Crypto Basics

Sometimes it seems the crypto world adopts specialized jargon just to be opaque - but it doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s a quick definition of the word “altcoin” and how the term came to be created in crypto’s early days.

Bitcoin miners experience halving once every four years. Here’s a quick look at how halving affects the BTC community and the implications for investors. (Spoiler: If you’re not a Bitcoin miner, you probably needn’t care.)

A seed phrase is a sequence of words that can be converted easily into a long number. In the crypto world, seed phrases represent an alternative to long numeric cryptographic keys, which are virtually impossible to remember.

Stablecoins were invented to deliver most of the benefits of cryptocurrencies – without the risky volatility. Here is an in-depth look at three coins and an analysis of how stablecoins might fit into your crypto portfolio.

Everybody's talking about Cardano, a third-generation Proof of Stake blockchain that addresses the scalability issues that afflict Ethereum and other second-generation blockchains. Our ultimate guide shows you what's behind the buzz.

Smart contracts are neither contracts nor particularly smart. They're just simple programs that are stored on the blockchain. Smart contracts are key to the development of decentralized applications based on cryptocurrencies.

Let’s say you’re shopping for shoes. On Thursday, you see exactly the pair you have been looking for. The price is 50 euros. You return to the shop after work to buy them, only to find the price is now 100 bucks. What gives?

Modern cryptocurrencies run on blockchains, open ledgers made from blocks of transaction data. Funds are secure because the data blocks containing transaction data are cryptographically validated before they are added to the blockchain.

It is reasonable to think of your crypto wallet as a safe that holds your crypto funds. There’s nothing wrong with envisioning it that way. But the technical reality is quite a bit more interesting, in an admittedly nerdy way.

You know a topic is trending when it lands in the Wall Street Journal. The business press has begun covering DEXs, the attention-getting services that promise to give users and investors more control over their crypto funds.

1inch is an innovative DEX aggregator that searches a handful of DEXs and thousands of liquidity providers to find the best deal on a trade you want to make. It works like those websites that help you find the best deal on a car loan or airplane ticket.

Cryptocurrency sites like Kriptomat tend to use the terms “coin” and “token” interchangeably, but in fact, there is a simple technical difference. Once you know it, you'll be able to speak authoritatively like a crypto insider!