Glossary
103 terms. Every term used in an annotation appears here.
51% attack attack
When one party controls enough of a network's mining or staking power to rewrite recent history.
Why it matters. It's the theoretical break in the whole model, and it has actually happened to smaller chains.
The mistake. Assuming every chain is as hard to attack as Bitcoin. Small chains are cheap to attack.
Defence. Understand that security scales with network size. Treat small-chain assets accordingly.
Angel investor money
Someone who funds a project very early, usually on terms the public never gets.
Why it matters. Early backers often hold large allocations bought far below the public price.
The mistake. Not asking who got in early and on what terms. If early holders can sell freely at launch, the public is the exit.
Anon culture
Someone taking part under a pseudonym rather than a real name. Also used to address a stranger.
Why it matters. Pseudonymity is normal here and not in itself suspicious — the founder of Bitcoin was anonymous.
The mistake. Confusing anonymity with unaccountability, in either direction. What matters is whether a project's code and funds are verifiable, not whether faces are shown.
Backdoor attack
A hidden route into a system or contract, left deliberately, that bypasses the normal rules.
Why it matters. In a smart contract it can allow one address to mint, freeze, or withdraw at will.
The mistake. Assuming published code is the code that is running, and that it cannot change. Behind an upgradeable proxy, today's safe contract can become tomorrow's backdoor.
Defence. Prefer contracts that are audited, verified on a block explorer, and either not upgradeable or upgradeable only by a multisig with a time delay. Check who holds the admin keys.
Bear market market
An extended stretch of falling prices and thin interest.
Why it matters. These last longer than newcomers expect — often years, not weeks.
The mistake. Sizing a position for the excitement of a rising market and then discovering you cannot sit through a falling one. Position size is what determines whether you can wait.
Bitcoin asset
The first blockchain currency, launched in 2009 by an anonymous author writing as Satoshi Nakamoto.
Why it matters. It set every convention that followed — fixed supply, mining, public ledger, self-custody.
The mistake. Treating the whole field as "Bitcoin." Most of what happens in crypto happens on other chains with very different rules.
Block infra
A batch of transactions bundled together and added to the chain as one unit.
Why it matters. Blocks are why the ledger has an order. Each one points back at the one before it, which is what makes rewriting history impractical.
The mistake. Expecting a transaction to be final the instant it is sent. It is final once it is in a block and enough blocks have followed it.
Block explorer infra
A free website that lets anyone search the chain — any address, any transaction, any token.
Why it matters. It is the receipt printer for the entire system, and it needs no account.
The mistake. Asking someone whether a payment arrived instead of looking it up. The explorer is neutral; the person telling you may not be.
Blockchain infra
A shared record of transactions that everyone can check and no single party controls.
Why it matters. It's the reason you can hold value without a bank agreeing to let you.
The mistake. Assuming "on the blockchain" means safe. The ledger is honest; the people using it are not.
Bored Ape nft
A well-known collection of profile-picture NFTs launched in 2021.
Why it matters. It became the reference point for the whole category, in both its rise and its later decline.
The mistake. Reasoning from its peak prices to any other collection. It was the exception, and most collections that copied it are now worth close to nothing.
Buy the dip market
Buying after a fall, on the view that the fall is temporary.
Why it matters. It is the most repeated instruction in the culture, and it assumes a recovery that may not come.
The mistake. Treating every fall as a dip. Some falls are the market repricing something permanently, and averaging down into those is how small losses become total ones.
Candlestick market
A chart mark showing the opening, closing, highest, and lowest price over one period.
Why it matters. It is the standard way price is displayed everywhere.
The mistake. Reading patterns in them as predictions. A chart records what already happened; it is a description, not a forecast.
CEX market
A centralised exchange — one company holds the keys, runs the order book, and controls withdrawals.
Why it matters. It is the easiest on-ramp and the single largest point of failure in most people's setup.
The mistake. Confusing a familiar interface with safety. The account looks like online banking, but there is no deposit insurance behind it.
Code audit infra
A paid review of a smart contract by outside security specialists, published as a report.
Why it matters. It is the closest thing to a safety inspection this industry has.
The mistake. Seeing the word "audited" and stopping there. Read who audited it, when, which version, and what they flagged — plenty of audited projects were drained anyway, and some "audits" are self-published.
Coercion attack
Forcing someone to hand over keys through threats, pressure, or violence, rather than by breaking anything technical.
Why it matters. Strong cryptography does not protect a person. This is the attack that ignores all of it.
The mistake. Building excellent digital security while telling people what you hold. Every technical defence assumes nobody is standing in front of you.
Defence. Do not make yourself findable as a holder — that is the first and largest defence. Keep a duress wallet with a believable balance, use multisig so no single person present can move savings, and if it happens, hand over the decoy. Nothing on a chain is worth harm.
Cold wallet custody
A wallet whose keys have never touched an internet-connected device.
Why it matters. An attacker who takes over your computer still cannot sign a transaction from it.
The mistake. Buying a hardware wallet from a marketplace reseller, or using a recovery phrase that came pre-printed in the box. Buy direct from the maker, and generate the phrase yourself on the device.
Contract approval attack
Permission you grant a smart contract to spend tokens from your wallet.
Why it matters. Approvals often have no limit and no expiry. One careless click can drain a wallet months later.
The mistake. Approving unlimited spend on a site you used once and never revoking it.
Defence. Set spending limits where possible. Review and revoke old approvals periodically with a revocation tool.
Cost basis money
What you originally paid for something, used to work out gain or loss when you dispose of it.
Why it matters. Tax authorities in most countries treat crypto disposals as taxable events, and they want this number.
The mistake. Not recording it. People trade for a year, then discover they cannot prove what anything cost and owe tax on the full amount.
Counterparty (the protocol) nft
A 2014 layer built on top of Bitcoin that let people issue their own tokens and assets.
Why it matters. It is where tokens and collectibles on Bitcoin actually started, years before the word NFT existed.
The mistake. Confusing it with counterparty risk, which is an unrelated idea about who can fail and take your money with them. Same word, different meaning — check which one is meant.
Counterparty risk attack
The risk that the company holding your money fails, freezes, or steals it.
Why it matters. Every major crypto collapse has been this, not a broken blockchain.
The mistake. Treating an exchange balance as if it were your own coins. It's an IOU.
Defence. Withdraw to self-custody anything you aren't actively trading.
Dark web attack
Sites reachable only through special software that hides both visitor and host.
Why it matters. It is where stolen data and credentials are traded, including data about you.
The mistake. Thinking it is irrelevant because you will never go there. What matters is that your reused passwords and leaked details are already for sale there.
Defence. Use a password manager with a unique password everywhere, turn on two-factor authentication using an app or hardware key rather than SMS, and check whether your email appears in known breaches.
Decentralized infra
Run by many independent participants rather than one company.
Why it matters. It is the property that makes a network hard to shut down, censor, or quietly change.
The mistake. Accepting the label at face value. Ask who can upgrade the contract, who holds the admin keys, and who runs the website. Many "decentralised" projects have a single person able to change everything.
Decoy balance custody
A believable, modest balance kept where someone looking would expect to find it.
Why it matters. The goal is that the search ends, and it ends without escalation.
The mistake. Choosing an amount so small it reads as an insult, or so large it invites another round of questions.
DeFi infra
Decentralised finance — lending, trading, and earning run by smart contracts rather than institutions.
Why it matters. It works without accounts or approval, and equally without refunds or a complaints process.
The mistake. Treating an advertised yield as interest from a bank. The yield comes from somewhere — usually other users' fees or newly issued tokens — and when that source stops, so does the yield.
Degen culture
Short for degenerate. A self-applied badge for high-risk traders.
Why it matters. The album's narrator claims it deliberately. It's a posture, not a strategy, and the book should be honest about that.
The mistake. Adopting the identity and then adopting the position sizes that go with it.
Diamond hands culture
Holding through severe falls without selling.
Why it matters. It is praised as a virtue and treated as identity, which is what makes it dangerous.
The mistake. Letting the label override judgement. Refusing to reassess is not conviction; it is a decision made once and never revisited.
Dip market
A short-term drop in price within a broader trend.
Why it matters. Whether something is a dip or a decline is only knowable afterwards.
The mistake. Calling it a dip while it is still falling, then setting money aside for the next one, repeatedly, without a limit decided in advance.
DOGE asset
Dogecoin, started in 2013 as a joke about crypto speculation.
Why it matters. It shows that attention alone can move a market, with no product underneath.
The mistake. Mistaking a large, active community for a floor under the price. The community is the product, and communities move on.
Doxxing attack
Publishing someone's real identity, address, or workplace, usually to intimidate them.
Why it matters. On a public ledger, linking a name to an address exposes their balance permanently.
The mistake. Reusing one address everywhere and attaching it to a public profile. That single link is enough to connect a real person to a visible balance.
Defence. Keep public activity separate from wallets holding savings. Do not publish addresses next to your name, and take care with photographs and metadata that reveal where you live.
Duress wallet custody
A separate wallet holding a small amount, kept so it can be handed over under threat.
Why it matters. It gives you something real to surrender, which is what someone forcing the issue is looking for.
The mistake. Leaving it empty or obviously staged. A wallet with no history is not convincing. It needs a small balance and ordinary past activity.
DYOR culture
Do your own research — the standard disclaimer attached to any mention of a token.
Why it matters. It is genuinely good advice and also a liability shield for people promoting things.
The mistake. Treating reading community posts as research. Research means the contract, the holder distribution, the audit, the vesting schedule, and the team — not sentiment.
Encryption custody
Scrambling data so only someone with the key can read it.
Why it matters. It protects the files and messages around your crypto, which is often where attackers actually get in.
The mistake. Encrypting the backup and then losing the password to the encrypted backup. That is the same loss, one step removed.
Ethereum asset
A blockchain that runs programs, not just payments.
Why it matters. Almost everything that is not a plain transfer — apps, tokens, marketplaces — was built on Ethereum or a copy of its design.
The mistake. Assuming an app on Ethereum is as trustworthy as Ethereum. The chain is not vouching for the code running on it.
Exchange market
A business where you swap money for crypto and back again.
Why it matters. It is where nearly everyone starts, and where nearly everyone's first mistake happens.
The mistake. Leaving funds there indefinitely. A balance on an exchange is a claim against a company, not coins you hold — and companies holding billions have failed with no warning.
Fake guru attack
Someone selling signals, courses, or picks, whose actual income is your subscription and undisclosed promotion.
Why it matters. They are paid for confidence, not accuracy, and their results are never independently checked.
The mistake. Mistaking a large following and a visible lifestyle for a track record. Both are purchasable.
Defence. Ask for a complete, timestamped record including losses, and check whether promotions are disclosed as paid. Never grant anyone access to your wallet or accounts to "manage" funds.
Fiat money
Government-issued money like the dollar, euro, or pound — valuable because a state says so and people agree.
Why it matters. It is the thing crypto is usually measured against, and the thing you return to when you cash out.
The mistake. Framing it as fiat versus crypto. Almost everyone holds both, and the exchange rate between them is where most losses actually happen.
Firewall infra
Software that controls what may reach your device over a network.
Why it matters. It is ordinary computer hygiene, and crypto losses usually begin with an ordinary compromised device.
The mistake. Investing in exotic crypto-specific security while running an unpatched machine. Update your operating system and browser first; it prevents more losses than anything clever.
Fixed supply asset
A hard cap on how many coins can ever exist, written into the rules and enforced by every participant.
Why it matters. No one can quietly print more, which is the whole argument for the design.
The mistake. Hearing "scarce" and concluding "valuable." Scarcity only matters if demand exists; plenty of capped tokens are worth nothing.
Floor price market
The cheapest item currently listed for sale in a collection.
Why it matters. It is the headline number for anything sold as a set, and the one people quote.
The mistake. Reading it as what you could sell for today. It is an asking price. If nobody bids, there is no floor — only a list.
FOMO culture
Fear of missing out — the pressure to act because others appear to be profiting.
Why it matters. It is the most reliable way people are separated from their money, and it needs no attacker.
The mistake. Buying at the moment something is most talked about. Peak attention and peak price arrive together, and the people posting gains bought much earlier.
FUD culture
Fear, uncertainty and doubt — usually meaning negative claims the speaker rejects.
Why it matters. The label is used both against genuine manipulation and against entirely legitimate criticism.
The mistake. Using it to dismiss a specific, checkable claim. If someone names a real problem, verify it. "That's FUD" is not a rebuttal.
Gas infra
The fee paid to get a transaction processed.
Why it matters. Fees rise when the network is busy, and a small transaction can cost more than it's worth.
The mistake. Trying to move a tiny amount during peak congestion and losing most of it to fees.
Gas price infra
What you are willing to pay per unit of computation to get your transaction processed.
Why it matters. It is an auction. Offer more and you are included sooner; offer too little and you wait, or the transaction fails.
The mistake. Paying a fee larger than the amount being moved. Always check the fee in your own currency before confirming, especially on small transfers.
Generational wallet custody
A wallet set up so someone else — a child, a partner, an heir — can reach it later.
Why it matters. Crypto has no next of kin process. Without a plan, the funds simply stop existing for your family.
The mistake. Leaving no instructions at all, or leaving instructions that hand the keys to whoever opens the envelope first. Write down where things are and how to reach them, and keep that separate from the keys themselves.
GM culture
The standard greeting across crypto communities, short for "good morning".
Why it matters. It is a small ritual that signals belonging, and it is genuinely most of what is said in some channels.
The mistake. Mistaking an active chat for an active project. Volume of greetings is not progress.
Green candle market
A period that closed higher than it opened.
Why it matters. It is the visual shorthand for "up," and it drives more buying than any argument does.
The mistake. Buying because the chart is green. Acting on colour is acting on what has already happened to everyone else.
Gwei infra
The unit network fees are quoted in on Ethereum — one billionth of one ETH.
Why it matters. Fees are quoted in gwei everywhere, so the number is meaningless until you know the unit.
The mistake. Confusing the fee unit with the amount being sent, and approving a transaction without reading the total in real money first.
HODL culture
Holding rather than selling. Originally a typo, now a stance.
Why it matters. It names the discipline problem at the centre of the whole thing.
The mistake. Treating "hodl" as a strategy rather than a slogan. It is not a substitute for a plan.
Hold your own keys custody
Keeping funds in a wallet you control instead of on a company's platform.
Why it matters. It is the difference between owning the asset and holding a claim against a business that can fail.
The mistake. Moving everything into self-custody in one step, with no rehearsal. Practise a small recovery from the phrase before it matters.
Honeypot contract attack
A token you can buy but cannot sell, by design.
Why it matters. The chart looks perfect on the way up because nobody is able to sell.
The mistake. Seeing a token only going up and reading that as strength.
Defence. Test with a tiny amount and confirm you can sell before committing more. Use a contract scanner.
Immutable infra
Once written, it cannot be edited or deleted.
Why it matters. There is no undo button and no customer service line.
The mistake. Sending to a wrong address and expecting a reversal. There is none.
Lambo culture
A Lamborghini — shorthand for sudden wealth. "When lambo?"
Why it matters. It is the culture's joke about its own motivation, repeated until it becomes the motivation.
The mistake. Setting the goal as an object rather than an amount and a date. Vague targets are never reached, because there is no point at which you stop.
Layer 2 infra
A separate faster, cheaper network that batches its activity back down to the main chain for security.
Why it matters. It is how the same chain becomes usable for small amounts.
The mistake. Sending funds to an address on the wrong layer. The address often looks identical, and the funds can be unrecoverable.
Liquidity locked infra
The pool's funds are held in a contract that stops anyone withdrawing them until a set date.
Why it matters. It is the single most checkable defence against the pool being emptied overnight.
The mistake. Believing a claim of locked liquidity without opening the lock contract and reading the unlock date. "Locked" for one week is not locked.
Liquidity pool infra
A shared pot of two tokens that people trade against, funded by depositors who earn a share of the fees. The album is named after it.
Why it matters. It is how most tokens are tradable at all without a company running an order book.
The mistake. Depositing without understanding impermanent loss — if the two tokens move apart in price, withdrawing can leave you with less value than simply holding would have.
Market cap market
Price per token multiplied by the number in circulation.
Why it matters. It is the only way to compare tokens sensibly. A low price per coin means nothing on its own.
The mistake. Reasoning that a cheap-looking token could "easily reach a dollar" without checking what that would imply for the total. Sometimes it implies a value larger than every company on earth.
Maxi culture
A maximalist — someone who believes one chain is the only one that matters.
Why it matters. Much of the loudest commentary comes from people with a fixed position to defend.
The mistake. Taking a maxi's account of a competing chain as a technical assessment. It is advocacy, and it is usually held alongside a position.
MetaMask custody
A widely used browser and phone wallet for Ethereum and similar chains.
Why it matters. For most people it is the first wallet they hold their own keys in, so its habits become their habits.
The mistake. Installing it from a search advert. Fake wallet extensions rank highly and steal the phrase during setup. Install from the official site, and reach it from a bookmark.
Mint nft
Creating a new token on a chain, usually the first sale of an item in a collection.
Why it matters. It is the moment supply is created and the point at which most collection money changes hands.
The mistake. Minting from a link posted in a chat or a reply. Fake mint pages are the most common launch-day attack, and the transaction they ask you to sign is not a purchase.
Moon culture
To rise sharply in price. "Mooning," "to the moon."
Why it matters. It is the field's shorthand for the only outcome much of the marketing discusses.
The mistake. Building a plan around it. A strategy with no exit and no downside case is not a strategy.
Multisig custody
A wallet that needs several separate keys to approve a transaction — say two of three.
Why it matters. No single stolen key, and no single moment of pressure, is enough to move the funds.
The mistake. Keeping every key in one place, or with one person. Split across locations and people, or the arrangement gives you nothing.
Network congestion infra
Too many people transacting at once, so fees rise and confirmations slow down.
Why it matters. Congestion arrives exactly when everyone wants to act — during crashes and launches.
The mistake. Planning to move funds "if things go wrong." That is the moment fees spike and transactions stall. Rehearse the move when the network is quiet.
Node infra
A computer running the chain's software, keeping its own full copy of the ledger and checking every rule.
Why it matters. The network is just many nodes agreeing. No head office exists to overrule them.
The mistake. Believing decentralisation is automatic. If almost everyone reads the chain through the same two providers, that is a chokepoint regardless of how many nodes exist.
Normie culture
Someone outside crypto, used as a gentle insult.
Why it matters. The word marks a boundary, and the pressure not to be on the wrong side of it sells a great deal.
The mistake. Letting the fear of the label rush a decision. Nobody has ever lost money by taking an extra week to understand something.
On-chain infra
Recorded on the public ledger itself, rather than on a company's private database.
Why it matters. On-chain facts can be checked by anyone without asking permission or trusting the source.
The mistake. Assuming everything a project says is on-chain. Balances usually are; team promises, roadmaps, and partnerships almost never are.
OPSEC custody
Operational security — the routine habits that keep what you hold from becoming public knowledge.
Why it matters. Almost every targeted attack starts with the attacker learning you are worth targeting.
The mistake. Posting gains, screenshots, or a wallet address publicly. Nothing is reversible afterwards, and the address links the balance to the person.
Paper hands culture
Selling quickly, usually at a loss, usually out of fear.
Why it matters. Used as an insult, which is exactly how it does damage — it pressures people out of sensible risk management.
The mistake. Letting the insult drive the decision. Taking profit is not weakness.
Phishing attack
A fake site, message, or app impersonating a real one to capture your keys.
Why it matters. It's the single most successful attack in crypto and it costs nothing to run.
The mistake. Clicking a link from search results, a DM, or a support account instead of a saved bookmark.
Defence. Bookmark every site you use and only navigate from bookmarks. Real support never DMs first and never asks for a seed phrase.
Ponzi attack
A scheme paying existing participants with money from new ones, while presenting it as returns.
Why it matters. It works until recruitment slows, then fails completely and suddenly.
The mistake. Being reassured that early withdrawals worked. Early payouts are the mechanism, not evidence against it — they are what recruits the next group.
Defence. Ask exactly where the yield comes from and keep asking until you get a specific answer. If it is "trading" or "arbitrage" with no detail, or the return is fixed and high regardless of the market, leave.
Pooled funds attack
An arrangement where several people's money is combined and one party controls the wallet.
Why it matters. Whoever holds the keys can leave with everything, whatever was agreed.
The mistake. Joining a group buy or investment club run from a single personal wallet, on trust, with no written terms.
Defence. If funds must be pooled, use a multisig where signers are independent people, so no one person can move the money alone. Otherwise hold your own share.
Probably nothing culture
Sarcasm — used when posting something the speaker considers very significant.
Why it matters. It is a hype device dressed as understatement, and it is everywhere.
The mistake. Reacting to the framing rather than the underlying fact. Read what is actually being shown; usually it is a screenshot with no verifiable claim in it.
Proxy infra
A contract that forwards calls to another contract holding the actual logic, so the logic can be replaced later.
Why it matters. It is how projects ship fixes — and how the rules can change after you have committed funds.
The mistake. Reviewing the code once and assuming it is fixed. Behind a proxy, whoever holds the upgrade key can change what the contract does tomorrow.
Pump and dump attack
Organisers quietly accumulate a token, promote it hard, and sell into the buying they created.
Why it matters. It is one of the oldest frauds there is, and public chains make it cheap to run at scale.
The mistake. Joining a group that promises a coordinated buy. If you are being told when to buy, you are the exit, and the people who bought before the announcement are the ones being paid.
Defence. Treat urgency as the warning sign. Check on a block explorer how concentrated the holdings are — a handful of wallets owning most of the supply means a few people can end it at will.
Ransomware attack
Malware that encrypts your files and demands payment, usually in crypto, to release them.
Why it matters. It is the main reason the public associates crypto with crime, and it is a real risk to any computer.
The mistake. Having no offline backup. The ransom decision only exists because there is no clean copy to restore from.
Defence. Keep backups offline or otherwise disconnected, and test that a restore actually works. Keep systems updated. Paying funds the next attack and often does not return the files.
Recovery keys custody
The words or file that restore a wallet if the device is lost. Whoever holds them holds the funds.
Why it matters. They are the difference between losing a phone and losing everything on it.
The mistake. Storing them as a photo, a note on the phone, or a cloud document. That is the single most common way people are robbed, and it needs no hacking of the blockchain at all.
Red candle market
A period that closed lower than it opened.
Why it matters. It is what panic looks like on a screen, and it triggers the sales people most regret.
The mistake. Selling into it without reference to any plan, then buying back higher a week later. The colour is not new information.
Rekt culture
Wrecked — having taken a severe loss.
Why it matters. The humour around it normalises losses that were often avoidable, and discourages people from examining them.
The mistake. Laughing it off rather than writing down what happened. The post-mortem is the only part of a loss with any value in it.
Retrace market
A partial move back against the recent direction before the trend continues, or does not.
Why it matters. It is the standard justification for waiting, in both directions.
The mistake. Waiting for a retrace that never arrives, or assuming one is temporary when the trend has actually turned. Nobody knows which it is at the time.
Roadmap culture
A project's published plan of what it intends to deliver and when.
Why it matters. It is the main thing sold before a product exists.
The mistake. Valuing a project on its roadmap. Compare it against what the same team has already shipped and when — promises are free, and roadmaps are quietly rewritten.
Rollup infra
The most common kind of Layer 2 — it rolls many transactions into one record posted to the main chain.
Why it matters. You get main-chain security at a fraction of the cost, with a delay when withdrawing.
The mistake. Not checking the withdrawal period before depositing. Some rollups hold withdrawals for days by design.
Rug pull attack
A project's team takes the money and disappears.
Why it matters. It's the most common way beginners lose everything, and it looks exactly like a normal project until it doesn't.
The mistake. Judging a project by its marketing, its community size, or how confident the founders sound.
Defence. Check whether liquidity is locked and for how long. Check whether the team is identifiable. Assume anonymous teams can leave. Size positions accordingly.
Rust infra
A general-purpose programming language used to write contracts on Solana and several other chains.
Why it matters. It is the second language you meet once you look past Ethereum.
The mistake. Treating the choice of language as a safety rating. Audits and track record tell you something; the language tells you almost nothing.
Seed phrase custody
A list of ordinary words that can regenerate your entire wallet.
Why it matters. Anyone holding these words holds your money. They are the money.
The mistake. Photographing it, emailing it to yourself, or storing it in a password manager or cloud note.
Defence. Write on paper or steel. Store offline. Never type it into any site or app that asks. No legitimate service will ever ask.
Seed phrase loss custody
Losing the words that restore the wallet, which means losing the funds with no route back.
Why it matters. There is no reset, no support desk, and no appeal. A meaningful share of all Bitcoin is already unreachable this way.
The mistake. Keeping exactly one copy, in one building. Fire, flood, and a house move end more wallets than hackers do. Keep more than one copy, in more than one place.
Self-custody custody
Holding your own keys rather than letting a company hold them for you.
Why it matters. It's the entire point. Anything else is trusting a company not to fail.
The mistake. Leaving everything on an exchange because it's easier, then discovering what "not your keys, not your coins" means.
Shiba asset
Shiba Inu, a token launched in 2020 imitating Dogecoin's dog theme.
Why it matters. The template — dog logo, enormous supply, celebrity attention — has been copied thousands of times since.
The mistake. Being reassured by a huge token supply because the per-coin price looks tiny. Supply times price is the number that matters, not the price tag.
Smart contract infra
A program stored on a blockchain that runs exactly as written whenever someone calls it.
Why it matters. It removes the middleman and replaces them with code — which does what it says, including when what it says is bad for you.
The mistake. Reading "contract" as a legal protection. Nobody enforces it on your behalf. If the code lets your funds be taken, they are taken, and that was the contract working.
SOL asset
The native coin of Solana, a chain built for high speed and very low fees.
Why it matters. Fees shape behaviour. Cheap transactions make some things practical that are not practical elsewhere.
The mistake. Reading low fees as low risk. Fees are an engineering choice; they say nothing about whether the token you are buying is real.
Solidity infra
The main programming language for writing Ethereum smart contracts.
Why it matters. Most of the money in decentralised apps sits behind code written in it.
The mistake. Assuming the language protects against mistakes. It does not, and small errors in it have cost hundreds of millions.
Stablecoin asset
A token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar, by being backed by reserves.
Why it matters. It is how most people sit still without leaving crypto entirely.
The mistake. Assuming "stable" is a property of the token rather than a promise by whoever issues it. Stablecoins have broken before, and the ones that broke all looked fine the week before.
Stacking sats culture
Accumulating small amounts of Bitcoin steadily. A sat is one hundred-millionth of one coin.
Why it matters. It reframes the asset as divisible, which removes the belief that you need a whole coin to take part.
The mistake. Stacking on an exchange for years and never moving anything into a wallet you control. That is not accumulating the asset; it is accumulating a claim.
Staking infra
Locking up coins to help secure a network, earning a reward for doing it.
Why it matters. It is how chains like Ethereum agree on the ledger without mining.
The mistake. Ignoring the unlock period. Staked funds are often unavailable for days or weeks, which is precisely when you may want them.
Take profits market
Selling some of a position while it is up, converting a paper gain into a real one.
Why it matters. Gains that are never realised are not gains. Every drawdown is full of people who were up at some point.
The mistake. Having no plan for it at all. Decide beforehand what would make you sell some; otherwise the decision is always made at the worst moment, under emotion.
Token burn asset
Permanently destroying tokens by sending them to an address nobody holds the keys to.
Why it matters. It is the main way a project reduces supply, and it is publicly verifiable.
The mistake. Treating a burn announcement as proof of a burn. The transaction is on the ledger — look for it before believing it.
Token tax money
A fee written into a token's own code that takes a cut of every buy or sell.
Why it matters. It is charged by the token itself, on top of network fees, and the rate can often be changed after launch.
The mistake. Checking the price but never the contract. A token can be built so the sell tax is raised to near-total once enough people are in.
Trading pair market
The two assets being exchanged, written as one against the other.
Why it matters. Every price is a price in something. The same token quoted against two different assets gives two different numbers.
The mistake. Reading a price without noticing what it is priced in, then being surprised when the value in your own currency is quite different.
Vesting market
A schedule releasing tokens to founders and early backers gradually rather than all at once.
Why it matters. Each release date puts new supply into the market, whatever the demand is doing.
The mistake. Buying without looking up the vesting schedule. A large unlock arriving next month is public information and entirely predictable.
VPN custody
A service that routes your internet traffic through another server, hiding your address from sites you visit.
Why it matters. It reduces what networks and websites can learn about where you are.
The mistake. Treating it as protection against scams. A VPN hides your location; it does nothing about a malicious contract you approve or a phrase you type into a fake site.
WAGMI culture
A rallying phrase, short for "we're all gonna make it".
Why it matters. It builds solidarity, and it is also used to keep people from selling.
The mistake. Reading group optimism as information. Everyone saying the same thing is not evidence; it is often just everyone holding the same thing.
Wallet custody
Software or hardware that holds the keys controlling your crypto. It doesn't hold coins — it holds proof that they're yours.
Why it matters. The wallet is the account, the password, and the bank all at once.
The mistake. Thinking a wallet is like a bank account with a recovery option. It isn't. Lose the keys, lose everything.
Wallet drainer attack
Malicious code on a website that, once you approve its request, empties the wallet you connected.
Why it matters. It is sold ready-made to anyone who wants it, which is why it is everywhere.
The mistake. Connecting a wallet to a site reached from a link, then approving whatever appears without reading it. The signature request is the attack, and it looks like a normal pop-up.
Defence. Reach sites from your own bookmarks, never from links or search adverts. Read what you are signing. Keep the wallet you connect to sites separate from the one holding savings, and review approvals periodically.
Whale culture
A holder large enough that their transactions move the price.
Why it matters. Their wallets are public, so their positions can be watched by anyone.
The mistake. Copying a large wallet's trades. You cannot see their cost basis, their other positions, their timeframe, or their reasons — you see one leg of something bigger.
Wrench attack attack
Getting someone's crypto by physically threatening them rather than hacking anything.
Why it matters. The strongest encryption in the world does not protect a person in a room with someone dangerous.
The mistake. Publicly discussing holdings, posting gains, or wearing crypto branding in the wrong place.
Defence. Keep holdings private. Use a decoy wallet with a small balance. Consider multisig so no single person under duress can move funds. Never post real numbers.