A process that removes token units from usable supply under a defined mechanism.
A contract burn can destroy units and reduce its recorded total supply. Sending tokens to an inaccessible address may remove practical access without changing that same supply field. The distinction matters when reading token statistics; a burn event by itself does not explain how the market will price the remaining units.
IN THE WILD
The burn call destroys units and reduces totalSupply; sending them to another ordinary address would just change who holds them.
An identifier for a token or token type within a particular contract.
A token ID tells you which item or type you're looking at inside a contract, but the contract provides the missing context. Two different collections can both have token #42. For an ERC-721NFT, use the network, contract address and token ID together when checking that you're viewing the intended item.
IN THE WILD
Someone sends you “NFT #42,” so you ask for the collection’s contract address before checking its owner on an explorer.
The creation and distribution of new asset units under protocol or contract rules.
Issuance explains how new units enter the system. It might follow a schedule, respond to deposits or depend on an authorized role. Those details connect a supply number to the rules behind it: who can create more units, under what conditions and whether an enforced limit exists.
IN THE WILD
The token's authorized issuance rule creates new units, so the supply changes rather than existing units simply moving between wallets.
A contract that pools an asset and issues shares representing a claim on its managed holdings.
Depositing into a vault typically gives you shares rather than a separate copy of every underlying asset. Their redemption value reflects the vault's holdings and accounting. ERC-4626 provides a common interface for many vaults, while strategy, fees and withdrawal rules come from the implementation.
IN THE WILD
"I deposited tokens, and my wallet now shows vault shares. Those shares represent my claim on the vault's holdings."
An authorized request to change a blockchain’s state, such as moving assets or calling a contract.
A wallet prepares a request and usually asks you to sign it before sending it to the network. Broadcasting gets that request out there; inclusion and successful execution are separate steps. That's why 'sent,' 'pending' and 'successful' can describe different stages of the same transaction.
IN THE WILD
You sign a token transfer. The wallet shows it as pending until the network includes it and reports the execution result.
The amount paid for transaction inclusion or resource use under a blockchain's rules.
The fee pays for processing the transaction and is separate from the amount sent to another account. Networks calculate it differently, using factors such as size, computation or demand. A transaction that fails during execution can still consume resources and incur a fee, even when its intended transfer does not happen.
IN THE WILD
"The contract call reverted, but gas still came out of my balance. The failed execution consumed resources."
An identifier computed from a transaction's protocol-defined serialized data.
A TXID gives wallets and explorers a way to refer to a particular transaction. Bitcoin's TXID excludes SegWit witness data, while its witness transaction ID commits differently. Finding an identifier is separate from finding a confirmed payment: the transaction could still be pending or absent from the accepted chain.
IN THE WILD
"I have the TXID now; I'm checking whether the payment is actually confirmed."
The part of a Bitcointransaction that identifies an earlier output being spent.
Inputs answer 'where is this payment's value coming from?' Each references a particular previous transaction output. The spending transaction also needs the data that satisfies that output's conditions, often signatures in a script or witness. One payment can use several inputs when your wallet combines multiple UTXOs.
IN THE WILD
An explorer lists three inputs because your wallet combined three earlier outputs to fund one BTC payment.
The ability to change a transaction’s identifier without changing its intended payment effect.
This matters when another transaction refers to a payment that hasn't confirmed yet. If the parent's identifier changes, that dependent reference can break even though the intended payment stays the same. SegWit fixes important forms for eligible spends, which helped make workflows using unconfirmed transactions easier to build.
IN THE WILD
A transaction relies on an unconfirmed parent's ID. Someone alters that parent's legacy serialization, changing the ID and breaking the reference.
An Ethereum account’s sequential transaction counter, used to order transactions and prevent replay.
The nonce is your account's place in the transaction queue. A later nonce normally can't be processed before the earlier one, which explains why one stuck transaction can hold up others. Replacing a pending transaction uses the same nonce. This counter is a different use of the word nonce from a random cryptographic value.
IN THE WILD
“Why are all three pending?” Your first transaction is still waiting, and the next two use higher nonces from the same account.
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.