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Bitcoin Glossary

Bitcoin can be confusing. Like many new technologies, Bitcoin has its own jargon that makes it difficult for outsiders to understand. It may be daunting for a new comer to understand the most rudimentary of articles in this space without a firm grasp of the requisite vernacular. Fortunately, OpenNode is here to help with this Bitcoin Glossary.

Many glossaries out there take an overly technical approach to the definitions found therein. Our goal is to create a robust glossary that does not overcomplicate things and uses as much simple language as possible. We hope you find our definitions to be clear, concise, and helpful.

If there are any words you’d like to see definitions for, be sure to let us know on Twitter @opennodeco using the hashtag #BitcoinGlossary.

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51% attack

A


Altcoin

API

ASIC

Atomic Swap

B


Bear Market

Bidirectional channel

Bitcoin

Bitcoin Address

Bitcoin Days Destroyed

Bitcoin ATM

Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP)

Bitcoin Wallet

Block

Blockchain

Block Explorer

Block Header

Block Height

Block Time

Block Reward

BOLT

Bull Market

C


Chargeback / Chargeback Fraud

C-Lightning

Closing Transaction

Cold Storage

Confirmation

Consensus

Controlled Supply

Cryptocurrency

Cryptographic Hash Function

Custodial

D


Decentralized

Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO)

Difficulty

Difficulty Adjustment

Dust Limit

E


Eclair

Encryption

Encumbrance

ERC-20

Exhausted

Exchange

F


Fiat Currency

Fork

Full Node

Funding Transaction

G


Genesis Block

H


Halvening (Halving)

Hash

HTLC

Hashlock

Hash Power/Hash Rate

HODL

Hot Storage

Hyperbitcoinization

I


Immutable

Intermediary

L


LND

Lightning Network

M


Market Capitalization

Medium of Exchange

Mempool

Merkle Root

Merkle Tree

Miner

Mining

Mining Fee

Mining Pool

Multi-Signature Address

N


Network

Node

Nonce

Non-Custodial

O


Off-chain

Onion Routing

On-chain

P


Private Key

Proof of Work

Public Key

Q


QR Code

S


Satoshi

Second Layer

Segregated Witness (SegWit)

SHA-256

Smart Contract

Stablecoin

Store of Value

Submarine Swap

Sub-satoshi Payments

Sybil Attack

Single-funded channel

T


Target

Timelock

Timestamp

Transaction Fee

U


Unit of Account

UTXO

W


Watchtower

Wen Moon

Wumbo