# Cryptocurrency Lexicon The vocabulary in which cryptocurrency is sold, secured, and — for the purposes of this vault — politicized. This is the **alphabetical dictionary view** for crypto terminology, mirroring the pattern at [[Authoritarianism Lexicon]] and [[Misogyny Lexicon]]: every entry lives in its canonical home (`/Terminology/Cryptocurrency/` for the vocabulary, `/Concepts/` for the underlying phenomena like [[Bitcoin]] and [[Blockchain]], and `/Companies/` or `/People/` for the actors), and this page is the single crypto-oriented map across all of them. For the **political-machinery view**, see [[Crypto-Political Machine]]. For the **Trump-corruption case file**, see [[$TRUMP Memecoin Universe]] and [[Trump Crypto Ventures]]. ## Why a lexicon view? Crypto terminology is split between two registers that a single read should be able to tell apart. One is **neutral mechanics** — how the technology actually works (smart contracts, mining, gas fees, keys). The other is **ideologically loaded vocabulary** — words doing political work, where the framing *is* the argument (CBDC, debanking, sound money, fiat-as-pejorative, programmable money). The alphabetical view sorts both together so you can look up a term you met in the wild, while the `register` and `function` fields on each entry flag which kind you are reading. ## A — Z ### CBDC [[CBDC]] — Central bank digital currency; a state-issued digital dollar. In right-wing discourse, a conspiracy nucleus for fears of financial surveillance and social-credit control. Government-issued digital money that crypto libertarians oppose as a surveillance tool and progressives worry gives central banks too much power over individual transactions. *Register: dogwhistle.* ### Crypto Mining [[Crypto Mining]] — The energy-intensive computation that secures proof-of-work chains and issues new coins; now a red-state energy-and-jobs story and a Trump-family business. The activity that consumes vast energy resources and creates environmental externalities. ### Crypto Wallet [[Crypto Wallet]] — Software or hardware holding the keys that control crypto; the object at the center of the custody-versus-self-custody fight. The interface between users and the blockchain. ### Debanking [[Debanking]] — Loss of banking access; reframed as coordinated ideological persecution and a marquee MAGA grievance. The practice of banks closing accounts of individuals or businesses in the crypto industry, often citing regulatory risk. *Register: colloquial.* ### Fiat Currency [[Fiat Currency]] — Government money not backed by a commodity; a neutral term weaponized into a pejorative for "worthless paper the state can debase." Used by crypto advocates to imply that dollar-based money is illegitimate because it relies on government authority rather than mathematical scarcity. *Register: colloquial/pejorative.* ### Gas Fees [[Gas Fees]] — The per-transaction cost of using a blockchain; the regressive friction that contradicts "cheap money for everyone" and reveals insider front-running. Can spike to hundreds of dollars during network congestion, creating a regressive barrier to entry. ### Memecoin [[Memecoin]] — A coin valued purely on hype with no utility claim; the asset class behind $TRUMP and the open-casino face of crypto. Dogecoin was the joke, TRUMP was the grift. *Register: colloquial.* ### Operation Choke Point 2.0 [[Operation Choke Point 2.0]] — Theory that regulators ran a covert campaign to debank crypto; the frame unifying scattered grievances into a persecution narrative. Named after an Obama-era initiative and used to justify the industry's pivot to Republican politics. *Coined: Nic Carter, 2023.* ### Private Key [[Private Key]] — The secret number authorizing spending from a crypto address; the literal embodiment of "be your own bank," carrying total sovereignty and unrecoverable risk. Losing it means permanently losing access to those assets. ### Programmable Money [[Programmable Money]] — Money whose use can be controlled by code; a real smart-contract feature reframed as the engine of social-credit tyranny. The capability that makes CBDCs both powerful and threatening. *Register: dogwhistle.* ### Proof of Stake [[Proof of Stake]] — Energy-free consensus where validators stake capital; resolves crypto's carbon problem but sharpens the securities question and concentrates power among large holders. The alternative consensus mechanism (Ethereum post-Merge) that validates transactions based on staked capital rather than computational work. ### Proof of Work [[Proof of Work]] — Security through wasted computation; for Bitcoin maximalists, near-theological proof that the coin's scarcity is backed by real energy. The consensus mechanism (Bitcoin) that validates transactions by requiring miners to solve computationally expensive puzzles; energy-intensive by design. ### Rug Pull [[Rug Pull]] — A crypto exit scam: hype a token, attract buyers, drain the value, vanish. The endemic fraud the permissionless token economy makes frictionless. *Register: colloquial.* ### Self-Custody [[Self-Custody]] — Holding your own keys rather than trusting an exchange; "not your keys, not your coins." Crypto's core sovereignty claim. The ideological principle that became practical advice after FTX collapsed with billions in customer funds. *Register: slogan.* ### Smart Contract [[Smart Contract]] — Self-executing on-chain code that moves money when conditions are met; the basis for DeFi, memecoins, and the "code is law" claim. The foundation of DeFi, NFTs, and the "code is law" ideology. *Coined: Nick Szabo, 1994.* ### Sound Money [[Sound Money]] — The doctrine that money should have a fixed, un-inflatable supply; the Austrian/gold-standard idea Bitcoin maximalism revived as crypto's moral core. Connects crypto to Austrian economics and right-libertarian politics. *Register: slogan.* ### Stablecoin [[Stablecoin]] — A crypto engineered to hold a fixed value (usually $1); the dollar on-ramp and the product behind the industry's first big federal law, the [[GENIUS Act]]. Designed to provide the stability that volatile crypto lacks, but whose reserves are often opaque or insufficient. ### Token vs Coin [[Token vs Coin]] — A coin is native to its own chain; a token is issued on top of one via a smart contract. The distinction explaining why anyone can mint a memecoin in minutes. ### Wash Trading [[Wash Trading]] — Buying and selling the same asset to yourself to create artificial volume and inflate perceived demand; rampant in crypto markets due to weak or nonexistent market surveillance. The market-manipulation technique that makes crypto trading volume unreliable as a signal. ## Underlying phenomena (in /Concepts/) - [[Bitcoin]] · [[Blockchain]] · [[Decentralization]] — the substance the vocabulary points at - [[Crypto-Political Machine]] · [[Crypto Super PACs]] · [[Trump Crypto Ventures]] · [[$TRUMP Memecoin Universe]] — the political machinery - [[GENIUS Act]] — the stablecoin legislation ## See Also - [[Economics Lexicon]] — the macroeconomic vocabulary that frames crypto debates - [[Cybersecurity Lexicon]] — the security infrastructure underlying blockchain systems