Everything important to know about cryptocurrency. Dictionary of terms:
The field of digital money is full of words that are not always clear even to experienced traders. We explain what a beginner user needs to know to fit in any conversation about cryptocurrency.
To work in the field of digital money, it is necessary to know and understand many terms. The editorial team of 'RBC-Crypto' has prepared a list of the most important concepts and divided it into blocks: cryptocurrency, blockchain, mining, and trading.
Cryptocurrency
Altcoin — a term describing all digital assets that are alternatives to Bitcoin. The first altcoins appeared in 2011, which were Litecoin and Namecoin.
Bitcoin — the first cryptocurrency. It was released in 2009 by a person (or group of people) hiding under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. Currently, Bitcoin is the leader of the crypto market with a share of 59%.
Cryptocurrency is a digital asset and at the same time a payment system that uses cryptographic functions to encrypt records. The underlying technology of cryptocurrencies is distributed ledger technology — blockchain. Cryptocurrency is considered an alternative to fiat money, which is issued by the state.
Stablecoin — a token with a fixed rate. Most often, the quotes of such coins are pegged to the dollar. There are other options as well. For example, the company Tether issued the stablecoin XAUT, which is worth as much as one troy ounce of gold.
Token — a digital asset that is related to a specific project and is issued on the basis of a cryptocurrency. For example, on the Ethereum blockchain platform, you can create ERC20 standard tokens, among which is the well-known stablecoin USDT.
Shitcoin is a coin issued by scammers. It is also used to refer to unpromising cryptocurrencies.
Ether, Ethereum — the leading altcoin by market capitalization. It was released by developer Vitalik Buterin in 2015.