lawyer, crypto network

AFAIK: chat abbreviation for As Far As I Know.

AFI: abbreviation for All F*cking In, an impolite way of saying that the entire cryptofolio is bet on a single currency. all-in, bet the farm, cryptocurrency, cryptofolio, don’t put all of your eggs in one basket

•The phrase all f*cking in comes from the gambling world.

AI: Abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence. artificial intelligence

airdrop or token airdrop: advertising operation distributing free (airdropped) coins of a new cryptocurrency in the hopes of creating future demand. altcoin, Coin Calender, cryptocurrency

•An airdrop often targets current owners of a pre-existing cryptocurrency.

•Sometimes one can without solicitation apply for an airdrop. The newly launched coins are then distributed among the interested parties.

An airdrop can sometimes be used to make big money when initial interest in the alternative currency after its launch causes an increase in its value.

air-gapped computer: computer that has never made an external connection i.e. has never been connected to the internet and is therefore safe from malware and cyberattacks. attack, cracking, malware

alarmist or crypto alarmist: crypto speculator seeking to manipulate the market by creating unrest in chatboxes during a negative market movement or uncertainty. crypto chatbox, crypto market, panic selling, speculator

•When several crypto alarmists are active, this can cause panic and massive selling in the hypersensitive crypto market.

algorithm: list of instructions to solve the mathematical calculations of cryptocurrency. asymmetric key algorithm, cryptocurrency, hash algorithm, private key, public key

•An algorithm is a technical reasoning method executed by computers that does not require human reasoning.

•An asymmetric key algorithm is used to generate public and private keys the unique codes for sending and receiving cryptocurrency.

all-in: betting the entire cryptofolio on a single currency. AFI, bet the farm, cryptocurrency, cryptofolio, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, speculator

•Because there are countless small crypto investors and speculators within the crypto community, ‘all-in’ can just as easily be a bold statement about an investment equivalent of only $50.

In order to spread the risks of crypto investments, it is advisable to build the cryptofolio from different investment angles and different cryptocurrencies.