The difficulty of finding an input that produces a specified cryptographic hash output.
Given a digest, an attacker should not be able to efficiently work backward to a matching input. They can still guess inputs and hash each guess. This is why a predictable password stays vulnerable to guessing even when a system stores only its hash.
IN THE WILD
"I hashed a predictable word, so it must be secret now." Someone can still hash likely guesses and look for the match.
A source of asset-price updates that applications can read, often through an onchain oracle record.
A price feed is more than a number on a screen. An application needs its units, update conditions and timestamp. Some feeds combine several sources, but an old or unavailable update can still affect a lending decision. Developers usually check freshness alongside the reported price.
IN THE WILD
Your app checks both the price and its update timestamp; yesterday's number is not automatically today's usable quote.
The change in a trade’s effective price caused by that trade using available liquidity.
Price impact is the effect your own trade has on the market or pool. A large order relative to available liquidity can consume the better prices and reach worse ones. That's different from the market moving between quote and execution, though both can affect what you receive. Check impact before treating a spot price as your whole quote.
IN THE WILD
A token trades near $1, but your large swap averages less than that because selling so much pushes through the pool’s available liquidity.
You'll often see this called the tip. It gives the proposer a reason to include your transaction, but it doesn't buy guaranteed instant confirmation. The actual priority fee also depends on your total fee cap: if the base fee takes up most of that cap, less room remains for the tip.
IN THE WILD
You raise the tip on a pending transaction, while also checking that its maximum total fee can cover the current base fee.
Secret key material used to create signatures or perform other private-key operations in a public-key system.
For many wallets, the private key creates signatures authorizing spending. The wallet can prove authorization without publishing that secret. Someone who obtains the key may be able to sign as the account too, regardless of whose name or profile happens to be associated with it.
IN THE WILD
Your wallet broadcasts the transfer signature, not the private key it used to create that signature.
A consensus approach that uses committed assets to help select validators and hold them accountable.
Proof of stake uses assets at risk rather than mining work to support consensus. Validators follow the chain's rules, with rewards and penalties that vary by protocol. Holding or staking a large amount doesn't give someone permission to make invalid transactions valid: other participants still check the rules.
IN THE WILD
A validator proposes a block and others check it; the proposer’s stake doesn’t let it include a transfer that the protocol considers invalid.
A mechanism that requires computational work to qualify a candidate block for acceptance.
Bitcoin miners repeatedly hash candidate block headers, looking for a result below the network's target. Finding one demonstrates work, but it isn't permission to ignore the rest of the rules. Nodes still check the block's transactions and other requirements before accepting it into their chain.
IN THE WILD
A miner finds a header hash that meets the target, then broadcasts the block for nodes to check.
A contract that forwards calls to implementation code while retaining its own address and storage.
A proxy lets users keep interacting with one address while another contract supplies the logic. Some proxy designs allow that implementation to change, which makes upgrades possible but adds an important permission question: who can make the change? Don't assume a familiar address means its behavior can never change.
IN THE WILD
The protocol announces an implementation upgrade; your position still sits at the same proxy address, but the logic handling it has changed.
Partially Signed Bitcoin Transaction: a format for passing transaction data between wallets and signing devices.
A PSBT lets one tool prepare a payment and another supply the required signatures. That is useful for offline signing, hardware wallets and arrangements with several signers. The format carries the information needed for the workflow; a partly signed file isn't automatically ready to broadcast or safe to approve.
IN THE WILD
You prepare a PSBT on your computer, sign it on an offline device, then return the signed data to the computer for broadcasting.
The shareable part of a public-key pair, used to verify signatures or perform certain encryption operations.
A public key is mathematically related to its private key and intended to be shared for its cryptographic purpose. Nodes can use it to check signatures. An address is not always the key itself: blockchain systems often derive address identifiers from public keys using additional rules.
IN THE WILD
Nodes use the public key to check your signature; they do not need your private key to verify it.
The daily pick rotates automatically. Our initial collection was published on October 9, 2026. New words join on their publication date. Every concept includes a reference.