BTC -
GLOSSARY/ 104 TERMS

Tech Glossary

Plain-language definitions for AI agents, crypto, development, networking, security, and market terms. 100+ terms across 6 categories, from MCP and RAG to rollups, ETags, and zero-trust. Search by name or browse by category.

CRYPTOCURRENCY
BitcoinThe first decentralized cryptocurrency, running on a proof-of-work blockchain since 2009.
BlockchainA distributed ledger that records transactions across many computers in tamper-resistant blocks.
MempoolThe waiting room for unconfirmed transactions before they are added to a block.
HashrateThe total computational power being used to mine and secure a blockchain network.
Fear and Greed IndexA sentiment indicator that scores crypto market emotion from 0 (extreme fear) to 100 (extreme greed).
HalvingA scheduled event that cuts Bitcoin's block reward in half roughly every four years.
BTC DominanceBitcoin's share of the total cryptocurrency market cap, used as a rotation signal.
Bitcoin ETFExchange-traded fund that holds Bitcoin and trades on traditional stock exchanges.
UTXOUnspent Transaction Output: the data structure Bitcoin uses to track ownership.
Taproot2021 Bitcoin upgrade improving privacy, efficiency, and smart contract flexibility.
Gas FeesTransaction fees paid to validators on networks like Ethereum for processing operations.
Mining PoolA group of miners who combine computational resources and share block rewards proportionally.
SatoshiThe smallest unit of Bitcoin, equal to 0.00000001 BTC, named after Bitcoin's creator.
Lightning NetworkA layer-2 payment protocol that enables fast, low-cost Bitcoin transactions off-chain.
DeFiDecentralized finance: financial services built on blockchain without traditional intermediaries.
StablecoinA cryptocurrency pegged to a stable asset like the US dollar to reduce price volatility.
Cold StorageKeeping cryptocurrency private keys completely offline to protect against hacking.
Smart ContractSelf-executing code deployed on a blockchain that runs automatically when conditions are met.
WhaleAn individual or entity holding a large enough amount of cryptocurrency to move market prices.
Layer 2 (L2)A blockchain built on top of another (typically Ethereum) that handles transactions off the main chain to scale throughput and cut fees.
RollupA Layer 2 design that bundles many transactions and posts a compressed summary plus proof back to Layer 1.
Optimistic RollupA rollup that assumes batches are valid and uses a 7-day fraud-proof window to catch invalid state.
ZK RollupA rollup that posts a cryptographic validity proof with every batch, eliminating the optimistic-rollup challenge window.
Crypto BridgeA protocol that moves assets between blockchains by locking on one side and minting an equivalent on the other.
Blockchain OracleA service that posts off-chain data on-chain so smart contracts can react to real-world events.
StakingLocking up cryptocurrency to participate in proof-of-stake consensus or earn protocol rewards.
ValidatorA node operator on a proof-of-stake blockchain that proposes and attests to blocks for staking rewards.
Liquidity PoolA smart contract holding two tokens that traders can swap between, with prices set by a formula.
Automated Market MakerAn exchange that uses a liquidity pool and a pricing formula instead of an order book.
SlippageThe difference between an expected trade price and the actual execution price, especially on AMMs.
Seed PhraseA 12 or 24-word mnemonic that encodes a wallet's master key and grants full control of the funds.
DEVELOPMENT
APIApplication Programming Interface: a set of rules that lets software applications communicate with each other.
RESTRepresentational State Transfer: an architectural style for building web APIs using standard HTTP methods.
GraphQLA query language for APIs that lets clients request exactly the data they need in a single call.
JSONJavaScript Object Notation: a lightweight text format for storing and transmitting structured data.
YAMLA human-readable data serialization format often used for configuration files.
Base64An encoding scheme that converts binary data into ASCII text for safe transmission over text-only channels.
JWTJSON Web Token: a compact, self-contained token used for authentication and secure data exchange.
OAuthAn authorization framework that lets apps access user data from third-party services without sharing passwords.
RegexRegular expressions: a pattern-matching language for searching and manipulating text strings.
UUIDUniversally Unique Identifier: a 128-bit label used to identify resources without a central registry.
Hash FunctionA mathematical function that converts input data into a fixed-size string of characters, used for verification.
HTTP Status CodeA three-digit number returned by a server to indicate the result of a client's request.
CORSCross-Origin Resource Sharing: a browser security mechanism controlling which domains can access an API.
WebSocketA protocol that enables persistent two-way communication between a browser and a server.
API Rate LimitingThrottling the number of API requests a client can make within a given time window.
WebAssembly (Wasm)A binary instruction format that runs in browsers and servers at near-native speed, supporting many languages.
Edge ComputingRunning application code at points of presence close to users instead of in a centralized data center.
ServerlessA cloud model where you write functions and the provider handles all server provisioning, scaling, and lifecycle.
Kubernetes (k8s)An open-source platform for orchestrating containerized applications across clusters of machines.
WebhookAn HTTP callback where one service POSTs an event to a URL hosted by another, the inverse of polling.
gRPCA high-performance RPC framework using HTTP/2 and Protocol Buffers for typed services and binary serialization.
Semantic Versioning (SemVer)A versioning scheme where MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH numbers signal breaking changes, features, and fixes.
IdempotentAn operation that produces the same result no matter how many times it is performed, critical for safe retries.
ETagAn HTTP header that uniquely identifies a resource version, used for conditional requests and cache validation.
MonorepoA single repository holding multiple projects, services, or packages with shared tooling and dependencies.
NETWORKING
DNSDomain Name System: the internet's phonebook that translates domain names into IP addresses.
SSL/TLSEncryption protocols that secure data in transit between a browser and a server (the lock icon).
CDNContent Delivery Network: a global network of servers that delivers cached content from the closest location.
IP AddressA numerical label assigned to every device on a network, used for routing data packets.
PortA numbered endpoint on a networked device that directs traffic to specific services or applications.
SECURITY
EncryptionThe process of converting readable data into an unreadable format that can only be decoded with a key.
Two-Factor AuthenticationA login method requiring two different forms of verification, such as a password plus a phone code.
PhishingA social engineering attack that tricks people into revealing passwords, keys, or sensitive data.
Zero-DayA software vulnerability that is exploited before the vendor knows about it or has released a patch.
CSRFCross-Site Request Forgery: an attack that tricks a user's browser into making unwanted requests.
Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)A vulnerability where attacker-supplied scripts run in another user's browser with the privileges of the targeted site.
SQL InjectionA vulnerability where untrusted input becomes part of a SQL query, letting attackers read or modify the database.
DDoS AttackA Distributed Denial of Service attack that floods a target from many sources to make it unavailable to real users.
Mutual TLS (mTLS)TLS where both client and server present and verify certificates, used for service-to-service authentication.
Zero TrustA security model where every request is authenticated and authorized regardless of network location.
AI & MACHINE LEARNING
Large Language ModelAn AI system trained on massive text datasets that can generate, summarize, and reason about language.
AI AgentAn autonomous AI system that can take actions, use tools, and complete multi-step tasks on its own.
EmbeddingsNumerical vector representations of text, images, or data that capture semantic meaning for AI models.
llms.txtA standardized file that websites publish to help AI agents discover and understand their content and APIs.
Prompt EngineeringThe practice of crafting inputs to large language models to get more accurate, useful outputs.
Model Context Protocol (MCP)An open standard for AI agents to discover and call tools, data sources, and prompts from any compatible server.
Agent-to-Agent (A2A)A protocol for autonomous agents to delegate tasks to each other across vendor boundaries.
Function CallingA model capability to output structured JSON conforming to developer-defined function signatures, used to invoke external tools.
Tool UseThe umbrella term for an LLM invoking external functions, APIs, or systems to extend its capabilities beyond text.
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)Grounding LLM responses by retrieving relevant documents from a knowledge base and including them in the prompt.
Vector DatabaseA database optimized for storing and similarity-searching high-dimensional vectors, the backbone of semantic search and RAG.
Context WindowThe maximum number of tokens a language model can process at once, including prompt, history, and response.
Prompt InjectionAttacks where untrusted input causes a language model to ignore instructions and follow attacker-supplied directives instead.
Token (LLM)The atomic subword unit a language model uses to read and generate text, roughly 0.75 English words per token.
InferenceThe act of running a trained model to produce predictions, as opposed to training it.
Fine-TuningTraining a pre-existing language model on new data to specialize behavior for a specific domain or task.
Chain-of-Thought (CoT)A prompting technique that asks language models to reason step-by-step before answering, dramatically improving accuracy.
Agent LoopThe core control flow of an AI agent: observe, decide, act, repeat until done or a stop condition fires.
ReAct (Reason + Act)An agent design pattern that interleaves reasoning steps with actions for better multi-step planning.
Hallucination (LLM)When a language model confidently outputs incorrect or fabricated information, often presented as fact.
Zero-Shot LearningA model performing a task with only a description, no examples, in the prompt.
Few-Shot LearningIncluding a small number of input/output examples in the prompt to demonstrate the desired task format and style.
AI AlignmentThe technical and research effort to make AI systems behave according to human intentions, especially as they grow more capable.
Mixture of Experts (MoE)A neural architecture where only a fraction of parameters activate per input, enabling huge models at modest inference cost.
Context CachingA pricing feature where repeated prompt prefixes are stored on the inference server, cutting cost and latency.
MARKETS
Prediction MarketA platform where users trade contracts on the outcome of real-world events, revealing crowd probabilities.
PolymarketThe largest decentralized prediction market, built on Polygon, where users bet on event outcomes.
Fed Funds RateThe interest rate at which US banks lend reserves to each other overnight, set by the Federal Reserve.
CPIConsumer Price Index: a measure of the average change in prices paid by consumers for goods and services.
Treasury YieldThe return earned on US government debt securities, used as a benchmark for interest rates globally.
Order BookThe list of all open buy and sell orders for an asset, organized by price and size, used to match trades.
VolatilityA measure of how much an asset's price varies over a time window, the key input to risk management.
Market CapitalizationThe total value of an asset's circulating supply, calculated as price multiplied by quantity outstanding.
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