The Cardano Glossary

If more than half the computer power or mining hash rate on a network is run by a single person or a single group of people, then a 51% attack is in operation.

The accumulation/distribution indicator determines the supply and demand level of a stock/asset/cryptocurrency by multiplying the closing price of a specific period with volume.

Algorithmic Contract Types Unified Standards. A taxonomy and standard for financial contracts.

digital currency of the Cardano blockchain. One ada = 1,000,000 lovelaces.

Adam Back is a world-renowned British cryptographer, cypherpunk and crypto industry figure from the United Kingdom.

A place where cryptocurrency can be sent to and from, in the form of a string of letters and numbers.

Adrestia is a collection of products which makes it easier to integrate with Cardano. It is made of several application programming interfaces (APIs), command-line interfaces (CLIs), and software development kits (SDKs). Alternatively, Adrestia may also refer to the team working on the project itself.

A marketing campaign that distributes a specific cryptocurrency or token to an audience.

A process or set of rules to be followed in problem-solving or calculation operations, usually by a computer.

The highest point (in price, in market capitalization) that a cryptocurrency has been in history. *see All-Time-Low (ATL).

The lowest point (in price, in market capitalization) that a cryptocurrency has been in history. *see All-Time-High (ATH).

As Bitcoin is the first cryptocurrency that captured the world’s imagination, all other coins were subsequently termed “altcoins,” as in “alternative coins.”

A person who trades cryptocurrencies alternative to Bitcoin.

Annual percentage yield (APY) is the rate of return gained over the course of a year on a specific investment. Compounding interest, which is computed on a regular basis and applied to the amount, is factored into the APY.

A set of international laws enacted to curtail criminal organizations or individuals laundering money through cryptocurrencies into real-world cash.

API stands for Application Programming Interface. It is a set of routines, protocols, and tools for building software applications. APIs specify how software components should interact, such as what data to use and what actions should be taken.

a digital item of property that holds value stored in the distributed ledger. An asset can represent security or utility tokens of fungible or non-fungible nature.

Asset-backed tokens are digital claims on a physical asset and are backed by that asset.

An automated market maker (AMM) is a system that provides liquidity to the exchange it operates in through automated trading.

a wallet that stores your initial testnet ada balance, copied from the mainnet via the balance snapshot. The stake from this wallet cannot be delegated but can be transferred to and delegated from a Rewards wallet.

The quantity of data capacity available for transactional activity on a network is known as bandwidth.

fourth phase of Cardano development in which performance improvements will be integrated.

Someone who believes that prices in a given market will decline over an extended period. Such a person might be referred to as “bearish.”

A technical standard for tokens on Binance Chain.

BEP-20 is a Binance Smart Chain token standard created with the intention of extending ERC-20.

A software pre-release stage where its access is offered to a set number of users & third-party software testers for testing it under real-world settings.

Byzantine fault tolerance (BFT), is a property in the system that ensures there is resistance to certain types of failures. A BFT system can continue to operate even if some nodes fail or malicious behavior occurs.

An automated teller machine (ATM or cashpoint) that allows the user to buy and sell Bitcoin.

A file containing information on transactions completed during a given time period. Blocks are the constituent parts of a blockchain.

An application enabling a user to view details of blocks on a given blockchain. Also known as a blockchain browser.

In blockchain technology, block size refers to the amount of data about transactions a single block in the chain can carry.

first 'bootstrap' phase of Cardano development.

Cardano is a blockchain platform for changemakers, innovators, and visionaries, with the tools and technologies required to create possibility for the many, as well as the few, and bring about positive global change.

A listing of all the terms you may need to know to understand the Cardano Blockchain, ADA and native tokens.

A multi-lingual, multi-feature & multi-device online website focused on the Cardano Ecosystem and aims to educate people about the Cardano Blockchain, the applications built on it and the native digital currencies launched.

The Catalyst app is a mobile application that helps Project Catalyst members view and vote on proposals for each funding round. The voting app is available both on iOS and Android.

contract for difference. Part of a wider group of trading products known as derivatives, they are a popular method of trading stocks, bonds, and commodities that allow you to speculate on the price.

a set of blocks that have been produced and are connected to another in consecutive order.

A challenge is a specific problem or focus area that aims to help improve the Cardano ecosystem. Challenges could range from attracting software developers, creating DApps, improving decision making or making improvement proposals to Cardano itself. Anyone can try to address a challenge in a funding round by submitting a proposal with their idea.

The three main phases in Project Catalyst are innovation, governance and execution. Each challenge will go through these phases with a subset of stages that take a challenge from idea to execution.

Challenge setting is a challenge where the community come up with proposals for what challenges should be set for future funds. Proposals for challenge setting will include the purpose of the suggested challenge and how it would help the ecosystem and the amount of funding that they suggest should be made available to solve the problem set our in their challenge setting proposal.

Challenge stages are a collection of milestones for a challenge where different members of Project Catalyst will perform tasks to move a challenge from idea towards execution. A list of the phases and stages of the funding process is listed here.

The action of coding is to write programming statements for a program.

A coin can refer to a cryptocurrency that can operate independently or to a single unit of such cryptocurrency.

Offline storage of cryptocurrencies, typically involving hardware non-custodial wallets, USBs, offline computers, or paper wallets.

A cryptocurrency wallet that is in cold storage, i.e. not connected to the internet.

A community advisor is someone who is familiar with the innovation platform, the challenge, and best practices for developing a proposal. They act to assist innovators in ensuring that their ideas are auditable, achievable, and impactful.

In cryptocurrency, a confirmation is a measure of how many blocks have actually passed since a transaction was added to a blockchain.

A cryptocurrency transaction is considered confirmed when it is included in a block on the blockchain. Each new block after the first one is an additional confirmation for that transaction.

Consensus is achieved when all participants of the network agree on the order and content of the blocks in the blockchain.