Glossary (A - Z)

A

Airdrop (also NFT Airdrop) — sending rewards, bonuses or free collectibles to promote a new NFT or increase the popularity of an existing one. In Superdao, an NFT Airdrop is sending membership NFTs to give users access to certain DAO.

B

Burning (also NFT Burning) — the irreversible process of eliminating NFT by sending it to a null address (a wallet owned by nobody). DAO membership NFT burning also cancels access to that DAO.

D

DAO — a group of people who agree to abide by certain rules written on a blockchain for a common purpose. Decentralized Applications (also dApps) — digital applications that run on a network of blockchain computers rather than relying on a single computer. They are free from the control and interference of a single authority. The benefits of dApps include protection of user privacy, no censorship, and flexibility of development. Decentralized Finance (also DeFi) — the movement that allows using financial services such as borrowing, lending, and trading without having to rely on centralized organizations. These services are provided through Decentralized Applications (Dapps), the majority of which are deployed on the Ethereum platform.

E

Ethereum (also Eth layer 1) — a decentralized blockchain platform that creates a peer-to-peer network that securely executes and verifies code for applications called smart contracts. Ethereum 2.0 (also Eth layer 2) — Ethereum as part of it's migration from a Proof-of-Work consensus mechanism to Proof-of-Stake consensus. Ethereum Request for Comment (also ERC) — a document written by smart contract programmers who use the Ethereum blockchain platform. In this document, they describe the rules that Ethereum-based tokens must meet. Ethereum Virtual Machine (also EVM) — a computational engine that acts as a decentralized computer with millions of executable projects. It is used to deploy Decentralized Applications (dApps) on the Ethereum blockchain. EVM interacts with Ethereum accounts, smart contracts, and distributed ledger.

G

Gas — fee one needs to pay to a blockchain network to perform all kinds of on-chain transactions. It is volatile and differs from network to network. Gas fee — is the charge you have to pay to the blockchain network to perform all kinds of on-chain transactions. It is volatile and differs from network to network. Gwei — the smallest ETH denomination that is equivalent to 1/1,000,000,000 of 1 ETH (1 ETH = 1,000,000,000 Gwei).

M

Matic — the main network for Polygon. Mainnet (also main network) — the main public Ethereum blockchain with real ETH, real value, and real consequences. Metadata (also NFT Metadata) — all the details about a digital asset such as the name, file name, tier, etc. Minting (also NFT Minting) — the process of publishing NFT on the blockchain and making it available for DAO access, transferring, burning, etc. Mumbai — the test network for Polygon.

P

Polygon (also Matic network) — a ‘layer two’ or ‘sidechain’ scaling solution that runs alongside the Ethereum blockchain, providing fast transactions and low fees. Private key (also password) — a string of letters and numbers that allows you to access and manage your crypto funds.

S

Seed phrase — a series of words generated by your crypto wallet that give you access to the crypto associated with that wallet. Solidity — the most commonly used object-oriented programming language for implementing smart contracts on various blockchain platforms, mainly Ethereum. Programs in Solidity run on the Ethereum Virtual Machine. Smart contract — a piece of code stored on a blockchain that run when predetermined conditions are met. Exactly like a traditional contract between two people would be executed. Stablecoin — a digital currency pegged to a ‘stable’ reserve asset like the U.S. dollar or gold. Stablecoins are designed to reduce volatility relative to unpegged cryptocurrencies.

T

Token — a digital asset defined by a project or smart contract and built on a specific blockchain. Tokenomics — a portmanteau of the words 'token' and 'economics,' tokenomics refers to all the aspects of a cryptocurrency that can impact the price such as total supply, vesting, and utility.

W

Wallet (also Web3 wallet or crypto wallet or cryptocurrency wallet) — an essential tool to access the Web3 space, which allows you to interact with dApps on various blockchains (DeFi, Gaming, NFTs, etc.). Web3 wallets are basically digital wallets that have the ability to store digital assets. One of the most popular Web3 wallets is MetaMask. Whitelist — (usually) pre-approved list of users that are allowed access to a token sale or NFT sale with special conditions.