A scoped security review of smart-contract code and the assumptions around it.
An audit report identifies what was reviewed and which issues were found. The code version matters: later upgrades may sit outside the review. Findings, fixes and assumptions tell more than an audited badge, especially when an application depends on other contracts or external data sources.
IN THE WILD
"The report covers version one. The app now uses an upgraded contract, so I'm checking what the review actually included."
A wallet design in which designated guardians help restore or change account access.
Guardians provide a recovery route when the normal signing key is lost. Depending on the wallet, a guardian threshold and waiting period may be required to replace it. Recovery powers are separate from everyday spending powers, so the key question is exactly what the guardians can authorize.
IN THE WILD
"I lost my signing device. My guardians can authorize a replacement key under the wallet's recovery rules."
A rule change that narrows what is valid while remaining compatible with the older rules.
A soft fork adds restrictions that updated participants enforce. Older nodes can still accept the resulting blocks under their broader rules, but that doesn't mean they understand or enforce every new condition. Activation and enforcement still need coordination, so “backward compatible” shouldn't be read as “nobody needs to think about the upgrade.”
IN THE WILD
Updated Bitcoinnodes reject a spend that breaks a new restriction, even though older software would not check that restriction itself.
Solidity is a common starting point for building Ethereum contracts. Its syntax may look familiar to developers, but onchain code handles assets and hostile inputs in a very different environment from a normal website. Testing, careful permission design and security review matter just as much as getting the code to compile.
IN THE WILD
A developer writes a Solidity balance mapping, then tests what happens when someone tries to withdraw more than their recorded balance.
A market for trading the underlying asset with settlement according to the venue's delivery rules.
In spot trading, the trade concerns the asset itself rather than a derivative tracking its price. The venue still determines how settlement and custody work. Buying spot BTC inside an exchange account therefore differs from holding the keys to BTC withdrawn to a self-custodied address.
IN THE WILD
You buy BTC in the spot pair and receive a BTC balance within the exchange's custody system, rather than a perp position.
A crypto asset designed to track a reference value, commonly a national currency.
Stablecoins try to keep a predictable price through designs that may involve reserves, collateral, redemption or incentives. The word stable describes the target, not a guarantee. To understand one, look at how holders can redeem it, what backs it and which institutions or contracts they depend on when its market price moves.
IN THE WILD
Before treating a dollar-targeting stablecoin as interchangeable with dollars, you check its reserves, redemption access and recent trading price.
Committing assets to support a proof-of-stake network under its validation and reward rules.
In native proof-of-stake, staking ties assets to the job of keeping the network running and following its rules. Rewards come with duties and risks, which can include penalties or withdrawal restrictions. Apps also use “staking” for other products, so check whether you're actually supporting consensus, depositing with a custodian or using a different scheme.
IN THE WILD
“Where does the staking reward come from?” You check whether the service runs validators and what happens to your deposit if they fail their duties.
A valid block left outside the chain selected by the network's fork-choice rules.
Two miners can produce competing valid blocks around the same time. As the network builds on one branch, the other block becomes stale. Its transactions are not necessarily lost forever: they may also appear in the selected chain or be included there later if still valid.
IN THE WILD
Two Bitcoin miners publish competing valid blocks, but the network continues building on one branch and leaves the other block stale.
The current data a blockchain records as the result of its accepted transaction history.
State is the network's current answer to questions such as who owns what and what a contract has stored. History explains how it got there; state tells you where it stands now. On Ethereum, that includes account balances, nonces, contract code and storage that valid transactions can update.
IN THE WILD
After your repayment is accepted, the lending contract’s state shows a smaller debt even though the older borrowing transaction remains in its history.
A system where participants exchange authorized state updates offchain and use a blockchain to enforce settlement.
Participants agree to successive updates without recording every one onchain. The blockchain provides the setup and enforcement process when they settle or dispute the state. This reduces repeated onchain activity, but the channel still needs clear rules for challenges, monitoring and what happens if one participant stops cooperating.
IN THE WILD
You and another player exchange signed game-state updates, then use the channel's blockchain settlement rules for the final enforceable result.
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.