Glossary

51% Attack

When more than 50% of the miners in a blockchain launch an attack on the rest of the nodes/users to attempt to steal assets or double spend.

Address

The address is the identifier where a transaction is sent. The address is derived from a user’s public key. The public key is derived from the private key by asymmetric key cryptography. In Ethereum, the public key is 512 bits or 128 hexadecimal characters. The public key is hashed (i.e., uniquely represented) with a Keccak-256 algorithm, which transforms it into 256 bits or 64 hexadecimal characters. The last 40 hexadecimal characters are the public key. The public key usually carries the prefix “0x.” Also known as public address. Note: Keccak-256 does not follow the FIPS-202 based standard (a.k.a SHA-3).

Airdrop

Free distribution of tokens, nfts and other rewards that are distributed to user's wallets based on predetermined criteria.

Altcoins

An abbreviation of “Bitcoin alternative”. Currently, the majority of altcoins are forks of Bitcoin with usually minor changes to the proof of work (POW) algorithm of the Bitcoin blockchain. The most prominent altcoin is Litecoin. Litecoin introduces changes to the original Bitcoin protocol such as decreased block generation time, increased maximum number of coins and different hashing algorithm

AML

Anti-Money Laundering

A regulation designed to detect and report suspicious activity related to illegally concealing the origins of money.

AMM

Automated Market Maker

A type of decentralized exchange (DEX) protocol that relies on a mathematical formula to price assets. Instead of using an order book like a traditional exchange, assets are priced according to a pricing algorithm. This formula can vary with each protocol.

API

Application Programming Interface

An interface between computers or programs that allows information to pass between them. All of Blocknative's mempool monitoring functionality is available via APIs.

Arena

The Arenas are virtual venues that can be owned by individuals, creators, guilds, and brands and are found on the metaverse. Arenas are the foundations for hosting fantasy and building communitys.

BTC

BTC is a cryptocurrency invented in 2008 by an unknown person or group of people using the name Satoshi Nakamoto. The currency began use in 2009 when its implementation was released as open-source software.

Blockchain

A decentralized ledger invented in 1991 by Haber and Stornetta. Every node in the ledger has a copy. The ledger can be added to through consensus protocol, but the ledger’s history is immutable (can't be changed) and is visible to anyone.

Crypto-Assets

"Crypto-assets" is the umbrella term for all digital assets on the blockchain. They are intangible assets that are created, traded, and stored in a digital format. We refer to player cards, avatars and cosmetics as Assets.

Cryptocurrencies

Decentralized digital currency, based on Blockchain Technology, that can be used to buy goods or services.

DAO

Decentralized autonomous organization.

An algorithmic organization that has a set of rules encoded in a smart contract that stipulates who can execute what behavior or upgrade. A DAO commonly includes a governance token.

Dapp

Decentralized application.

Peer-to-peer, permissionless, censorship resistant applications. Anyone can use them, and no central organization controls them.

Decentralized

The process by which buyers and sellers of assets, (e.g. NFTs), are able to deal directly with each other for transactions rather than with a centralized organization (i.e. removing the "middle person")

DeFi

Decentralized Finance

An open financial system that doesn’t rely on centralized authorities or intermediaries like banks to conduct financial activities permissionless like trading, borrowing, lending, and investing. Blocknative's APIs allow DeFi users to monitor popular DeFi Dapps like Uniswap (Ethereum) and Honeyswap (xDai).

DEX

Decentralized Exchange

This type of crypto exchange enables users to transact in a direct peer-to-peer manner without any intermediary. The biggest DEX on Binance Smart Chain is Pancakeswap, which traders can monitor using Blocknative.

EIP

Ethereum Improvement Proposal

A technical suggestion for improving things related to the Ethereum network, such as the protocol, clients, or standards for specific types of contracts

Equity Token

A type of cryptocurrency that represents ownership of an underlying asset or a pool of assets. Typically pegged to a company, brand or community.

ERC-20

Ethereum Request for Comments (ERC)

Fungible tokens are identical in utility and functionality. The US dollar is fungible currency in that all $20 bills are identical in value and 20 $1 bills are equal to the $20 bill.

ERC-721

Non-Fungible tokens are unique and are often used for collectibles or specific assets, such as a loan.

ERC-1155

Multi-token model in which a contract can hold balances of a number of tokens, either fungible or non-fungible.

Ethereum

A decentralized, open-source blockchain network that was launched in 2015 by its founder, Vitalik Buterin. Ethereum is the leading smart contract-enabled blockchain in the world, and it's native token, ETH, is the 2nd largest digital asset by market cap. Blocknative's APIs support the Ethereum blockchain and Ethereum test net including Ropsten, Rinkeby, Goerli, and Kovan.

Ethereum 2.0

Deprecated term that was used to describe the consensus layer of Ethereum as part of it's migration from a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake consensus. Additionally, ETH 1.0 is now referred to as the "execution layer."

F2P (Free-to-Play)

Games or contests that are free to enter, that rewards the users with tokens, experience points and/or NFTs.

Faucet

A smart contract that mints “test ETH” (a valueless version of Ethereum’s cryptocurrency) for use on a Testnet.

Gas

Gas Price, Gas Fee

A fee required to execute a transaction on the blockchain in accordance to the smart contract. A unit of measurement that represents the computational effort required to complete a transaction. How much a user spends to complete a transaction is determined by the total amount of gas multiplied by the gas price. Blocknative can help builders and traders estimate their gas cost and troubleshoot gas-related issues in their Dapps via the Gas Platform API.

Governance Token

The right of an owner to vote on changes to the protocol. Examples include the MakerDAO MKR token and the Compound COMP token.

Gwei

The smallest denomination of ETH that is equivalent to 1/1,000,000,000 of 1 ETH (1 ETH = 1,000,000,000 Gwei).

Hashrate

A way to measure the amount of computing power and security on a blockchain, as well as the efficiency of any miner or piece of mining equipment; technically, the rate at which a blockchain miner can create new hashes per second or do the calculations necessary to win the cryptocurrency being minted by the software

Howey Test

Test used by the US Securities and Exchange Commission to determine whether an investment contract is a securities offering

ICO

Initial Coin Offering

A crowd sale of new tokens, usually in exchange for cryptocurrency, to fund the development of a new blockchain and to distribute the tokens to a large population in order to seed the network with users incentivized to bring more people to the network and thereby see the value of their tokens increase

IDO

Initial DeFi Offering

A method of setting an initial exchange rate for a new token. A user can be the first liquidity provider on a pair, such as, for example, the new token and a stable coin such as USDC. Essentially, the user establishes an artificial floor for the price of the new token.

KYC

Know Your Customer

A provision of US regulation common to financial services regulation requiring that users must identify themselves. This regulation has led to geoblocking of US customers from certain DEX functionalities.

Layer 1

L1 refers to the main blockchain in a multi-level blockchain network. For example, Ethereum, Fantom and the Bitcoin blockchain are all layer one blockchains. Many layer two blockchain offload resource-intense transactions to their separate blockchain, while continuing to use Ethereum's or Bitcoin's layer one blockchain for security purposes. Blocknative's blockchain developer tools support Ethereum, Fantom, Bitcoin, Polygon, and xDai.

Layer 2

L2 refers to a secondary framework or protocol that is built on top of an existing, layer one blockchain. Layer 2 blockchains typically improve transaction speeds and cost efficiency. As layer two's continue to scale, mempool data gives builders looking to migrate or build new Dapps the tools to create the best user experiences. Blocknative offers mempool monitoring APIs for Polygon, a popular L2 blockchain.

LP

Liquidity Provider

A user that earns a return by depositing assets into a pool or a smart contract.

Marketplace

The Marketplace is a place where people can buy, sell and trade any eligible NFTs to other community members.

Metarena

In the same way a sports stadium will host concerts, conferences and events, owners can access a robust marketplace of digital experiences built exclusively for Metarenas.

From watching esports, with your friends to competing in weekly missions and achievements across your favorite video games, to just hanging out with your community in your newly acquired avatar.

Equip and activate a range of gamified add-ons and integrations that engage your community and increase token rewards.

Metaverse

Seen as the "next phase of the internet" the metaverse is an online world that merges the physical world with XR, AR, and VR to revolutionize the way that society works, interacts, and lives online.

Mint

An action that increases the supply of tokens and is the opposite of burn. Minting often occurs when a user enters a pool and acquires an ownership share. Minting and burning are essential parts of non collateralized stablecoin models (i.e., when stablecoin gets too expensive more are minted, which increases supply and reduces prices). Minting is also a means to reward user behavior. You mint NFTs as well as cryptocurrency created in many Layer 2 solutions.

Nonce

Number Only Once

A number associated with Ethereum transactions that increases by one with every transaction, and a value that can only be used once. A common issue that Blocknative's pre-chain monitoring API solves is identifying nonce gaps which create stuck transactions prevent wallets from completing new transactions.

NFT

Non-fungible Token

A digital asset based on Ethereum's ERC-721 token standard that can be used to represent ownership of a variety of digital assets including art, photography, music, and more. Developers can use Blocknative for NFTs to provide users with transaction notifications, gas estimations, and confidence buying and selling NFTs.

PFP

Profile Picture

Many NFT projects have been built around PFPs - examples include World of Women, CryptoPunks, BAYC, Cool Cats etc.

Player Cards

Player Cards are collectible NFT's that are used to compete in fantasy experiences hosted by Metarenas.

Private Key

A private key is essentially a password — typically a set of words — that allows you to access your wallet and manage your crypto assets. You should never share your private key.

Public Key

A public key is similar to an email address or username and will typically be your wallet address. Unlike your private key, you share your public key with others, to allow you to send or receive tokens and nfts.

Reserve List

Reserve List (formerly whitelist) has multiple meanings in a blockchain context. First, it may refer to a list compiled by a blockchain start-up to assess the legitimacy of potential investors — using identity verification and intended investment amounts — that want to participate in an upcoming funding round. Second, it may refer to when cryptocurrency exchanges or wallets ask a user to verify the authenticity of a withdrawal address by “whitelisting” the address. This is done to prevent the user from becoming a victim of fraudulent withdrawals from their wallet or exchange account by malicious actors.

Source: Gemini

Smart Contract

Smart contracts are self-executing contracts with the contract terms between buyer and seller directly written into lines of code. They run on the blockchain, so they are stored on a public database and cannot be changed. The transactions in a smart contract are processed by the blockchain, which means they can be sent automatically without a third party.

Our smart contracts are used to mint and configure unique NFTs as well as tokens for our creators.

Staking

Staking is the process through which a blockchain network user 'stakes' or locks their cryptocurrency assets on a network as part of the consensus mechanism, thus ensuring the security and functionality of the chain. Staked assets are usually held in a validator node or crypto wallet, and in order to encourage staking most projects reward the holders of staked tokens with annualized financial returns, which are typically paid out on a regular basis. Staking is a core feature of Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain protocols, and each blockchain project which incorporates a staking feature has its own policies for staking requirements and withdrawal restrictions.

Staked Incentive

A token balance held by a smart contract whose purpose is to influence user behavior. A staking reward is designed to encourage positive behavior by giving the user a bonus in their token balance based on the stake size.

Utility Token

A token that utilizes some functionality of a smart contract system or that has an intrinsic value defined by its respective smart contract system.

Wallet

A device or service that stores users' public and private keys, allowing them to interact with various blockchains and to send and receive crypto assets. Wallets can be digital (software) or physical (hardware), hot (connected to the internet) or cold (disconnected from the internet), custodial (a trusted third party has control of a user’s private keys) or non-custodial (only the user controls their private keys).

Web 1.0

Web 1.0 was initially launched in the early 1990s when the internet first began to enjoy mainstream adoption. Web 1.0 was primarily a static, read-only infrastructure which generally lacked the more expanded functionalities of Web 2.0. Web 1.0’s infrastructure was made up of many companies that were mostly unable to maintain their monopoly of the internet because they were replaced by more interactive, capable systems that became more widespread in the early 2000s. Today, many see a new evolution of the internet dawning, as blockchain systems seek to foster a more sophisticated, democratic, user-centric version of the internet: Web 3.0.

Source: Gemini

Web 2.0

The realization of Web 2.0 began in the early 2000’s. This second wave of internet innovation is characterized by its read-write and interactive design model. Platforms such as Amazon, Facebook, Airbnb, Alibaba, and Twitter led the charge in Web 2.0 development, offering dynamic and multi-functional application experiences across all our devices. However, many criticize Web 2.0 for being too centralized, and for paving a path toward excessive focus on profit, unreasonable advertising, mass surveillance, decreased privacy, and widespread data theft. In response, the Web 3.0 movement seeks to leverage blockchain technology to flip the Web 2.0 model on its head and link programs directly with each other.

Source: Gemini

Web 3.0

The term Web 3.0 refers to a vision of the third generation of computing, which anticipates that technologies like blockchain will decentralize the internet and disintermediate Web 2.0 companies like Facebook, Amazon, LinkedIn, and Apple to enable the online exchange of value, and allow users to own their data. Web 3.0 is designed to benefit all participants using a peer-to-peer (P2P) model for websites, applications, and the internet as a whole. It will focus in many ways, on producing a machine-readable data-driven semantic web. Many believe blockchain and crypto are central to the realization of the open, public, censorship-resistant, borderless, free internet: Web 3.0.

Source: Gemini

Whitepaper

A report-style document that explains a complex issue in relation to a specific industry or field, and discusses how an enterprise solves that problem. Whitepapers typically introduce a business model and development plan. In the context of blockchain, a whitepaper is one of the first documents that is created after a project has a working product and funding. It also acts as a pitch to new investors to help the company further their funding process. For blockchain-specific whitepapers, the technical architecture, token economics, team, and other data are also commonly outlined.

Source: Gemini