Web3, defined plainly.

Free distribution of tokens to a targeted set of wallet addresses.

A trading protocol that uses a mathematical formula instead of an order book to price assets.

A protocol that moves assets or messages between two blockchains.

A program that pays security researchers for disclosing vulnerabilities responsibly.

Protocol revenue used to repurchase native tokens from the market and destroy them.

A trading venue operated by a single company that custodies user funds.

The number of tokens currently in public circulation, excluding locked or unmined supply.

An initial period during which no vested tokens are released.

The mechanism by which a blockchain agrees on the canonical state across all nodes.

An organization governed by token-holder voting on smart-contract-executed proposals.

Assigning your token-voting rights to another address that votes on your behalf.

When a stablecoin trades meaningfully away from its target value.

A trading venue that runs on-chain, without a central operator holding user funds.

The rate at which new tokens enter circulation, typically as rewards to users.

A decentralized naming system that maps human-readable names to Ethereum addresses.

The runtime environment for smart contracts on Ethereum and EVM-compatible chains.

Unauthorized use of a smart contract vulnerability to drain funds or manipulate behavior.

A project's market cap calculated as if every token were already in circulation.

An uncollateralized loan that must be borrowed and repaid in a single transaction.

Mathematical proof that a contract's behavior matches its specification.

The unit of computational work required to execute a transaction, paid for in the chain's native token.

The process by which decisions about a protocol get made and executed.

The opportunity cost an AMM liquidity provider incurs when pooled token prices diverge.

A peer-to-peer protocol for storing and retrieving files by content hash.

The base blockchain - Ethereum, Bitcoin, Solana - that settles transactions independently.

A blockchain that derives its security from an underlying L1 it commits transactions to.

A smart contract holding pairs of tokens that traders swap against.

A tradeable token representing a staked position, redeemable for the underlying asset.

A token whose value is driven by social narrative and speculation rather than utility.

A cryptographic proof that a piece of data is part of a larger dataset, without revealing the rest.

Profit that can be captured by reordering, including, or excluding transactions in a block.

A wallet or contract requiring multiple signatures to execute a transaction.

A token representing ownership of a unique asset, typically art, collectibles, or membership.

A service that brings off-chain data (prices, events) onto a blockchain for smart contracts to consume.

The minimum participation level required for a governance vote to be valid.

Re-using staked ETH as security for additional services beyond the base chain.

An L2 that bundles many transactions and commits their results to an L1.

When a project's team drains liquidity or funds and disappears, typically right after a token launch.

Confiscation of staked tokens as penalty for validator misbehavior.

Code deployed on a blockchain that executes automatically when called.

A structured review of a deployed contract's code for vulnerabilities, by a third-party firm.

A token designed to maintain a fixed value, typically pegged to the US dollar.

Locking tokens in a protocol to secure the network or earn yield.

A delay mechanism that forces a waiting period between proposing and executing changes.

The economic design of a token: supply, distribution, vesting, utility, and incentives.

Funds held by a protocol or DAO for operations, grants, and reserves.

The total dollar value of assets deposited in a protocol.

A smart contract whose logic can be changed after deployment via a proxy pattern.

A schedule restricting when tokens can be sold or transferred, typically for team and investors.

Software or hardware that manages your private keys and lets you sign transactions.

The practice of moving capital across DeFi protocols to maximize token rewards.

A cryptographic proof that a statement is true without revealing why it's true.