Permission for a specified spender to move tokens under the token contract's rules.
A DEX may need permission to take the tokens used in a swap. For ERC-20 tokens, approval sets an allowance for one spender; NFT permissions work differently. This is an onchain permission, so closing the tab or disconnecting the website does not automatically remove it.
IN THE WILD
"I approved the swap contract for 50 tokens. Why hasn't anything swapped? Approval was the permission step."
Signing a transaction or message without meaningfully seeing or understanding what it authorizes.
A wallet may display raw data rather than readable transfers or permissions. It becomes harder to connect the signature to its actual effect. A hardware device can protect the key while signing a harmful request, so key storage and understanding the authorization are separate parts of the process.
IN THE WILD
"The wallet shows a wall of hex. I can click Sign, but I still can't tell what I'm authorizing."
Staking through a system that issues a transferable token representing a staking position or claim.
Ordinary staking can leave assets committed while they help secure a network. Liquid staking adds a token that can move between wallets or DeFi apps while the underlying position remains staked. That flexibility adds dependencies on the protocol's operators, redemption process and the token's market price.
IN THE WILD
"My ETH is still staked, but I can transfer the liquid staking token representing that position."
Bitcoin’s scheduled halving of the block subsidy every 210,000 blocks.
The halving cuts newly issued BTC per block, so it changes Bitcoin's issuance schedule. It doesn't halve your wallet balance or automatically halve transaction fees. You'll often see price predictions around it in crypto threads, but a protocol change to supply doesn't guarantee a particular market reaction.
IN THE WILD
A halving reduces a 6.25 BTC subsidy to 3.125 BTC. The fees in each block are still added separately.
A peer-to-peer monetary network whose native asset is bitcoin, usually written as BTC.
Bitcoin lets people send value without a mandatory central payment processor. Nodes independently check the rules for spending and creating coins, while miners compete to add blocks. In crypto chats, 'Bitcoin' can mean the network and 'bitcoin' can mean the asset; BTC is the familiar ticker.
IN THE WILD
'Can I pay you in BTC?' Your friend shares a receiving address, and you send a payment that Bitcoin nodes can verify.
Think of a history that many participants can check for themselves. Each block points back to earlier data, so quietly changing an old entry also breaks later links. The network's consensus rules make replacing accepted history costly or difficult; the hashes alone aren't the whole security story.
IN THE WILD
You look up a BTC payment and can follow its block back through the chain, rather than relying only on an exchange's receipt.
The Application Binary Interface: the rules and interface description used to encode and decode contract interactions.
The ABI is how wallets and apps turn contract calls into something humans can read. It describes functions, arguments, return values and events so software can encode requests and decode responses. Having an ABI makes a contract easier to interact with; it doesn't tell you whether its code is safe or trustworthy.
IN THE WILD
You add a verified ABI to a developer tool, and a raw call becomes a readable transfer with a recipient and amount.
An approach that makes blockchain account authorization and operation more programmable.
Account abstraction moves beyond assuming every account must work like one private key signing one ordinary transaction. Designs can support recovery rules, multiple signers, batched actions or sponsored fees. Those features depend on the actual account and infrastructure, so the label alone doesn't promise free transactions or effortless recovery.
IN THE WILD
An app batches a token approval and swap into one account operation, instead of asking you to confirm two separate steps.
A blockchain identifier used to receive assets or refer to an account or contract.
An address is shareable, unlike the private key that authorizes spending. It's still worth treating it carefully: lookalike strings can hide a different recipient, and the same-looking address may be used on several networks. Check the whole destination and the intended network instead of trusting only the first and last characters.
IN THE WILD
“Send it to this address on Ethereum” includes both the destination and the network; the address alone leaves an important detail out.
A key or authorization role with privileged control over part of a contract or protocol.
An administrator might pause a contract, change parameters or replace a proxy's implementation. These powers explain why today's public code may not describe tomorrow's behavior. Control could rest with one key, several signers or governance, and each arrangement creates different dependencies for the people using the protocol.
IN THE WILD
"The contract address stayed the same, but the proxy's administrator changed which implementation its calls use."
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.