ACH - ACH payments are electronic payments made from one bank to another through the Automated Clearing House network. Many people already use ACH payments and may not know it, such as with direct deposit or paying bills online with checking accounts. ACH payments are a popular option for buying cryptocurrency for members on Uphold.
Address - A cryptocurrency address is used to send and receive transactions into Digital Wallets. Similar to a routing number, wallet owners share this address with anyone they wish to receive funds from.
Altcoin Altcoins are abbreviated from “bitcoin alternatives”. It’s used to describe any single cryptocurrency that is not bitcoin. Most popular altcoins use the same fundamental building blocks as bitcoin.
Arbitrage - Arbitrage is a technical term from the world of finance and economics. It is a form of trading that capitalizes on the price difference between two or more markets. For example, a trader practicing arbitrage might buy a currency in one market and sell it in another market at a higher price, earning a profit from a temporary difference in prices. The difference between the prices is called a spread.
ASICs - ASICS are application-specific integrated circuits designed to process only a specific kind of application. An ASIC is programmed to do one thing only, and it does this much faster and more efficiently than multi-purpose processors. Bitcoin mining ASICs are tailored to mining bitcoins quickly and efficiently.
ATH - ATH is an acronym for “all-time high.” In cryptocurrency discussions, ATH refers to the highest valuation reached to date for a particular currency.
Bear Market - Bear Market refers to a market where the prevailing trend is falling prices, encouraging selling. Bearish is used to describe speculators and analysts who have an outlook that assumes falling prices are likely to occur in the near future. The opposite of bearish is bullish.
Block - Blocks are where unalterable data from the network is stored, mainly the data for transactions.
Block Reward - The block reward is the prize miners receive for successfully validating a new block and adding it to the chain.
Blockchain Blockchain refers to the public ledger that records cryptocurrency transactions. A blockchain is a linear, chronological list of transaction records called blocks. The blocks are linked together and secured against tampering using cryptography. A blockchain is not stored in a single set of central servers controlled by one entity. Instead, a blockchain is spread around the globe using a vast network of private computers that simultaneously store data and execute computations.
Bull Market A term used to refer to a market where the prevailing trend is rising prices, encouraging buying. Bullish is used to describe speculators and analysts who have an outlook that assumes raising prices are likely to occur in the near future. The opposite of bullish is bearish.
Coin - Traditionally, the term “coin” has referred to small, flat, round piece of metal or plastic that serves as a medium of exchange and/or legal tender. With the rise of cryptocurrencies, the term “coin” has come to refer to individual units of account within a particular cryptocurrency.
Cold Storage - Cold storage refers to a method of storing a reserve of cryptocurrency offline. Cold storage eliminates the risk of theft from hackers, but creates new problems and risks of its own. Some of most popular cold storage methods include: