A to Z terms from the articles and pages

Aave refers to a leading decentralized lending and borrowing protocol where users can deposit cryptocurrencies to earn interest or borrow assets by providing collateral, all managed through automated smart contracts without intermediaries.

Agent refers to a smart contract or automated program that acts on behalf of a user to execute specific financial transactions or operations within the DeFi ecosystem, automating tasks and interactions with various protocols.

Aggregators refer to platforms or protocols designed to aggregate liquidity from multiple sources, such as different decentralized exchanges or lending platforms, to offer users the best possible rates or terms for their transactions.

AMM (Automated Market Maker) refers to a type of decentralized exchange protocol that uses a mathematical formula instead of an order book to price assets, with liquidity providers depositing assets into pools that traders can swap against.

APR (Annual Percentage Rate) refers to a simple metric that calculates annual returns without considering compounding, making it useful for fixed-rate investments and easier to interpret for comparison purposes.

Example: You stake 1,000 TON in a protocol offering 8% APR. After one year, you will have earned exactly 80 TON in rewards, with no compounding effect.

APY (Annual Percentage Yield) refers to a measure of yearly returns that includes the effects of compounding, reflecting the reinvestment of rewards over a given period and providing a dynamic view of investment growth.

Example: You deposit 1,000 TON in a protocol offering 8% APY with monthly compounding. Throughout the year, your rewards are automatically reinvested, so by year-end you earn slightly more than 80 TON due to the compounding effect.

Audit refers to a comprehensive security review of a smart contract’s code conducted by independent experts to identify vulnerabilities, bugs, or risks before deployment.

Bear Market refers to a prolonged period of falling prices and negative sentiment across the market, often characterized by investor pessimism and sustained declines of 20% or more from recent highs.

Example: After reaching an all-time high of $10, a token steadily declines to $3 over 18 months with brief recoveries that quickly reverse, while media coverage turns negative and many investors exit the market.

Bid-Ask Spread refers to the difference between the highest price a buyer will pay and the lowest price a seller will accept.

Blockchain refers to a distributed digital ledger that records all transactions across a network of computers, characterized by its immutability and transparency once data is recorded.

Blue Chip refers to a well-established, dominant cryptocurrency or project with a strong track record, high market capitalization, and widespread adoption.

Borrow Limit refers to the maximum amount of assets a user can borrow based on the value of their collateral, determined by the loan-to-value ratio set by the lending protocol to ensure solvency and prevent over-leveraging, with different assets having different limits based on their volatility.

Example: You deposit $1,000 worth of Ethereum with an 80% borrow limit, meaning you can borrow up to $800 worth of USDC. However, if you deposit $1,000 USDC (a stablecoin), the borrow limit might be 95% since it’s less volatile, allowing you to borrow up to $950 worth of Ethereum.

Borrowing Annual Percentage Yield (APY) refers to the cost, in interest terms, that borrowers pay for accessing funds, with rates fluctuating based on market demand and liquidity availability.

Bridge refers to a protocol that connects two different blockchains, allowing assets and data to be transferred between them. Bridges enable interoperability across separate networks.

Example: You want to use Ethereum-based USDT on the TON network, so you send it through a bridge, which locks it on Ethereum and mints an equivalent amount of bridged USDT on TON.

Bull Market refers to a period of rising prices and positive market sentiment where investors are confident and buying activity is high, typically characterized by sustained increases of 20% or more from recent lows.

Example: A token climbs from $5 to $25 over 12 months, with each dip quickly bought up by optimistic investors, trading volume remains high, and positive news drives further interest.

CeFi (Centralized Finance) refers to financial activities facilitated by centralized entities like banks, financial institutions, and regulated intermediaries that play a pivotal role in processes like lending, borrowing, trading, and custody of assets, operating within regulatory frameworks and requiring users to trust them with their funds.

Example: You deposit $1,000 on a centralized exchange to trade. The exchange holds your funds, handles all transactions, and requires identity verification, meaning you must trust the platform to keep your money safe and allow withdrawals when requested.

CEX (Centralized Exchange) refers to a trading platform with a physical address and corporate structure that is subject to the laws, codes of conduct, and regulations of the jurisdictions in which it operates, acting as an intermediary for users to buy, sell, and trade cryptocurrencies.

Circulating Supply refers to the number of cryptocurrency tokens that are publicly available and currently held by investors, traders, and users.

Coin refers to a unit of digital currency protected by encryption algorithms that can be divided into smaller units, with ownership potentially representing a portion of the asset itself and sometimes granting rights to participate in network governance or protocol decisions.

Cold Wallet refers to a method of storing private keys completely offline, typically on hardware devices or paper, providing the highest level of security against hacking attempts.

Collateral refers to the assets that borrowers lock into the protocol to secure their loans, ensuring that if they cannot repay, the protocol can liquidate these assets to recover the funds.

Collateral Factor refers to the percentage of a deposited asset’s value that can be borrowed against, determining the maximum loan amount for a given collateral.

Example: You deposit $1,000 worth of TON into a lending protocol that has a 75% collateral factor. This means you can borrow up to $750 worth of another asset against your TON. If you try to borrow more than $750, the transaction will be rejected unless you add more collateral.

Compounding refers to the process of reinvesting earnings to generate additional returns over time, with earnings added to the principal creating a snowball effect.

Concentrated Liquidity refers to a liquidity pool mechanism where liquidity providers allocate funds within specific price ranges rather than across the entire price curve, increasing capital efficiency and reducing slippage for trades that occur within those designated ranges.

Example: A provider adds $10,000 to an ETH/USDC pool only between $3,000–$5,000, earning higher fees for trades in that range.

Cross-Chain Swap refers to a transaction that exchanges assets from one blockchain directly for assets on a different blockchain, often facilitated by bridges or specialized protocols.

DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization) refers to a governance structure in which token holders or stakers can participate in decision-making regarding network upgrades, reward distribution, and other key protocol changes through voting mechanisms encoded in smart contracts.

DApp (Decentralized Application) refers to an application built on a blockchain network that uses smart contracts for backend logic and operates without a central authority, making it transparent, censorship-resistant, and trustless

DeFi 2.0 refers to an evolution of DeFi protocols aiming to address limitations of first-generation DeFi, such as liquidity inefficiencies and sustainability issues, through improved models and better capital utilization.

DeFi (Decentralized Finance) refers to a financial system built on blockchain technology that enables trustless, permissionless services like lending, trading, or staking without intermediaries such as banks or brokerages.

Depeg refers to an event where a token meant to maintain a fixed value — like a stablecoin — loses its peg to its reference asset, potentially causing significant losses for liquidity providers as the token’s value drops drastically, making it important to choose reliable stablecoins and monitor their stability to reduce this risk.

Example: A stablecoin trading at $1.00 suddenly drops to $0.85 due to market panic or issues with its reserves. Liquidity providers in pools containing that stablecoin suffer immediate losses as their holdings lose value, while traders rush to sell before the price falls further.

DEX (Decentralized Exchange) refers to a blockchain-based platform for peer-to-peer cryptocurrency trading that uses automated market makers or order books to facilitate swaps without a central authority holding user funds or controlling transactions.

Example: STON.fi enables TON/USDT swaps via liquidity pools controlled by smart contracts.

Diversification refers to the practice of spreading investments across multiple platforms and asset types to reduce exposure to individual asset volatility and improve overall portfolio stability.

Example: Instead of putting all your funds into a single cryptocurrency, you split your portfolio between Ethereum, stablecoins, and a few DeFi protocols, so if one asset drops significantly, the others may offset some of the losses.

DYOR (Do Your Own Research) refers to a common cautionary phrase in crypto reminding investors to personally investigate and verify information about a project before committing funds, rather than relying on hype or others’ opinions.

Emission refers to the rate or schedule at which new tokens are created and distributed into circulation, often as block rewards, staking yields, or farming incentives.

Exchange route refers to the path a cryptocurrency trade takes through one or more exchanges to complete a transaction, often used to find the most efficient or cost-effective way to execute a trade.

Exit Liquidity refers to a scenario where unsuspecting investors become the buyers that allow early investors or scammers to sell their holdings at inflated prices, often before a price collapse.

Fake Token refers to a fraudulent or deceptive digital asset that mimics legitimate tokens but lacks real value or utility, often created to mislead users or facilitate scams.

Farm refers to the practice of staking or locking LP tokens in a protocol to earn additional rewards, typically in the form of governance tokens.

Fee refers to the cost incurred for processing a transaction on the blockchain, typically paid to miners or validators for their services in confirming and recording transactions.

Flash Loan refers to a type of uncollateralized loan that must be borrowed and repaid within the same blockchain transaction, with the entire transaction reverting if the loan isn’t repaid instantly.

FOMO (Fear Of Missing Out) refers to an emotional response where investors rush to buy an asset due to fear of missing potential profits, often driving prices up unsustainably before a correction.

FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) refers to the spread of negative, misleading, or sensationalized information intended to create panic and influence market sentiment against a project or asset.

Gas Fee refers to the cost paid to process transactions or execute smart contracts on a blockchain, typically denominated in the network’s native token and varying based on network congestion and computational complexity.

Example: Swapping 1 TON for USDT on STON.fi incurs a gas fee, varying with network congestion, paid in Toncoin.

Genesis refers to the very first block ever created on a blockchain network, marking the launch of the chain and containing the initial configuration and sometimes the first token distributions.

Governance Token refers to a token that grants holders voting power in network decisions, often issued by protocols to encourage community participation in the evolution of the platform.

Honey Pot refers to a deceptive scam contract designed to trap funds by allowing users to deposit or buy tokens but making it impossible to sell or withdraw them.

Example: A scammer creates a token called «FreeMoney» and a liquidity pool on a DEX. The contract is designed so that anyone can buy the token, but when a buyer tries to sell, the transaction fails because the contract blocks transfer functions. The scammer can still drain the liquidity pool later, leaving buyers with worthless tokens they cannot sell.

Hot Wallet refers to a software-based wallet connected to the internet, used for frequent transactions and convenience, though more vulnerable to hacks than cold storage.

Impermanent Loss (IL) refers to the potential loss in value for liquidity providers in automated market maker pools due to price divergence of paired assets compared to holding them separately outside the pool, with the loss becoming permanent only if liquidity is withdrawn at that unfavorable ratio.

Example: In an ETH/DAI pool, if ETH’s price doubles, the pool’s rebalancing causes a provider’s holdings to be worth less than if they held ETH and DAI separately.

Intent-based Trading refers to a trading model where users express their desired outcome and multiple solvers compete to fulfill that intent optimally, rather than users manually executing trades.

Interoperability refers to the ability of different blockchain networks to communicate, share data, and transfer assets between each other seamlessly, enabling a more connected ecosystem.

Isolated markets refers to lending pools where each token operates independently, hence reducing systemic risk. An isolated market ensures that an issue with one token does not affect the entire ecosystem.

A custom token on The Open Network (TON). They follow a standard smart‑contract template that lets you issue, transfer, mint, burn, and manage metadata (name, symbol, logo) in a transparent and decentralized way.

KYC (Know Your Customer) refers to a mandatory identity verification process required by centralized financial services and exchanges to comply with regulations, involving submitting personal documents and information.

Layer 1 (L1) refers to a base blockchain network that serves as the foundation for an ecosystem, handling transaction settlement, security, and consensus without relying on another network.

Example: Ethereum is a Layer 1 blockchain where users transact ETH and developers build applications directly on top of it, with all transactions settled and secured by Ethereum’s own validators.

Layer 2 (L2) refers to a secondary protocol built on top of a Layer 1 blockchain to improve scalability, speed, and reduce costs by processing transactions off-chain before settling them on the main chain.

Lending Annual Percentage Yield (APY) refers to the interest rate lenders earn over a year for supplying liquidity to a protocol, with compounding effects included in the rate.

Example: You deposit 10,000 USDC into a lending protocol offering 5% lending APY. Over the course of a year, your rewards are automatically compounded, so your final balance will be slightly more than 10,500 USDC due to the compounding effect.

Limit Order refers to an instruction to buy or sell an asset at a specified price or better, executing only if the market reaches that price and giving traders more control over entry and exit points.

Example: You want to buy TON, but only if the price drops to $5. You place a limit order at $5. If the market price falls to $5 or below, your order executes automatically. If the price never reaches $5, the order remains unfilled.

Liquid Staking Token (LST) refers to a derivative token issued in exchange for staked assets that allows holders to retain liquidity while earning staking rewards, with tokens backed 1:1 by the underlying staked asset and usable across DeFi protocols.

Liquidation Threshold refers to the predefined percentage at which a borrower’s collateral is automatically liquidated to repay their debt, triggered when the collateral value falls below this level to protect lenders and maintain system stability, with the threshold typically set higher than the loan-to-value limit to provide a buffer zone before liquidation occurs.

Liquidity Aggregator refers to a platform or service that combines liquidity from multiple sources or providers, offering traders access to a deeper pool of assets and potentially better pricing for their transactions.

Example: A trader wants to swap $100,000 worth of ETH for USDC. Instead of executing the entire trade on a single DEX where it would cause significant slippage, they use a liquidity aggregator like 1inch, which splits the trade across multiple liquidity pools and DEXs to find the best combined price and minimize price impact.

Liquidity Bootstrapping refers to the initial phase of attracting liquidity to a new trading pair or pool, often incentivized with token rewards to encourage early providers.

Liquidity Mining refers to a practice where protocols distribute their native tokens to users who provide liquidity to specific pools, incentivizing participation and bootstrapping liquidity.

Liquidity Pool refers to a collection of cryptocurrency tokens or assets locked in a smart contract, providing liquidity for decentralized trading and enabling automated market-making on decentralized exchanges.

Liquidity Provider refers to a financial entity that acts as an intermediary in the market, continuously buying and selling assets to ensure there’s always sufficient trading volume and to maintain price stability.

Loan-to-Value (LTV) Ratio refers to the primary metric determining borrowing limits, comparing the loan amount to the collateral value, with a lower LTV providing more security against liquidation risks and a higher LTV increasing the likelihood of liquidation during market downturns.

Example:You deposit $1,000 worth of Ethereum and borrow $500 in USDC, giving you a 50% LTV. If Ethereum’s price drops and your collateral value falls to $800, your LTV rises to 62.5%. If it reaches the protocol’s maximum allowed LTV of 75%, you risk liquidation. However, if you had only borrowed $200 (20% LTV), you’d have a much larger safety buffer before liquidation.

Locking refers to the mechanism by which staked tokens are held within a network for a fixed period, ensuring blockchain security while offering stakers rewards in return, with tokens typically inaccessible for withdrawal until the lock period ends.

Looping refers to a strategy that involves borrowing assets and reusing them within the DeFi ecosystem in multiple cycles. This can be done by borrowing, lending, staking, or reinvesting in various protocols to amplify potential returns and maintain risk management.

LP Fees (Liquidity Provider Fees) refer to compensation for liquidity providers, earned when traders execute swaps in the pool, with fees distributed proportionally based on each LP’s contribution to the pool’s total liquidity.

Market Analysis refers to studying macro- and microeconomic factors within the DeFi ecosystem, including trading trends, market cycles, token pair behavior, and liquidity pool dynamics, to make informed decisions about liquidity provision and trading strategies.

Market Cap (Market Capitalization) refers to the total value of a cryptocurrency, calculated by multiplying its current price by its circulating supply, used to compare the relative size of different assets.

Market Depth refers to a measure of a market’s liquidity showing the volume of buy and sell orders at different price levels, with greater depth typically meaning larger trades can occur with minimal price impact.

Market Maker refers to an entity or individual that provides liquidity to a market by continuously placing both buy and sell orders, profiting from the bid-ask spread and helping facilitate smooth trading.

Max Supply refers to the maximum number of tokens that will ever be created for a particular cryptocurrency, after which no new tokens can be minted or generated.

Meme Coins refer to highly speculative tokens often driven by social media hype rather than intrinsic value, which can experience extreme price swings or lose value entirely, making them risky choices for liquidity pools and exposing providers to unpredictable market movements.

Example: A newly created dog-themed token goes viral on Twitter, jumping from $0.001 to $0.05 in one week based on celebrity endorsements and community excitement. A week later, interest fades and the token crashes to $0.0005, leaving liquidity providers in the token’s pools with significant impermanent losses and worthless holdings.

Mixed Portfolio refers to a portfolio strategy that combines different asset classes within a single wallet, typically including native cryptocurrencies, tokenized traditional assets, and stable assets for balance and liquidity.

Modular Blockchain refers to a blockchain design that separates core functions into specialized layers rather than handling everything on a single chain.

Momentum refers to the rate of acceleration of an asset’s price or trading volume, with positive momentum indicating continued upward movement and negative momentum suggesting further declines.

NFT (Non-Fungible Token) refers to a unique cryptographic token that represents ownership of a specific digital or physical item, such as artwork, collectibles, music, or virtual real estate, with each NFT being distinct and not interchangeable.

Open Interest refers to the total number of outstanding derivative contracts that have not been settled, indicating the flow of money and activity in the derivatives market.

Oracle refers to a service or mechanism that fetches and verifies real-world data and delivers it to a blockchain so smart contracts can use that information.

Order Book refers to an electronic list of buy and sell orders for a specific asset, organized by price level, showing market depth and used to match trades.

Pair volatility refers to the degree of price fluctuation between two assets in a trading pair, impacting risk and returns in a DEX pool.

Example: An ETH/BTC pair with high volatility sees larger price swings than a stable USDT/USDC pair, affecting swap costs.

PnL (Profit and Loss) refers to a financial metric that calculates the net gain or loss from trading activities or portfolio performance over a specific period.

Pool Fees refer to the transaction costs paid by traders to execute swaps within a liquidity pool, shared among liquidity providers as a reward for supplying their tokens, with fees varying between pools depending on factors such as trading pairs and platform settings that impact profitability for LPs.

Pool Type refers to the structure or algorithm governing a liquidity pool in a decentralized exchange, determining how assets are paired, priced, and traded using automated market maker models.

PoR (Proof of Reserves) refers to a transparent verification method where a custodian or issuer cryptographically proves that their on-chain token supply is fully backed by real-world assets held offline, without revealing sensitive data.

Position analytics refers to analyzing individual liquidity positions within a decentralized exchange (DEX). It involves tracking metrics such as fee income, impermanent loss, and token distribution to evaluate performance and profitability.

Protocol Analytics refers to evaluating the health and efficiency of a DeFi protocol by analyzing metrics such as total value locked, liquidity flows, trading volumes, and token-specific performance.

Pump and Dump refers to a manipulative scheme where a group coordinates to buy a low-liquidity asset heavily, artificially inflating its price, then quickly sells their holdings at the peak, leaving other buyers with losses.

Rebase refers to a mechanism where a token’s total supply is automatically adjusted periodically to maintain a target price, with each holder’s balance changing proportionally so their share of the supply remains constant.

RPC (Remote Procedure Call) refers to a protocol that allows a wallet or application to communicate with a blockchain node, enabling it to read data, broadcast transactions, and interact with the network.

Rug Pull refers to a malicious scam where developers suddenly remove liquidity, abandon a project, or steal investor funds, leaving holders with worthless tokens.

Seed Phrase refers to a series of randomly generated words that acts as a master key to a cryptocurrency wallet, able to restore access to all funds and requiring strict secrecy and security.

Sideways Market refers to a period when an asset’s price moves within a relatively stable horizontal range, without forming clear upward or downward trends, as buying and selling pressure remain roughly equal

Example: If TON trades between $20 and $25 for several months, constantly bouncing between support at $20 and resistance at $25 without breaking out in either direction, it’s in a sideways market.

Slippage refers to the difference between the expected price of a trade and the actual price at which the trade is executed, often occurring during periods of high volatility or low liquidity in the market.

Smart Contract refers to a self-executing contract with the terms of the agreement directly written into code, enabling automated, trustless transactions and functions on blockchain networks without intermediaries.

Smart Contract Address refers to a unique identifier on the blockchain where a deployed smart contract resides, allowing users and other contracts to interact with it by sending transactions to that address.

Stablecoin refers to a type of cryptocurrency designed to maintain a stable value by pegging to an external asset, usually a fiat currency like the US dollar, reducing volatility.

Staking refers to the process of locking up digital assets to contribute to the security and functionality of a blockchain network, with stakers receiving rewards in return for their participation, though traditionally these assets remain illiquid during the staking period.

Stop-Loss refers to an automated trading instruction to sell an asset when its price falls to a specified level, designed to limit potential losses on a position.

Swapping refers to exchanging one cryptocurrency for another, often facilitated by decentralized exchanges that allow users to trade directly from their wallets without intermediaries.

Token refers to a digital asset created on a blockchain that represents ownership or value within a decentralized ecosystem, often utilized for specific purposes such as accessing services, participating in governance, or representing real-world assets.

Token Burn refers to the permanent removal of tokens from circulation by sending them to an inaccessible address, reducing total supply and potentially creating deflationary pressure.

Token Wrapping refers to the process by which a native blockchain asset is converted into a tokenized version compatible with other ecosystems or platforms, with wrapped tokens maintaining their original value while gaining interoperability with different blockchain protocols.

Toncoin (TON) refers to the native cryptocurrency of The Open Network, a blockchain designed for fast, scalable transactions and decentralized applications, used primarily to pay for transaction fees and stake in the network’s validator ecosystem

Trading volume refers to the total quantity of a cryptocurrency that has been traded within a specified timeframe, typically measured on a daily basis, providing insights into market activity, liquidity, and potential price movements

Transaction ID (TxID) refers to a unique alphanumeric identifier assigned to every blockchain transaction, used to track, verify, and reference that specific transaction on the explorer.

Treasury refers to a pool of funds and assets held by a DAO or project to fund ongoing operations, development, marketing, and community initiatives.

TVL (Total Value Locked) refers to the total amount of cryptocurrency assets deposited in a DeFi protocol or smart contract, serving as a key metric to measure the overall value and adoption of DeFi platforms.

TWAP (Time-Weighted Average Price) refers to a trading strategy that splits a large order into smaller chunks executed at regular intervals over a set time period, minimizing market impact by avoiding a single large transaction.

Example: Instead of selling 10,000 TON all at once and crashing the price, a whale sets a TWAP order to sell 100 TON every 10 minutes over several hours, achieving a smoother average price.

Unstaking refers to the process of withdrawing staked tokens from a validator or staking pool, typically involving a predefined cooldown period during which assets remain locked but do not accrue rewards.

Validator refers to a network participant in proof-of-stake blockchains responsible for verifying transactions, proposing new blocks, and maintaining network security in exchange for rewards.

Vaults refer to automated DeFi products that implement predefined strategies to maximize yields on deposited assets, often by moving funds between different protocols and pools.

Vesting refers to a schedule that gradually releases tokens to team members, investors, or advisors over a set period to align long-term incentives and prevent immediate sell-offs.

Volatility refers to the statistical measure of price dispersion for an asset over time, with high volatility meaning large price swings and low volatility indicating more stable prices.

VWAP (Volume-Weighted Average Price) refers to a trading indicator that shows the average price of an asset weighted by trading volume, reflecting the true average price where most transactions occurred during a given period

Example: If a trader buys TON at $6.00 but the VWAP is $5.80, they purchased above the volume-weighted average, meaning they paid more than most other traders during that period.

Whitepaper refers to a comprehensive document published by a cryptocurrency project explaining its vision, technology, tokenomics, roadmap, and the problem it aims to solve.

Wrapped Token (WTON) refers to a tokenized version of Toncoin that follows the Jetton standard, making it compatible with DeFi protocols, DEXs, and dApps designed for the TON ecosystem.

Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZK-proof) refers to a cryptographic method that allows one party to prove to another that a statement is true without revealing any information beyond the validity of the statement itself, used for privacy and scaling solutions.