Crypto glossary
Every term in plain English, with the Australian regulatory and tax context where it matters.
A
An Australian Financial Services Licence — required for crypto platforms under the Digital Assets Framework from April 2027.
Australia's financial intelligence agency. Crypto exchanges serving Australians must be registered with it.
B
The first cryptocurrency — a decentralised digital currency with a fixed supply of 21 million, running since 2009.
A shared digital ledger that records transactions across many computers so no single party can alter the history.
C
The tax you pay on profit when disposing of crypto. Held over 12 months, individuals may get a 50% discount.
A crypto wallet kept offline (usually a hardware device) so hackers can't reach the keys via the internet.
Who holds the keys: custodial means a company (like an exchange) controls your crypto; non-custodial means you do.
D
Financial services (lending, trading, earning) built on blockchains without banks as middlemen.
Investing a fixed amount on a schedule regardless of price — smooths out volatility and removes timing stress.
E
A blockchain that runs programmable "smart contracts", powering most DeFi and NFT activity.
G
The transaction fee paid to use the Ethereum network, priced in tiny units of ETH called gwei.
H
The scheduled event (roughly every 4 years) where Bitcoin's new-coin issuance is cut in half. Next expected 2028.
Crypto slang for holding long-term through volatility instead of trading (born from a 2013 forum typo of "hold").
A wallet connected to the internet — convenient for spending, more exposed to attacks.
K
"Know Your Customer" — the identity checks (ID, sometimes address) regulated exchanges must run before you trade.
M
Exchange fee model: "makers" add orders to the book (cheaper), "takers" fill existing ones (dearer).
A coin's price multiplied by its circulating supply — the standard way to rank cryptocurrencies by size.
N
A blockchain token proving ownership of a unique digital item.
P
The secret code that controls your crypto. Whoever holds the private key owns the coins — lose it, lose them.
R
A scam where a project's creators hype a token, take investors' money and vanish. If returns sound guaranteed, it's a rug.
S
A list of 12–24 words that backs up your wallet's private keys. Anyone with your seed phrase can take everything.
The gap between an exchange's buy and sell price — a hidden cost on top of the stated fee.
A crypto token designed to hold a fixed value, usually pegged 1:1 to a currency like the US dollar.
Locking crypto to help secure a proof-of-stake network in exchange for rewards — with tax and lock-up consequences.
Definitions maintained in our fact database; the full per-term page class arrives during the content ramp.