Glossary
The vocabulary of markets, crypto, macro and our own method — defined plainly. Every term you’ll meet across The Distributed, in one place.
13F Filing: A Simple Guide To What A Form 13F Filing Is
MarketsForm 13F is the quarterly SEC report from managers running 100 million dollars or more in 13(f) securities. What it covers, what it hides, and when it is due.
Read the full explainer51% Attack Definition
MarketsA 51% attack is a potential attack where a person or group gains a majority of a blockchains hashing power to control the network and its ledger. How Does A 51% Attack Work? Whenever a cryptocurrency exchange happens, the transactions are stored within a.
Read the full explainerAccount Abstraction
MarketsOn Ethereum, there are two types of accounts; externally owned accounts (EOAs) and contract accounts (CAs). EOAs are controlled by someone with private keys and CAs are opperated by code and stored within smart contracts – usually within dApps and DeFi.
Read the full explainerApplication Layer Protocols
MarketsAny sustainable system requires the ability to adapt to changes. A blockchain protocol is a critical part of any distributed ledger, facilitating the communication of vital information such as; transaction validation, system security, the interaction of.
Read the full explainerAuthor-trust score
MethodA per-account weighting that discounts bot-like and low-history accounts so a handful of noisy posters cannot move a reading.
Basis point
MacroOne hundredth of a percentage point. Rate moves are quoted in basis points: a 25 bp hike is a quarter of a percent.
Blockchain Bridge
MarketsBlockchain bridges facilitate the communication and transfer of information across blockchains.((Ethereum – Blockchain Bridges)) Bridges create a "wrapped" token that represents the same token on separate chains, whether layers or sidechains((Binance – What's.
Read the full explainerBlockchain Interoperability
MarketsBlockchain interoperability is the compatibility between blockchains, allowing for features and information to be shared between chains. Interoperability is achieved through sidechains, oracles, bridges,((Gemini – Cross-Chain Interoperability: What it Means.
Read the full explainerBlockchain Protocol
MarketsA protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information. Some internet protocols include IP, HTTPS, and DNS. For blockchains, it allows nodes to communicate information, building a distributed.
Read the full explainerBrute-Force Attack
MarketsA Brute-Force attack, also known as exhaustive key search, is a hack using complex algorithms attempting to crack a password or key by trial and error to find the correct plaintext or password. As the password's length increases, the amount of time needed to.
Read the full explainerBull / neutral / bear split
MethodThe share of classified mentions scored positive, neutral and negative, summing to one hundred percent over the sample.
Cashtag
MarketsA ticker written with a dollar prefix, such as $NVDA. The lowest-ambiguity signal the pipeline extracts.
CBDC
CryptoA central bank digital currency — government-issued money in digital form, run on rails the central bank controls rather than a public blockchain.
Read the full explainerCentral Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs)
MarketsA central bank digital currency (CBDC) is a virtual currency backed by a country's fiat currency and issued by its central bank. CBDCs were inspired by the increased popularity of virtual currencies based on a blockchain, like Bitcoin, although a CBDC is not.
Read the full explainerCirculating Supply
MarketsThe circulating supply of a cryptocurrency project is an approximation of the number of tokens in public hands, being publicly available and circulating through markets. It is a metric that never stays the same, it often increases or decreases based on market.
Read the full explainerConfidence score
MethodA composite, calibrated score for each extracted entity, combining source, format, financial context and reference validation.
Consensus Mechanisms
MarketsConsensus is when a general agreement is reached. In reference to blockchains, consensus mechanisms are fault-tolerant systems utilized to reach an agreement on a single state of data within the network among distributed nodes. ((Shubhani Aggarwal and Neeraj.
Read the full explainerCoordinated activity
MethodA flagged spike in mentions driven by a small set of authors posting heavily — the pattern of a pump attempt rather than organic attention.
Core CPI
MacroCPI with food and energy stripped out — the steadier read the Federal Reserve watches for underlying inflation.
CPI
MacroThe Consumer Price Index — the headline US inflation gauge, tracking the price of a fixed basket of goods and services. We chart it year over year.
Crypto Airdrops
MarketsA cryptocurrency airdrop is a free distribution of tokens to a wallet to raise awareness, supply, and liquidity for a project. Small portions of the circulating supply are "airdropped" to various wallets. These can be random, although usually requiring the.
Read the full explainerCrypto mining
CryptoThe work of validating proof-of-work blocks by spending compute; miners earn newly issued coins plus fees for each block they win.
Read the full explainerCrypto Mixer
MarketsA crypto mixer, crypto washer, or crypto tumbler is a service that mixes various streams of cryptocurrencies together increasing their anonymity and making it harder to track back to the original source.((Usman W. Chohan, MBA – The Cryptocurrency Tumblers.
Read the full explainerCryptocurrency Burning
MarketsCryptocurrency burning is the process of intentionally removing coins from the circulating supply of a specific token. This deflationary process is done to decrease the supply of tokens, adding more value to the ones which remain. The price doesn't increase.
Read the full explainerCryptocurrency Market Cap
MarketsA cryptocurrency market cap defines how large a cryptocurrency is by multiplying the current price by the circulating supply. Market Cap = Current Price x Circulating Supply Market Cap Of $1,000,000 = $5 Per Token x 200,000 Circulating Tokens Importance Of A.
Read the full explainerCryptocurrency Mining
MarketsCryptocurrency mining is how new transactions are validated on a blockchain's public ledger. Validating transactions results in a reward of the cryptocurrency on the blockchain – adding new coins into circulation. How Does Cryptocurrency Mining Work? A miner.
Read the full explainerCryptographic Hash Function
MarketsA cryptographic hash function takes any sized inputs and outputs a fixed length, called the hash value, using mathematics to do so. Compared to traditional hash functions, cryptographic hash functions have a wide array of security properties to better secure.
Read the full explainerCryptographic Keys
MarketsA cryptographic key is a string of numbers and letters used to alter a message into/out of a cipher through an algorithm. Public-key cryptography (PKC) uses a pair of public keys and private keys, getting its name because it can either lock or unlock the data.
Read the full explainerDAO
CryptoA decentralized autonomous organization — a project governed by token-holder votes executed through smart contracts instead of a boardroom.
Read the full explainerDeadcoin
MarketsCryptocurrencies can die, when this happens they're declared a 'Deadcoin'. Deadcoins are crypto projects which turned out to be a scam, have been abandoned by the founders, and have low liquidity among other reasons making the project no longer feasible.
Read the full explainerDecentralized Applications (dApps)
MarketsDecentralized applications (dApps) are software programs built upon a peer-to-peer network of computer nodes, such as a blockchain. They exist to cut the middleman out of financial transactions, with smart contracts taking their place. For an application to.
Read the full explainerDecentralized Autonomous Organizations (DAOs)
MarketsA Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) is an organization that is owned and managed by its own members, without the need for central governance. A group of developers from the Ethereum community who were inspired by the principles of cryptocurrencies.
Read the full explainerDecentralized Finance (DeFi)
MarketsDecentralized finance (DeFi) is a collective term that describes emerging financial applications aimed at disrupting traditional financial systems. Through the elimination of the intermediary, the control financial institutions have upon money is minimized.
Read the full explainerDeFi
CryptoDecentralized finance — lending, trading and yield built from smart contracts, with no bank or broker in the middle.
Read the full explainerDigital Signatures
MarketsDigital signatures verify the authenticity of a message, document, or transaction through cryptographic encryption. A valid digital signature gives the receiver a strong conviction that the message is authentic and wasn't altered along its path, as it is.
Read the full explainerDistributed Ledger Technology (DLT)
MarketsTable Of ContentsWhat Is Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT)?Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) ExplainedHow Does DLT Track Data?How Is Distributed Ledger Technology Used?Decentralized Use Cases Of DLTCentralized Use Cases Of DLT What Is Distributed Ledger.
Read the full explainerERC-20
CryptoThe Ethereum standard most fungible tokens are built on; wallets and exchanges can support any ERC-20 token the day it launches.
Read the full explainerERC-20 Token Standard
MarketsNot all cryptocurrencies have their own blockchain. Rather there are some that run on top of a blockchain, these are called tokens. The most popular and well-known example of this is Ethereum, with over 500,000 tokens running on top of the Ethereum.
Read the full explainerERC-4337 Standard
MarketsEthereum Request for Comments 4337 is an account abstraction proposal that would enable customizability to wallets without the need for consensus-layer protocol changes.((Ethereum Improvement Proposals – EIP-4337: Account Abstraction via Entry Point Contract.
Read the full explainerERC-721 NFT Standard
MarketsNon-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are digital assets based on a blockchain and are linked with distinctive codes and metadata to separate them from other tokens on the blockchain. These types of tokens can be used to create unique artworks, memorabilia, trading.
Read the full explainerEthereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)
MarketsEthereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs) are documents that propose new features, and changes to the network. EIPs can be submitted by any member of the Ethereum community and the author is responsible for building consensus and adapting the proposal based on.
Read the full explainerEthereum Name Service (ENS)
MarketsThe Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is an extendible naming system that replaces hard-to-remember crypto addresses with easy-to-remember names. The ENS replaces a long address such as "0x1287fgn74nd736hd673…" with something like "thedistributed.eth". The ENS'.
Read the full explainerEthereum Request For Comments (ERC)
MarketsAn Ethereum Request For Comments (ERC) is a rule-defining, technical standard for implementing smart contracts and/or tokens within the Ethereum ecosystem. ERCs propose improvements to the existing protocol and standards within the network. How Do ERCs Work?
Read the full explainerEthereum Virtual Machine (EVM)
MarketsThe Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) is a digital and decentralized environment, it is the master computer and backbone of the entire Ethereum blockchain. The Ethereum Virtual Machine is the hardware that facilitates all operations on the Ethereum blockchain.
Read the full explainerFinBERT
MethodThe sentiment model that scores each mention from negative one to positive one. Most reliable on formal financial text, weaker on sarcasm.
Flippening Definition
MarketsThe flippening describes the hypothetical situation where Bitcoin's market cap is overturned by Ethereum. The term rose to popularity in 2017-2018 by hopeful Ethereum investors after seeing the price of Bitcoin dip to lows not seen for a long time. Market.
Read the full explainerForm 4
MarketsThe SEC filing a company insider must submit after buying or selling their own stock. Our insider-trades tables are built from these.
Fractionalized NFTs (F-NFTs)
MarketsFractionalized NFTs are NFTs that are divided into smaller fractions. This allows for split ownership of a single digital asset, making expensive assets more accessible. NFTs are built upon the basis of being non-fungible, hence the name. Of course, having.
Read the full explainerGas fee
CryptoThe fee paid to have a blockchain transaction processed; on Ethereum it rises and falls with network congestion.
Read the full explainerGas Fee
MarketsGas fees are the cost that is required to attempt a transaction. This is decided based on the computational energy needed to confirm a transaction. These transactions take time, energy, and computational effort, which doesn't come for free. The fees are.
Read the full explainerGasless Transactions
MarketsGasless transactions, also known as meta-transactions((OpenZeppelin – Sending Gasless Transactions)), are a way for users to send tokens without the associated gas fees. Gasless transactions are meant to make decentralized applications (dApps) more.
Read the full explainerGwei Definition
MarketsGwei or gigaWei is the most commonly used denomination of Ether's Wei. It's comparable to Ether like a cent is to a dollar because gas prices are easily specified with Gwei. 1 Gwei is equal to 0.000000001 ETH, and usually, its easier to quote gas prices with.
Read the full explainerHalving
CryptoThe scheduled event that cuts bitcoin's new-coin issuance in half, roughly every four years.
Inheriting Cryptocurrency
MarketsCan You Inherit Cryptocurrency? Passing on your cryptocurrency in the event of death is possible, albeit more complicated than physical assets. Firstly, a majority of crypto wallets and accounts aren't like traditional investment accounts, with a large.
Read the full explainerKnow Your Customer (KYC)
MarketsKnow Your Customer (KYC) is a set of requirements set in place by financial institutions to verify the identity of users on a platform. These requirements differ for every platform and country but include things such as date of birth, home address, license.
Read the full explainerLiquidity pool
CryptoA smart-contract reserve of paired tokens that traders swap against — pricing comes from a formula, not an order book.
Read the full explainerLiquidity Pool
MarketsA liquidity pool is an assortment of cryptocurrencies locked within a smart contract that provides liquidity for various types of transactions on decentralized finance (DeFi) protocols. Decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are the most popular users of liquidity.
Read the full explainerLiquidity Provider (LP)
MarketsA liquidity provider (LP) is a user who funds a liquidity pool. An LP will use their own cryptocurrencies and deposit them within the smart contract associated with the liquidity pool, in return for getting paid interest for their deposit. Decentralized.
Read the full explainerMarket cap
MarketsThe total value of a company's shares — share price times shares outstanding. The default sort for our market tables.
Maximum Supply
MarketsThe maximum supply is the total amount of tokens that will enter circulation in the lifetime of a cryptocurrency project. This includes all tokens which have and haven't been minted and tokens which have been lost or burned. A majority of projects will issue.
Read the full explainerMemory Pool (Mempool)
MarketsA memory pool, or mempool, is the "waiting room" where unconfirmed transactions are held before they've been verified on a blockchain ledger. After a node verifies the transaction, it waits in the Mempool until it’s then picked up by a miner and inserted in a.
Read the full explainerMention volume
MarketsThe count of classified mentions of an entity over a window, summed across the tracked subreddits.
Mining Hashrate Explained
MarketsA mining hashrate is the amount of processing power a miner or network has to process transactions onto a blockchains ledger. The hashrate of a miner refers to the number calculations a rig can solve per second, known as a hash. The hashrate of a network.
Read the full explainerMinting An NFT
MarketsA non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital asset stored on a blockchain. These assets cannot be traded like for like, this is in direct comparison to cryptocurrencies. NFTs have unique metadata and identifiers encoded within them which distinguishes them from.
Read the full explainerNER
MethodNamed-entity recognition. The model that identifies tickers, company names, ETFs and commodities in raw Reddit text.
Net sentiment
MarketsThe mention-weighted average sentiment for an entity over the window, on a negative one to positive one scale.
NFT
CryptoA non-fungible token — a unique on-chain record of ownership for one specific digital or real-world item, unlike interchangeable coins.
Read the full explainerNFT Wash Trading Explained
MarketsWash trading in regards to NFTs is the process of buying and selling NFTs in a way to manipulate or mislead the market through artificially increased prices or heightened trading volume. After the success of projects like CryptoPunks and B.A.Y.C., users are.
Read the full explainerNodes
MarketsNodes are responsible for acting as a point of redistribution or a communication point. In the essence of a blockchain, they perform different functions as needed, such as communicating information about transactions and/or blocks from peer-to-peer through.
Read the full explainerNon-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)
MarketsA non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital asset stored on a blockchain. NFTs have unique metadata and identifiers encoded within them which distinguishes them from other tokens and this data cannot be falsified. The term non-fungible is something that cannot be.
Read the full explainerNumber Only Used Once (Nonce) Definition
MarketsA cryptographic nonce is an abbreviation for "number only used once". In reference to cryptocurrency mining, it is a number added to a hashed block that, when rehashed, meets the mining.
Read the full explainerOn-chain
CryptoActivity recorded directly on a blockchain — transfers, balances, contract calls — public and verifiable by anyone.
Peer-To-Peer (P2P)
MarketsPeer-to-Peer (P2P) is a distributed communication model where nodes or peers communicate with each other directly without the use of a central server or third party. A distributed network architecture may be referred to as P2P only if peers share a portion of.
Read the full explainerPPI
MacroThe Producer Price Index — inflation measured at the factory gate, before it reaches consumers. Often moves ahead of CPI.
Proof of stake
CryptoA consensus design where validators lock up tokens for the right to confirm blocks — misbehave and the stake is slashed.
Read the full explainerProof-of-Stake (PoS)
MarketsProof-of-Stake (PoS) is a set of consensus mechanisms built to process transactions on a blockchain. A validator is randomly selected to validate a transaction based on their stake in the network. This is a direct combat against the flawed and.
Read the full explainerRetroactive Airdrops
MarketsRetroactive Airdrops are among the frequent ways to reward early adopters in the fast-changing world of cryptocurrencies. The main difference of such an airdrop from all the rest is that it gives a reward to those who, one way or another, helped develop or.
Read the full explainerRug Pull
MarketsA rug pull is an exit scam where crypto developers swiftly abandon an ongoing project, taking all of the investor's funds with them. They pull the rug from under investors' feet. How Does A Rug Pull Work? Rug pulls are most common within Decentralized Finance.
Read the full explainerSample size
MethodThe number of classified mentions behind a figure, shown as n= on every reading so you can weigh it.
Satoshi Unit (SATS) Definition
MarketsA Satoshi Unit, or SATS, is currently the smallest denomination of Bitcoin (BTC), named after the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto. As dollars split into cents, Bitcoins split into Satoshis with one Satoshi equaling 0.00000001 BTC. Currently.
Read the full explainerSeed phrase
CryptoThe ordered list of words that regenerates a crypto wallet's keys. Whoever holds the phrase holds the funds.
Read the full explainerSeed Phrase
MarketsA seed phrase or recovery phrase is a set of 12, 18, or 24 random words at the core of a wallet's private key generation and is the only backup for your private key.((Ledger – How To Protect Your Seed Phrase?)) Seed phrases are generated by most reputable.
Read the full explainerSHA-256
MarketsSecuring Hashing Algorithm 256 (SHA-256) is the hashing algorithm used to secure blockchains such as Bitcoin, where the hashing function emits a 256-bit wide output. The hashing algorithm is responsible for wallet address creation and management along with.
Read the full explainerShort interest
MarketsThe share of a company's tradable stock currently sold short — a rough gauge of how many traders are positioned against it.
Sidechain
MarketsA sidechain is a blockchain that runs independent of the mainchain but is interoperable through a two-way bridge.((Ethereum – Sidechains)) A majority of sidechains exist to fix issues on the mainchain such as scalability and speed. They focus on one specific.
Read the full explainerSlippage
MarketsThe gap between the price you expected and the price you got — the cost of moving size through thin liquidity.
Read the full explainerSmart contract
CryptoCode deployed on a blockchain that executes automatically when its conditions are met — the building block of DeFi, NFTs and DAOs.
Read the full explainerSmart Contracts
MarketsA smart contract is a set of agreements stored within a database that runs when pre-determined conditions are met. Smart contracts automate the execution of an agreement so both parties can verify the outcome through the open-source nature of the contract.
Read the full explainerSoulbound Tokens (SBTs)
MarketsA non-fungible token (NFT) is a digital asset stored on a blockchain. NFTs have unique metadata and identifiers encoded within them which distinguishes them from other tokens and this data cannot be falsified. NFTs are transferable, never being tied to one.
Read the full explainerSpot ETF
CryptoAn exchange-traded fund that holds the asset itself — such as bitcoin — rather than futures on it, so the share price tracks the spot market.
Stablecoin
CryptoA crypto token designed to hold a fixed value, usually one US dollar, backed by reserves of cash and short-term debt.
Read the full explainerStablecoins
MarketsStablecoins are cryptocurrencies with a value pegged to a reserve asset, which can help stabilize the price of the cryptocurrency. Stablecoins are generally created, or “minted,” in exchange for fiat currency that an issuer receives from a user or third.
Read the full explainerTestnet
MarketsTest networks, or Testnets, are a blockchain separate from the mainnet used to test new implementations on the network without risk to the main chain. Testnets are used to test new features and tools without deploying them directly on the main chain.
Read the full explainerTicker
MarketsThe exchange symbol for a security, such as NVDA. The canonical key the pipeline normalises every mention to.
Token Lockup
MarketsA token lockup is a certain amount of time when tokens are incapable of being transacted and/or traded. Also known as vesting periods, these usually after an initial coin offering (ICO), and affect a certain amount of owners – typically the core developers.
Read the full explainerTokenized Assets
MarketsTokenized assets allow for information and value to be stored, transferred, and verified on a blockchain using distributed ledger technology. Both physical and digital assets may be turned into fungible tokens. Tokenized assets that are native to a blockchain.
Read the full explainerTokenomics
CryptoA token's economic design: supply, issuance, unlock schedule and how value is meant to accrue to holders.
Read the full explainerTotal Supply
MarketsTotal token supply refers to the all of cryptocurrencies that have been mined and issued. The total supply doesn't include tokens that have been burned, but does include tokens that have been locked following something like an ICO or being held in a reserve.
Read the full explainerTotal Value Locked (TVL)
MarketsTotal value locked (TVL) is a metric that describes the value of the entirety of deposited assets within a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, called a dApp. TVL can describe a variety of different assets through the eyes of a smart contract, such as.
Read the full explainerTrapdoor Function
MarketsIn cryptography, a trapdoor function is one that can easily be computed in one direction but the inverse is very difficult to perform. These functions can use a secret to efficiently perform the inverse calculation. Trapdoor functions are one-way functions.
Read the full explainerTriangular Arbitrage
MarketsTriangular arbitrage is an advanced form of trading strategy that seeks to exploit price differences between three cryptocurrencies on the same trading platform. First discussed in stock and foreign exchange markets, it is more common in Bitcoin because of.
Read the full explainerUnspent Transaction Output (UTXO)
MarketsWithin the world of blockchain, when users transact their cryptocurrencies there are inputs and outputs. Inputs are unspent outputs from a previous transaction.((Cardano Docs – Understanding The Extended UTXO Model)) The Unspent Transaction Output (UTXO).
Read the full explainerValidator
MarketsA validator is a node responsible for validating transactions within a blockchain network, recording them on the distributed ledger. A node is a point of communication in a peer-to-peer system, with various types of them existing. In our case, validator nodes.
Read the full explainerWei Definition
MarketsWei is the smallest denomination of Ether, or ETH, the cryptocurrency on the Ethereum network. Wei takes its name from Cypherpunk member Wei Dai who proposed the first real cryptocurrency called B-Money, which is essentially a forerunner to Bitcoin, although.
Read the full explainerWrapped Tokens
MarketsA wrapped token transfers the value of one cryptocurrency across to another chain. They are tokenized versions of tokens. A token allows for information and value to be stored, transferred, and verified within a blockchain. These tokens can be fungible, or.
Read the full explainerYear-over-year
MacroA reading compared against the same month a year earlier — the standard way inflation prints are quoted, and how our macro charts are drawn.
Yield curve
MacroTreasury yields plotted from short to long maturities. When short yields sit above long ones — an inversion — recessions have often followed.
zk-SNARK
MarketsZk-SNARK is a zero-knowledge proof protocol utilized by cryptographic encryption. Zk-SNARK is an acronym that stands for “Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge.” Zk-SNARKs allow users to quickly verify proof that a computation has a.
Read the full explainer