Crypto slang: Don’t get left hodling the bag

Get up to speed on the main crypto slang in less than 5 minutes

“Wait till the whales pump my bags”

“Dude, I told you not to ape into more shitcoins. You gotta be stacking Sats or farming right now.”

“Na, I am hodling and waiting for it to moon!”

Did any of that confuse you? If not wow, few.

If any of that did confuse you and you would like to get caught up with the current crypto lingo. Look no further:

Hodl

A term that means you’re holding your crypto and not selling. But spelled wrong cause of an old internet joke when someone wrote “I am HODLING” on a message board.

DeFi

Stands for “decentralized finance”. An umbrella term that encapsulates all financial applications built on blockchains. The goal is to allow all users access to financial services like never before. It is very hot in crypto right now.

Satoshi

Named after the mysterious creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, a Satoshi is the smallest unit of a bitcoin — 1/100 Million of a unit. Aka there are 100 million “Satoshis” in one bitcoin. Often referred to as Sats.

Whale

A wealthy user or fund that owns a lot of crypto, their trades and actions can move the market.

Wallet

The place crypto is stored. It can also be referred to you as your “address” which means your wallet’s address. It is a piece of software where your crypto lives. Think of it as an email address for your Ethereum or Bitcoin.

Cold Storage

If a wallet is a digital address where you store your crypto. This is like a wallet that you keep a wallet in a safety box. Technically it means a wallet that is not connected to the internet, meaning it safer from hackers.

Bags

Refers to a coin or token you own. Usually used in a negative context as something you are stuck owning if the price has gone down or there is no market to sell it.

Farming

Using existing coins/tokens to generate a yield by lending them to smart contracts. Depending on where you lend them, you will be taking on different risks. Generally speaking the higher the yield, the riskier it is.

Shitcoin or Altcoin

General term for any coins that are not Bitcoin or Ethereum. Not all of them are “shit”, but many are. Just a broad category.

Moon

The price skyrocketing, sometimes refers to a 100x gain in the price. Moons are rare, but everyone can dream.

DEX

“Decentralized Exchange”, these are cryptocurrency exchanges that are non-custodial (meaning you don’t need to deposit). They allow you trade to between coins directly from your wallet.

Ape

No not the primate, but the act of investing in something quickly and with no research.

Liquidity Mining

This is where projects reward early adopters and users of their product with their token. There are many versions of this, but the general goal is to give the right actors control of the tokens.

Staking

The act of voluntarily locking up your tokens (you cannot sell). You do this to be able to do something, like vote on proposals of a token. Typically to incentivize staking, people who stake (stakers) are rewarded with fees or more tokens.