Many many years ago, in a land far far away, an unknown man set out to create a world defining technology because he believed…. Hahahaha
Sorry about that, I almost forgot I was not in the theaters and was definitely not in the medieval era.
Well, we will be discussing the various slangs in the Web3 economy and how they have come to define how we interact with one another. Yes, Slangs in Web3 and they are really fancy. I am sure you may have happened upon some or most of them in your crypto journey. Just as you have slang words like, YOLO, Lit. Woke etc, the Web3 economy has her own unique slang words and that is what we will be sharing today.
A brief history of the Web3 Economy.
In 2008, an individual with the pseudomyn, “Satoshi Nakamoto ‘’ invented the first cryptocurrency called, Bitcoin: “A Peer-to-Peer electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust.” This simply means that, financial transactions can be carried on without a trusted, centralized third party, such as a bank, two willing parties can transact directly with each other.
But how does this work?
You may wonder how this works and if it will ever be possible to deal financially with someone else without “trust”. Can you be okay dealing with someone or an organization without some form of trust?
Well, the answer is blockchain technology and from that same trustless internet/cloud infrastructure, we also got some unique vocabulary and set of terminologies often referred to as “slang” that is commonly used in our day to day dealings in that economy.
Web3 Slangs and what they mean.
Understanding these terms can help you navigate the world of blockchain and decentralized technologies. You also get to be among the “it” crowd when you use them.
The list is in no particular order.
1. HODL: The word is a misspelling of “hold,” and it means to keep and not sell your cryptocurrency investments, even during market downturns. You may often hear people say, “I am not selling my tokens, I am hodling till it hits xyz.”
Origin: In December 2013, a user named GameKyuubi made a post on the
crypto forum Bitcointalk with the title “I AM HODLING.” In the post, he was talking about not intending to sell his Bitcoin and will keep them for the chances of a higher price in the future.
2. FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out is the feeling of anxiety or urgency to buy or invest due to the fear of missing out on potential gains. In the cryptocurrency space, the Fear of missing out (FOMO) is the feeling of
apprehension that one is either not in the know about or missing out on some investment opportunities that could guarantee them a quick multiplication of their money.
For many, missing out on a token that is doing 10x is not something they can take, so they dive in without thinking and end up losing everything. FOMO is also associated with fear.
Origin: Although it was first identified in 1996 by a marketing strategist, Dr Dan Herman, it was Author Patrick J. McGinnis who coined the term FOMO and popularized it in a 2004 op-ed in The Harbus, the magazine of Harvard Business School.
The article was titled McGinnis’ Two FOs: Social Theory at HBS, and also
referred to another related condition, Fear of a Better Option (FOBO), and their role in the school’s social life.
3. FUD: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. It refers to a manipulative propaganda tactic used to spread rumours or to create fear and uncertainty in the cryptocurrency market. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information, and is a manifestation of the appeal to fear.
Origin: The term “fear, uncertainty, and doubt” appeared as far back as the
1920s whereas the similar formulation “doubts, fears, and uncertainties” reaches back to 1693.
By 1975, the term was appearing abbreviated as FUD in marketing and sales contexts as well as in public relations
4. DYOR: Do Your Own Research. Encourages individuals to research and verify information before making investment decisions. Most people jump into cryptocurrency speculation and investment without understanding what the token is offering, its roadmap and if there is a use case behind it.
Origin: The term is coined by cryptocurrency enthusiasts who emphasize the importance of conducting thorough research and due diligence into a
cryptocurrency coin or token before making any trading or investing decisions. It also applies to other areas of life.
5. DeFi: Decentralized Finance. It refers to financial applications and services built on blockchain, offering traditional financial services without intermediaries.
Origin: DeFi started in 2009 with the launch of Bitcoin, (although, still being contested) the first p2p digital asset built on top of the blockchain network. It is obtained by taking the first two words of Decentralized and Finance.
6. NFT: Non-Fungible Token. Unique digital assets that represent ownership of a specific item or piece of content. Hearing NFTs the first image that comes to mind is the Crypto Kitties.
Origin: The history of NFT began in 2014 with the creation of the first NFT,
Quantum, by Kevin McCoy. The NFT is said to be a video made by his wife and was created on the Namecoin blockchain. However, it was in 2017 that the world became aware of non-fungible tokens with the launch of Crypto Kitties on Ethereum blockchain.
7. DAO: Decentralized Autonomous Organization. It’s an organization governed by smart contracts and the votes of its token holders, operating without a central authority. Think of it as an organization formed/deployed as smart contracts on top of an existing blockchain network.
Origin: Although some argue that Bitcoin was the first DAO, the term can be traced back to the 1990s, but became widely adopted in 2013 after the creation of the first Bitcoin DAO.
8. Gas: The fee paid in cryptocurrency to execute transactions or smart contracts on a blockchain platform. Ethereum blockchain operates primarily through the usage of gas fees.
Origin: The usage of gas for transactions came about as a way to provide
network security. As we know, the network can be overloaded with malicious transactions with an aim to destabilize the system so that the bad players can take advantage.
9. Rug Pull: A fraudulent action in which developers or project creators drain the funds invested in a token by unsuspecting users.
Origin: This came about as a result of crypto token scam tactics perpetrated against crypto traders and investors, that usually takes the shape of scammers setting up a brand new coin that promises instant gains or too-good-to-be-true scenarios only to exit the project with investors funds.
10. Yield Farming: This is the practice of staking or providing liquidity to DeFi protocols in a bid to earn rewards or interest on one’s investment. It is also known as liquidity farming
Origin: The era of Yield farming started with Compound finance, an Ethereum-based credit market which started distributing COMP to the protocol’s users in June, 2020. This is a type of asset known as a “governance token” which gives holders unique voting powers over proposed changes to the platform. Through its token automatic token distribution which was structured in a way that made investing fun and profitable, the demand for yield farming skyrocketed and placed Compound into the leading position in DeFi at the time.
11. Metaverse: A virtual shared space, often built on blockchain technology, where users can interact with digital assets and each other.
Origin: The term metaverse was coined in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science
fiction novel “Snow Crash”, where humans, as programmable avatars, interact with each other and software agents, in a three-dimensional virtual space that uses the metaphor of the real world. However, recent technological advancements by Facebook, Decentraland and a host of others have propelled the metaverse into the spotlight.
12. Whale: A term used to describe individuals or entities that hold a significant amount of cryptocurrency. They are always identified as the movers of the market and the crypto communities with their transactions.
Origin: The phrase “Whale” emerged within the crypto community, where the ocean is a metaphor for the crypto market. This ocean has certain rules for traders and investors who explore it for favorable opportunities.
13. ATH: All-Time High. Refers to the highest price a cryptocurrency has ever reached.
Origin: The term is coined by crypto traders who always are in the look out for an all time high in the price of a token which allows them to take position for an opportunity to sell the drop. It is also used in all aspects of trading.
14. Bear Market: A market characterized by declining prices and a pessimistic outlook.
Origin: Bears slashed down with their paws while Bulls slashed up with their horns hence the directions of bull and bear markets. The association between bears and bull market downturns likely emerged in the 18th century in London’s financial district where they coined the market’s movements to be likened to these two animals.
Bull Market: A market characterized by rising prices and a positive outlook. These are just a few examples of the web3 slang commonly used in the blockchain and cryptocurrency space.
Origin: Bulls slashed up with their horns, bears slashed down with their paws, hence the directions of bull and bear markets. The association between bears and bull market downturns likely emerged in the 18th century in London’s financial district where they coined the market’s movements to be likened to these two animals.
Bagholder: Someone who is holding a large amount of a cryptocurrency that has lost significant value, often unwilling or unable to sell at a loss.
Origin: the origin of the phrase ‘bag holder’ dates way back to the times of the great depression. Back then, the people who were standing in the queues of the breadlines and soup kitchens were holding potato bags. This term has now emerged as a part of the modern investment dictionary and widely used in the world of cryptocurrency.
Rekt: Short for “wrecked,” rekt is used to describe significant losses incurred in trading or investing, often due to poor decision-making or market volatility.
Origin: The slang term comes from the online gaming world where it means to “lose badly”. Today, it is commonly used in the cryptocurrency world where traders who FOMO into a coin and end up losing out due to no research are considered being “rekt”.
Shill: To promote or hype a cryptocurrency or project, often for personal gain or to manipulate market sentiment.
Origin: The origin of the term “shill” is uncertain; but is it said to have originally denoted a carnival worker who pretended to be a member of the audience in an attempt to elicit interest in an attraction. Some sources trace the usage to as far back as 1911. It is now widely used in the crypto world where individuals “shill” certain coins they are heavily vested in to get more buyers and investors.
DCA: Dollar-Cost Averaging, a strategy used in cryptocurrency (and other asset) investing. It involves investing a fixed amount of money at regular intervals, regardless of the asset’s price at the time.
Origin: The term was first coined by Benjamin Graham in his book The Intelligent Investor and has since become a best practice in the financial investing circle with cryptocurrency not excluded.
Gem: In crypto, a “gem” is a little-known token with a low market capitalization and great potential for price growth. ‘Not everything that has a small market capitalization is a profitable investment.’
Origin: Think of diamond, gold, rubies and valuable jewelleries and then, think of how it is being used to classify certain coins which move from being just a coin to becoming a life changing asset for those who identify them early.
The cryptocurrency world is one interesting one that has been able to build its own currency, exchanges, marketplaces, communities and languages and these slang words are go to words for traders and investors.
There are more out these and you can name them in the comment section so we all have a complete ‘dictionary’ of crypto slang words.
