The Web3 community has their own terms, lingo and abbreviations
It’s not a secret that each community forms its own terminology and specific lingo. This is a natural process but doesn’t really help outsiders when they enter into a new space.
So we’ve figured, it would be helpful to provide you with an introduction into Web3 Community language so you will be able to understand the terminology and codewords that are frequently used! Oh, and before we forget: Yes, we’re trying to keep this updated regularly but obviously cannot guarantee this. So DYOR (see below what this means).
Airdrop
Airdrops are tokens (e.g. NFTs) that are directly sent to the wallets of users. Airdrops can be legit and are regularly used by large projects but they are also often used in scam-attacks and contain malicious code.
Alpha
The term “alpha” actually comes from investment banking and refers to a person or group of people who are characterized by particularly successful (usually financial) trading. For example, there are “alpha groups” consisting of members who are very successful in NFT trading or “alpha calls” which are project indications from people who are usually right because of their knowledge and can thus also trigger trends. People also refer to something being „alpha“ if they consider it insider knowledge or helpful knowledge.
Ape
Can be used both as a noun or as a verb. For example, people can be considered to be Apes if they invest heavily into cryptocurrencies or NFT-projects. If a person does such thing, this is often referred to „apeing into it“ and therefore it is used as a verb.
Bear Market
A bear market is a period of decline in financial markets. This is both valid for the traditional financial markets as well as for the cryptocurrency and Web3-market.
Bearish
This refers to the Bear Market. If a person is bearish towards something it indicates they have a rather pessimistic view on the expected future development.
Block Explorer
Block explorer are tools that are used for browsing and/or researching information such as transactions, wallets addresses, hash rates, and more on a blockchain. For example, Etherscan is the most commonly known block explorer for the Ethereum-network.
Bull market
A bull market is a period of rising developments in financial markets. It is the opposite of a Bear Market.
Bullish
If a person is bullish towards something it indicates they have a positive view on the expected future development.
Centralized
This is referred to a hierarchical structure where control is concentrated within a small group of people.
CEX
CEX stands for Centralized Exchange. These are cryptocurrency exchanged that are managed by a centralized business or entity.
Cold Wallet
A cold wallet is an offline device that is used to store tokens such as cryptocurrencies or NFTs. In most cases, when people refer to cold wallets, they mean an actual hardware device, such as the ones from the company Ledger. Generally, cold wallets are recommended due to the potentially increased security they offer.
Ceiling
The maximum price of an NFT collection during a certain time. Closely related but not the same as „All-Time-High“.
Community Manager / Community Management
Community Management is the task of being responsible of the community of a project or product. This has many potential implications and there is a variety of different understandings of what Community Management includes and what it does not include. The Community Manager for a Web3 project is usually the person or group of people that are between the Community itself or the Moderators and the project team. Therefore, in many cases this is an interface-role. Depending on the project, the size of the community, the responsibility, objectives and setup, a Community Manager has many different tasks to fulfill such as running and maintaining the Discord server, planning and preparing content and communication, engaging with Community Members, reporting to the team, organizing events and many more. For a more detailed look, check out or understanding of what a web3 community manager does here.
DAO
DAO stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organisation. This is a form of an organization that is based and run by open-source code and governed by its users or community. As a community-led entity it aims to be fully autonomous and transparent. DAOs are run by Smart Contracts that execute decisions on which the members agree on (either explicitly or automatically. Bitcoin itself is considered to be a DAO. Setting up DAOs is a complex undertaking, not only due to technical and organizational edge cases but also due to lack of available legal frameworks in many jurisdictions.
dApp
A dApp is a decentralized application that interacts with a blockchain like Ethereum via smart contracts on the back end. To sum it up easily, a dApp is basically a frontend with a smart contract backend.
DD / Due Diligence
DD stands for Due Diligence and this is a process of researching a project, a company or a product in order to understand it thoroughly. It is usually done before an investment decision is made and it is essential to do execute a DD before investing in a project or potentially deciding to not invest due to the outcome of the DD.
Degen
Degen is the abbreviation for the term „degenerated gambler“ and is usually used to refer to a person who is willingly doing risky investment without making much research or to a generally risky decision. It is also often used a self-assigned term of people that are generally active in the crypto- or Web3-space.
DEX
DEX stands for Decentralized Exchange which is the opposite of a centralized exchange. A DEX is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency exchange that is built and run on a blockchain. It is fully governed by the users and executed by smart contracts.
Discord
Discord is one of the most used communication platforms for Web3 and Web3 communities. It is available both as an app for Browser and Desktop as well as for smartphones. Web3-project-teams can create and to a certain extent customize a Discord-server for their purpose. The creation of a Discord-server of security-auditing a server and the admins of the respective server is service executed by Web3 Community Managers or specialized Discord-experts such as ourselves.
DeFi
DeFi stands for Decentralized Finance which is the provision of financial services like loans and currency swaps without the need for a central bank or exchange.
DYOR
DYOR stands for “Do your own research” – is to be understood as a disclaimer that what is said is not an investment or buying recommendation and that you should do your own research before coming to an opinion.
ERC
ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comments and it is the standard on which Ehtereum-based smart contracts are developed upon. There are various ERC-standards with the most famous being ERC-20, ERC-721 and ERC-1155 and more.
Fiat
Fiat is the term used by the crypto- and web3-community to refer to a currency established as a legal tender. Therefore, the US Dollar or the Euro are Fiat. The origin is from the latin word fiat which means „let it be done“. Fiat money is not backed by a commodity, e.g. gold or silver.
Flip
Flip means to quickly buy and sell crypto and/or NFTs in order to make a profit.
Floor (price)
The lowest price for an item from a collection during a certain time. Opposite of „Ceiling“.
FOMO
FOMO stands for “Fear of Missing Out”. Stands for buying an NFT or another token because you are afraid of missing out on “the next big thing”. Most of the time, these purchases are made spontaneously and without good research, which makes them very risky. FOMO is dangerous and here you should really be on your guard and always question yourself.
Fren
Simply means “friend” and is universally applicable, as the Web3 Community in most cases considers itself a large group of anonymous friends who all have the same goal. Often used jointly with GM, such as in „GM fren“ instead of a formal introduction.
FUD
FUD is the abbreviation for „Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt“. FUD is usually news or a rumor with negative implications that eventually turns out to be false or not fully correct. Negative news on a web3 project is often deemed as FUD by the community itself and people spreading these news and referring to them are called „fudders“. However, in many cases it is not clear if the negative news or rumors are actually true or not and therefore, calling people fudders is a commonly used method to discredit people asking critical questions towards a project.
Gas War
If a project is strongly hyped and many people want to mint at the same time, then the gas fee sometimes goes massively up. I.e. it can well happen that the gas fee is more expensive than the Mint itself. This is typically referred to as a gas war. Happens rarely during bear markets but still exists.
GM
GM = good morning – is simply abbreviated. The same applies to gn = good night
GMI
GMI = gonna make it – usually refers to “making it” financially and being successful. Often used as wgmi which stands for „We gonna make it“.
Gwei
Gwei is a denomination of the Ether-token and it is the unit in which gas prices are measured. 10^9 gwei equals 1 ETH.
HODL
Hodl is an intentional misspelling of the term „hold“ although often it is understand as an abbreviation of „Hold On for Deal Life“. In reality, it has its roots in an old bitcoin-forum where a user explained that he was „HODLING“ and others started using it intentionally until eventually it became a generally used term.
ICO
ICO is the abbreviation for Initial Coin Offering which is the first time of a public selling of a token. ICOs can be considered to be a crowdfunding approach. The term is related to the term IPO which is the Initial Public Offering of a companies stock.
IRL
IRL = “In Real Life”, i.e. outside of Discord, Twitter or Opensea but in actual real life.
Lambo
Lambo stands for Lamborghini and in Web3 communities, the financial ability to buy a Lamborghini is often used jokingly to describe success. The term „wen Lambo?“ is typically used to jokingly indicate that people are waiting for their investment to make them rich.
LFG
lfg = “Let’s fucking go” – often used for spamming. Should mean that the community cheers each other on and tries to hype something.
Looks rare
Rarity is one of the most relevant factors in the pricing of NFT-projects. However, the phrase “Looks Rare” is usually used ironically.
Market Cap
The Market Cap or Market Capitalization is the total value of an asset such as a token based on the current market price. Therefore, the market cap of cryptocurrency is the total amount of circulating supply of a token multiplied with the current value per token.
Moderator / Mod
Moderator is a role in many Web3 and NFT-projects. The Moderators are helping the Community Managers in engaging with the community itself. As Moderators are more prone to scamming attacks due to them being more engaged, they usually have less rights in the Discord-server of a project in order not to jeopardize the server itself.
OG
OG = “Original Gangster” and denotes project members who were part of the specific community of a web3-project from the beginning or very early. Sometimes used officially, sometimes unofficially. Originally the term comes from the hip-hop culture. It has a positive connotation and you usually have advantages if you actually have the OG status in a project.
Oracle
An Oracle is a service which is used by smart contracts in order to obtain data, mostly from „the real world“. As smart contracts are not able to access data outside of the blockchain they run on, they use oracles to retrieve and verify such data and/or events.
Paper hands
This term is used to describe people who sell a token such as a cryptocurrency or an NFT either very fast after buying or as soon as the price starts to drop. Paperhanding is often used with the intention to blame people of not trusting in a team or project.
PFP
PFP = Profile Picture. PFP-projects are a subcategory of NFT-projects and the most common type of projects currently. Whether it’s Cryptopunks, Bored Ape Yacht Club or Doodles, all of these projects are PFP projects. PFP can also stand for itself as a simple abbreviation.
Rekt
Rekt is derived from the word „wrecked“ and refers to somebody having haken high losses.
Rug / Rug Pull
A rug pull refers to a project that was never considered long-term by the project team or developers, but was only ever intended to be used to make a quick buck. Typically, “Rug Pull” stands for project teams that secretly disappear from the project after they have earned as much money as possible and thus bring the whole project to collapse. Can be differentiated into “Hard Rug” and “Soft Rug”.
ReFi
ReFi stands for Regenerative Finance and it’s a term used to describe blockchain and web3-based solutions that are addressing or aiming to solve issues around climate change and carbon footprint by enabling a more equitable and sustainable financial system.
Rollup
A rollup is a solution that aims to increase transactions for a blockchain and at the same decrease fees. This is usually reached via batching multiple transaction off-chain and them providing the result back on-chain as a single transaction.
Ser
Stands for “sir.” Often used respectfully to introduce oneself to others or to politely introduce another point of view. Regularly used as an alternative to „fren“ such as in „gm ser“.
Shill
To shill a project or a token refers to the act of promoting said project or token. This is often done as part of a paid engagement or with the objective to raise the price of a token. Often, shilling takes place via spamming on platforms such as Social Media. Shilling has a mostly negative connotation.
Smart Contract
A smart contract is a piece of backend code that is deployed on a Blockchain network, for example Ethereum. In it’s basics it follows simple if-this-then-that-logics.
Solidity
Solidity is the programming language for the Ethereum-network and it is used to write smart contracts.
Wallet
A wallet can either be a software application or a hardware device on which the private keys to cryptocurrencies or tokens can be stored. It is important to note, that a wallet does not store the actual currency or token but only the private keys that prove the ownership of said currency or token.
Web3
Web3 is term used to describe the next development stage of the internet which is built upon the basis of blockchain and aims towards open-source applications and caters to decentralized approaches. Nowadays, the term Web3 is often used to describe the various sub-sets of crypto-, blockchain- and NFT-projects and companies.
There are certainly many more terms and abbreviations we have not listed here. If you think another should be added, contact us!
If you want to learn more, check out the other Insights-Articles!
