Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Dictionary

Terms commonly used in the world of blockchain and cryptocurrency

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Decentralized Autonomous Organizations

DAO is an abbreviation of ‘Decentralised Autonomous Organization’. This is basically an organisation that runs automatically on itself without any human interventions. The work is automatically excecuted through Smart contracts.

Other Important Terms

Smart Contract

A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol respectively, which is intended to automatically execute, control or document respectively legally relevant events and actions according to the terms of a contract, of an agreement or of a negotiation.

2 Factor Authentication (2FA)

2 Factor Authentication is a double layer security measure. Most crypto exchanges use it. In order to log in, you not only need to enter a password, but also a code that you receive from the Google authenticator for example.

Blockchain

Blockchain is most simply defined as a decentralized, distributed ledger technology that records the provenance of a digital asset.

51% Attack

A ‘51% attack’ refers to a possible attack on a blockchain by a group of ‘miners’, who hold more than 50% of the hashrate. In such a situation the ‘miners’ have the possibility to deliberately not confirm transactions or to issue transactions twice (double-spend).

Double Spending

With digital currency, there is a risk that the holder could make a copy of the digital token and send it to a merchant or another party while retaining the original.