The most comprehensive crypto glossary for Intermediate level
The most comprehensive crypto glossary out there.
Spot market
A public financial market in which the trades are immediately settled and delivered. Spot markets arise when sellers and buyers come together to exchange cryptocurrency. The spot market is unique as you can trade without margin or leverage.
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Level: Intermediate
Source code
Source code is a language or sequence of words, numbers, letters, and symbols that a computer programmer uses. Basically, source code is the basic state of the software at the time it was written. Bitcoin and most of the blockchains have open-source nature, meaning the code is publicly accessible.
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Level: Intermediate
Solo mining
A method to mine crypto without joining the mining pool. The miner attempts to generate new blocks on his own, with the proceeds from the block reward and transaction fees going entirely to himself.
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Level: Intermediate
Soft peg
A type of exchange rate regime applied to a currency to keep its value stable against a reserve currency or a basket of currencies. Soft-pegged currencies are halfway between stablecoins and currencies with floating exchange rates.
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Level: Intermediate
Soft fork
A software update that is backward compatible with older versions. This means that members who have not updated to the new software will still be able to participate in the validation of the transactions. However, previously confirmed blocks/transactions and all transactions performed on the old blockchain version are not valid in the new network. This can result in a potential divider in the blockchain, as the old software still generates blocks.
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Level: Intermediate
Sock puppet
A fraudulent account used to lure investors into fake investment services. They are typically used for block evasion, creating false majority opinions, vote stacking, and other similar pursuits.
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Level: Intermediate
Social token
A cryptocurrency built around a specific brand, community, or individual. Social tokens represent social media influencers and other popular figures. Typically, they provide their owners with some kind of enhanced access to the brand, community, or the person they represent - a line of communication, exclusive products, access to events, or management rights.
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Level: Intermediate
Social finance (SoFi)
A category of financial services that seeks to leverage private capital to address issues in areas of social and environmental needs.
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Level: Intermediate
Social engineering
A wide range of malicious techniques that exploit psychological factors such as fear, trust, panic, lack of information, and confusion to influence the victim of the scam. What makes social engineering especially dangerous is that it is based on human error, not software and operating system vulnerabilities. Errors made by legitimate users are much less predictable, making them harder to detect and prevent than a malware-based intrusion.
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Level: Intermediate
Sniper software
Software that places a bid on an online auction just seconds before the scheduled close of bidding.
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Level: Intermediate
SneakerNet
A slang term for the transfer of data and electronic files between computers via removable media (such as hard drives, flash drives, and optical disks).
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Level: Intermediate
Smishing
A variant of a phishing attack using deceptive SMS or text messages. Text messages involved in a smishing attack often contain malicious links, fraudulent customer support, or a reputable phone number designed to allow a target to click or call.
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Level: Intermediate
Smart contract
A computer program or transaction protocol that is designed to automatically execute, control, or document significant events and actions in accordance with the terms of a contract or agreement. Smart contracts are used to exchange currencies, shear, property, or anything that has value. It also can be a middleman between the sellers and buyers.
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Level: Intermediate
Slashing condition
A mechanism built into the Proof of Stake consensus to discourage improper validator behavior. The two main misbehaviors that pruning entails are downtime and double-signature. A slashing condition is one that causes the validator’s deposit to be destroyed when they trigger it.
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Level: Intermediate
Short squeeze
An unusual condition causes rapidly rising prices in the cryptocurrency market. For a short squeeze to occur, an asset must have an unusual degree of short sellers holding positions in it.
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Level: Intermediate