Crypto glossary for Australians

A hostile takeover where one party controls a majority of a network's hash rate or stake.

The first and largest cryptocurrency by market cap, created in 2009 by the pseudonymous Satoshi Nakamoto.

A distributed, append-only ledger where transactions are grouped into cryptographically linked blocks.

A protocol that moves assets between different blockchains.

A cryptocurrency with its own native blockchain, like BTC or ETH.

The transaction fee paid to validators on networks like Ethereum, denominated in gwei.

A small denomination of Ether (1 ETH = 1,000,000,000 gwei) used to price gas fees.

A scheduled Bitcoin event roughly every four years that cuts the new-coin reward in half.

Total computing power securing a proof-of-work network like Bitcoin.

A base blockchain like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana that settles its own transactions.

A scaling network built on top of a Layer 1, processing transactions faster and cheaper (e.g. Arbitrum).

The waiting area for unconfirmed transactions before miners or validators include them.

The proof-of-work process of solving puzzles to add new blocks and earn coin rewards.

Non-Fungible Token — a unique on-chain token representing ownership of a specific digital or physical item.

A computer running blockchain software, validating and relaying transactions.

A service that feeds external data (like prices) into smart contracts. Chainlink is the best-known.

A consensus mechanism where validators stake coins instead of burning electricity. Used by Ethereum.

A consensus mechanism where miners compete with computing power. Used by Bitcoin.

The smallest unit of Bitcoin: 1 BTC = 100,000,000 sats.

Self-executing code on a blockchain that runs when conditions are met.

A cryptocurrency issued on top of an existing blockchain (often Ethereum) rather than its own chain.

A network participant in a proof-of-stake system who proposes and confirms blocks.

A token that represents another asset 1:1 on a different chain (e.g. WBTC on Ethereum).