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Glossary

Introduction​

In this glossary, you can find any TON- and crypto-related buzzwords.

A​

Airdrop​

Airdrop — a free distribution of tokens among specific participants.

Altcoin​

Altcoin — all cryptocurrencies, except Bitcoin, are called altcoins.

AMA​

AMA — an online Q&A called “ask me anything” where project leaders answer questions from the community about a product or service.

API​

API — Application Programming Interface, a mechanism that allows two programs to interact with each other through a series of protocols.

APY​

APY — Annual Percentage Yield, a calculated yearly interest rate for a given asset.

B​

Bearish​

Bearish — the term “bearish” is used when the price of an asset has declined due to investors selling. (The term is often used to describe the overall market sentiment.)

Binance​

Binance — the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume.

Bitcoin (BTC)​

Bitcoin (BTC) — the preeminent cryptocurrency and the first decentralized network with open-source code, which laid the groundwork for the proliferation of blockchain technology.

Blockchain​

Blockchain — a distributed ledger of data in the form of a chain of blocks recording transaction information for every event on the network.

Bloodbath​

Bloodbath — a colloquial term often used to describe a severe and sustained market crash, which results in multiple deep red bars on price charts.

BoC​

BoC — Bag of Cells. Usually, used in code.

BoF​

BoF — Bag of Files. Usually, used in code.

Bot​

Bot — a program written for two ecosystems to interact with each other — e.g., The Open Network and the Telegram messenger. On Telegram, bots are accounts in the messenger operated by software.

Bridge​

Bridge — a program connecting various blockchains to transfer tokens and data from one network to another. TON Bridge is available at this link.

Bullish​

Bullish — the term “bullish” is used to describe an asset whose value is appreciating. (“Bullish” is the opposite of “bearish” — i.e. when the market’s overall value is increasing.)

Burning​

Burning — the act of burning or removing a number of tokens from the circulating and total supply, which often results in increased demand.

C​

CEX​

CEX — a centralized cryptocurrency exchange to trade tokens.

CMC​

CMC — CoinMarketCap, a crypto information aggregator that closely follows changes in token prices and market capitalization.

Coinbase​

Coinbase — the biggest crypto exchange in the United States.

Cryptobot​

Cryptobot — a peer-to-peer (P2P) bot service for buying, trading, and selling Toncoin and other cryptocurrencies without Know Your Customer (KYC) verification.

Custodial​

Custodial — a type of crypto wallet where a third party stores cryptocurrencies, and not their true owner.

D​

DApps​

DApps — decentralized applications made for blockchains supported by a group of nodes instead of a centralized server.

DCA​

DCA — dollar-cost averaging, an investment strategy whereby investors buy crypto assets at a low yet fixed price to reduce exposure to risks.

Decentralization​

Decentralization — one of the main tenets behind TON and other blockchains. Without decentralization, Web3 would be impossible to achieve; therefore, every element of the TON Ecosystem revolves around maximizing decentralization.

DeFi​

DeFi — the decentralized analog to traditional finance, it includes accessible financial services and applications based on smart contracts.

DEX​

DEX — a decentralized exchange (DEX) where users can trade cryptocurrencies without any intermediaries. The online entity needed to guarantee safe transactions is the blockchain itself.

Diamond hands​

Diamond hands — a colloquial term describing an investor who has no intention of selling their assets regardless of the state of the market — even if there’s a crash or the market is bearish.

DNS​

DNS — Domain Name System, a technology that allows users to make transactions between human-readable domain names (ton.org) and machine-readable IP addresses (192.0.2.44).

Dolphin​

Dolphin — an investor who has low-level capital but has an influence on the community.

Donate — a bot service on Telegram through which people can either donate money or content creators can monetize their channels and services on Telegram, with a payment option in Toncoin.

Dump​

Dump — manipulating the increase in value of a token or cryptocurrency and then cashing out.

Durov​

Durov — Pavel Durov, a Russian entrepreneur who is famous for having founded the VK social network and Telegram messenger. Nikolai Durov is Pavel's brother who participated in developing VK, Telegram and also TON.

DYOR​

DYOR — Do Your Own Research, the process by which you do research on a project, company or cryptocurrency before deciding to invest.

E​

EVM​

EVM — Ethereum Virtual Machine, a machine behaving like a decentralized computer, it computes the state of the Ethereum blockchain after each new block and executes smart contracts.

Exchange​

Exchange — a place for trading and using other market instruments.

F​

Farming​

Farming — lending your crypto assets to receive rewards.

Fiat​

Fiat — regular money issued by central banks or financial authorities.

FOMO​

FOMO — “fear of missing out,” a psychological state that consumes some investors when the idea of losing potential gains from an opportunity is present. It usually appears during a bull market and when traders don’t do their due diligence analyzing a particular project.

Fungible tokens​

Fungible tokens — cryptocurrencies that carry the same value as any other token of the same kind at any given moment.

FUD​

FUD — “Fear, uncertainty and doubt,” market sentiments based on many factors.

Full Node​

Full Node — a computer on TON Blockchain that synchronizes and copies the entire TON Blockchain.

FunC​

FunC — the smart contract language on TON.

G​

Gas​

Gas — the fee paid for transactions on the blockchain.

GitHub​

GitHub — a platform where developers gather to create base code for programs.

H​

Hackathon​

Hackathon — a gathering of programmers to develop software, programs, applications, etc.

Hash​

Hash — information about transaction data, created by a hashing algorithm.

Hash rate​

Hash rate — the indication of how much computational power is being used on a network for crypto mining.

Hold​

Hold — saving — i.e. not selling — an asset or assets from your portfolio.

I​

ICO​

ICO — initial coin offering, a method for crypto projects to attract capital in the early stages.

IDO​

IDO — initial decentralized exchange offering, another method of attracting capital when launching a cryptocurrency or token on a decentralized exchange.

Inflation​

Inflation — the process when the value of a currency — e.g., U.S. dollar or the euro — decreases. Toncoin (and other cryptocurrencies) are emitted with a high degree of transparency and a predictable issuance, which has deflationary properties.

K​

KYC​

KYС — Know Your Customer, the process by which a user verifies their identity when creating an account for a crypto service.

L​

Launchpad​

Launchpad — a platform for crypto startups that brings investors and projects together. The main launchpad in the TON Ecosystem is Tonstarter.

Liquidity pool​

Liquidity pool — grouping together crypto assets and freezing them in a smart contract. Liquidity pools are used for decentralized trading, loans, and other endeavors.

M​

Mainnet​

Mainnet — the main network of a blockchain.

Market cap (capitalization)​

Market cap (capitalization) — the total value of a cryptocurrency’s combined number of tokens.

Masterchain​

Masterchain — in a multi-layered blockchain, the masterchain is the most important. For TON, the masterchain is the main chain of the network. When operations happen on the blockchain, they do so on the masterchain.

Metaverse​

Metaverse — a digital universe similar to a video game where users create avatars and interact with the digital representations of other people or users.

Moon​

Moon — a crypto term that describes a crypto asset’s vertical trajectory on a price chart — i.e. it quickly gains value.

N​

NFA​

NFA — not financial advice, this acronym is used as a disclaimer to avoid liability or responsibility when investors discuss cryptocurrencies or projects with other people.

NFT​

NFT — non-fungible token, a unique digital token on a blockchain that cannot be duplicated or minted more than once.

Nominator​

Nominator — those who provide financial resources to validators so the latter can confirm blocks on TON Blockchain.

Non-custodial​

Non-custodial — a kind of crypto wallet that gives full control over assets to the owner/user.

O​

Off-ramp​

Off-ramp — ways to convert cryptocurrencies into fiat money.

On-ramp​

On-ramp — ways to convert (buy) cryptocurrency by spending fiat money.

Onion routing​

Onion routing — a technology similar to TOR that allows anonymous interactions on a network. All messages are encrypted in various layers akin to an onion. TON Proxy applies such a technique.

P​

Paper hands​

Paper hands — an investor who’s inclined to panic-sell — an inexperienced investor.

Proof-of-stake​

Proof-of-stake — a consensus mechanism to process transactions in new blocks on the blockchain.

Proof-of-work​

Proof-of-work — a consensus algorithm where one party proves to another that a specific amount of computational work was spent. By expending a little energy, a party can verify this.

Proxy​

Proxy — a service on a computer network that allows clients to install indirect network connections with other network services.

Pump​

Pump — artificially inflating the price of a cryptocurrency or asset.

P2P​

P2P — peer-to-peer, transactions among users without the help of a third party or intermediary.

R​

Roadmap​

Roadmap — a project’s strategic plan that displays when its products, services, updates, etc. will be released.

ROI​

ROI — return on investment, the profits made from investments.

S​

SBT​

SBT — Soulbound token, an NFT that can never be transferred because it contains information about its owner and their accomplishments.

Scalability​

Scalability — the ability of a blockchain network to process complex transactions as well as a large number of them.

SEC​

SEC — Securities and Exchange Commission, a financial regulator in the United States.

Shard​

Shard — a mechanism that helps a blockchain network to scale by breaking into smaller blockchains to relieve network congestion — something which TON Blockchain does.

Smart contract​

Smart contract — self-executing code that oversees and enables operations with the help of mathematical algorithms and without human intervention.

Spot trading​

Spot trading — trading a financial asset for money.

Stablecoin​

Stablecoin — a cryptocurrency whose value is stable (usually pegged to a fiat currency) and does not crash.

Staking​

Staking — a way for users to earn a passive income by storing coins or tokens in a proof-of-stake algorithm, which, in turn, ensures the blockchain runs smoothly. For this, they earn rewards as an incentive.

Swap​

Swap — the exchange of two financial assets — e.g. Toncoin for USDT.

T​

TEP​

TEP — TON Enhancement Proposals, a standard set of ways to interact with various parts of the TON ecosystem.

Testnet​

Testnet — a network for testing projects or services before launching on the mainnet.

Ticker​

Ticker — the short form of a cryptocurrency, asset, or token on exchanges, trading services, or other DeFi solutions — e.g. TON for Toncoin.

The Merge​

The Merge — the transition process of Ethereum switching from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake.

Token​

Token — a form of digital asset; it can have multiple functions.

Tokenomics​

Tokenomics — the economic plan and distribution strategy of a cryptocurrency (or token).

To the moon​

To the moon — a colloquial phrase used when people create FOMO. It refers to hopefuls wanting the value of a cryptocurrency rapidly gaining a lot of value — hence its trajectory to the moon.

Toncoin​

Toncoin — the native cryptocurrency of the TON Ecosystem, which is used to develop services and pay for fees and services. It can be bought, sold, and traded.

Trading​

Trading — buying and selling cryptocurrencies with the goal of making a profit.

TVL​

TVL (Total Value Locked) — Total value locked represents the number of assets currently being staked in a specific protocol.

TVM​

TVM — Ton Virtual Machine, a machine behaving like a decentralized computer, it computes the state of the Ton blockchain after each new block and executes smart contracts.

V​

Validator​

Validator — those who verify new blocks on TON Blockchain.

W​

WAGMI​

WAGMI — “we’re all gonna make it,” a sentence often used in the crypto community to express the aspirations of becoming rich one day by investing in cryptocurrencies.

Wallet​

Wallet — software that stores cryptocurrencies through a system of private keys needed to buy or sell cryptocurrencies and tokens. It is also a bot in the TON ecosystem for buying and selling Toncoin.

Web3​

Web3 — a new generation of the internet based on blockchain technology that includes decentralization and tokenomics.

Whale​

Whale — an investor who owns a large number of cryptocurrencies and tokens.

Whitelist​

Whitelist — a list awarding people special perks.

White paper​

White paper — the main document of a project written by its developers. It explains the technology and the project’s goals.

Watchlist​

Watchlist — a customizable list of cryptocurrencies whose price action an investor wishes to follow.

Workchain​

Workchain — secondary chains that connect to the masterchain. They can contain a massive number of different connected chains that have their own consensus rules. They can also contain address and transaction information and virtual machines for smart contracts. Additionally, they can be compatible with the masterchain and interact with one another.

Y​

Yield farming​

Yield farming — lending or placing cryptocurrencies or tokens in a smart contract to earn rewards in the form of transaction fees.

Yolo​

Yolo — “you only live once,” a slang acronym used as a call to live life to the fullest without taking into account the risk of the given endeavor.