The must known Blockchain alphabets

A

51% attack: In a proof of work cryptocurrency such as bitcoin, if an attacker can control 51% of the hashing power on the network, they are technically able to rewrite the blockchain with erroneous information. The difficulty of the proof-of-work is supposed to make achieving this 51% nearly impossible.

ASIC: Application Specific Integrated Circuits are devices made for doing only one specific computational task and are used in bitcoin and other POW cryptocurrencies mining.

B

Bitcoin: The first cryptocurrency, introduced by Satoshi Nakamoto in 2008 and currently the largest cryptocurrency by value in the world. On November 9,2021 the market capitalization of Bitcoin is $ 1.28 trillion. Yes you heard the number right.

BitLicense: A specific license for cryptocurrency related to business in New York State.

Block: Each interval of the blockchain is know as a block. They are solved by mining and write new transaction on the blockchain.

Blockchain: The foundations of all current cryptocurrencies, the blockchain is a cryptographically secured ledger, updated to keep track of new transactions. Blockchain can also store other transaction data, not related to cryptocurrencies.

BOINC: Berkely Open Infrastructure for Network Computing is a program that allows sharing resources intensive computing task by breaking them into small pieces and distributing them amongst the volunteers across the internet.

Brute-force: The only method for most users to try and defeat public-key encryption. It involves guessing at the answer to nearly insurmountable mats equations until the right answer is reached. The brute-force method is the fundamental activity of Proof of work cryptocurrency mining.

Byzantine general problem: A mathematics problem used to solve problems of fault tolerance in computer systems, and in cryptocurrencies, to create consensus protocols for non-proof- of work cryptocurrencies.

C

CAPTCHA: Completely Automated Public turning test to tell human and computers apart, is a puzzle, typically involving an image and text embedded in a website to keep bots from flooding a site with spam traffic.

Child DAO: when a user decides to leave the DAO, they are placed in small split-off DAO called a Child DAO.

Correspondent accounts: Accounts that banks set up with each other to swap money back and forth.

CPU: Central Processing unit, the core processor of a computer.

Cryptocurrency: A cryptocurrency is a virtual currency that uses cryptography to secure itself typically within a distributed blockchain.

Cryptography: A method of using algorithms to encrypt messages between different parties. It also forms the basis of internet and computers security.

D

DAO: The distributed Autonomous Organisation, an autonomous corporation set up via Ethereum in 2016 designed to serve as an investment structure, it failed catastrophically in the same year, when a recursive split attack allowed an attacker to drain it of funds.

Dark web: a small, isolated version of the internet, set up within Tor system. There, all servers and visitor requests to those servers are masked by encryption and nearly impossible to identity.

Difficulty: To keep block length about the same, the cryptocurrency scale up the proof of work task, depending on how many computers are producing guess hashes at once. This scaling metric is called the difficulty.

Digital currency: A digital currency is a currency that can be expressed in digital format.

E

Ethereum: A cryptocurrency network that allows programming to be executed through the blockchain, potentially enabling smart contracts and autonomous organisation.

F

Fork: Derived from when two different developers take the source code into two different irreconcilable directions by making changes to it.

FPGA: Field Programmable Gate Arrays are multi-purpose chips that can be custom programmed for specific computations-intensive tasks.

G

GPU: Graphic processing unit, a processor designed to complete many small parallel tasks such as rendering graphics.

H

Hash: Part of cryptographic process in which a string of text is converted into a shorter, complex value. They are used to sign messages cryptographically.

Hash rate: An expression of how much mining is happening on a proof of work cryptocurrency network, typically measured in hash per second.

I

Intermediate nodes: Cryptocurrencies that assign a hierarchy to different computers in the network. Above the base users are the intermediate nodes which gave greater to authorise transactions and construct the topology of the network.

J

Jed McCaleb: Software developer who launched Mt.Gox in 2010, before selling the site to Mark Karpeles.

L

Lighting network: A suggested means of speeding up the bitcoin blockchain by allowing small repeating transactions to occur off-blockchain between trusted partner.

M

Malware: Software specifically designed to do harm to systems for other’s gain such as virus exploits,etc.

Mark Karpeles: Owner of Mt.Gox, after buying the site from Jed McCaleb in 2013, he was arrested in 2015 and faced charges related to the site’s demise.

Masternodes: In some intermediate-node cryptocurrencies like Dash, masternodes are computers in the network with a proven stake level. They function to approve transactions and construct blocks while other nodes do POW mining to solve the block.

Mining: The act of completing the POW, in which a computer produces hash guesses to solve a new block and add new transactions to the blockchain. Typically, computers solving blocks are rewarded by being transferred some quantity of cryptocurrency.

P

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP): One of the first software methods of public key encryption created Phil Zimmerman in 1991 and uploaded to the internet, where users could be downloaded for free.

Proof of Stake: An alternative to proof-of-work, this method adds new blocks to the blockchain by assigning this privilege to computers in the network that control a great deal of the cryptocurrency, judging them to be more trustworthy as they have more stake in the system.

Proof of Work: The mining activity necessary to produce new blocks in cryptocurrency like bitcoin. It involves brute-force guessing of hashes which they can be quickly verified by the algorithm.

Public-key encryption: Also called asymmetric encryption. This method of cryptography employs public and private keys so that two parties may exchange encrypted information without ever having to share the codebook.

R

Ransomware: Malware that encrypts the targets computer and then demands money, typically paid in bitcoin to decrypt the file.

Real-Time Gross Settlement Account: Also RTGS, a means for banks to move money between them by using a central bank.

Ripple: A cryptocurrency network designed to allow the international transfer of traditional currencies among banks, service providers and foreign exchange market makers.

Router: A small computer running a dedicated operating system designed to manage and direct internet traffic across home neighbourhoods or regions.

S

Satoshi-Nakamoto: The pseudonymous inventor of bitcoin. First Known to the world in 2008 when he released a whitepaper describing his idea for the cryptocurrency, he disappeared from the internet in 2011.