Beginner
A node’s local collection of valid pending transactions waiting for block inclusion.
Crypto Dictionary word feed
Added to the dictionary
Intermediate
Intermediate hashes used to check that an item belongs to a Merkle-root commitment.
IN THE WILD
"This payment belongs in that block." Your light client checks the proof against a block header it has verified.
Intermediate
The top-level hash that commits to the contents of a Merkle tree.
IN THE WILD
Open a Bitcoin block header and you can find the Merkle root committing to the transaction IDs in that block.
Intermediate
A tree of hashes that commits to many data items through one root hash.
IN THE WILD
Your light client gets the transaction and its path of hashes, rather than every transaction summarized by the tree.
Advanced
Maximal extractable value: value available through controlling transaction inclusion, exclusion or ordering beyond ordinary rewards and fees.
IN THE WILD
The transaction ordering creates a price gap, and a searcher's arbitrage captures value from that opportunity.
Beginner
The process of building candidate blocks, searching for valid proof of work and publishing successful results.
IN THE WILD
A Bitcoin miner includes pending transactions, finds a qualifying hash and broadcasts the completed block to the network.
Intermediate
A measure of how hard it is to find a proof-of-work hash that meets the network’s target.
Intermediate
A group of miners that coordinates work and shares rewards using an agreed payout scheme.
IN THE WILD
A small miner submits work shares to a pool and receives payouts under that pool's scheme instead of waiting to find a block alone.
Intermediate
An authorization arrangement that requires signatures from a specified number of distinct keys.
IN THE WILD
Treasury chat: "One signature is in. We need one more from our two-of-three signer set before this payment can go out."
Intermediate
Descriptive data linked to an NFT, such as its name, attributes and media references.
IN THE WILD
"Why does the marketplace show those traits?" The NFT's metadata JSON supplies its name, attributes and image reference.