Entities
42 entities · 25 relations · 37 sources (18 links verified)
Concepts
- Key pairA matched pair of keys. One is published to everyone; the other stays with the holder alone.
- Digital signatureA credential produced with the private key that anyone can check with the public one. The verifier never has to know the signer.
- Proof of workDoing something that costs real computation but takes an instant to check. First used to make sending spam expensive.
- Peer-to-peer networkA network with no central node, open for anyone to join.
- b-moneyA 1998 proposal for anonymous distributed electronic cash. It stayed a proposal and was never built.
- Bit GoldA late-1990s proposal for decentralized digital scarcity. Never built.
- Smart contractA program written onto the ledger. It executes automatically once its conditions are met, and anyone can call it.
- ERC-20The standard that fixes a token's fields and its transfer interface. Fill it in and you have an asset that circulates network-wide.
- NFTRecording who owns a particular thing on a public ledger. What it proves is which one belongs to whom.
Blockchains
- BitcoinThe peer-to-peer electronic cash system that went live in 2009 — the first digital ledger that did not depend on a trusted third party.
- EthereumThe programmable ledger that went live in 2015, where programs run on the ledger and execute the moment their conditions are met.
- EthereumThe chain that rolled back that transfer after the hard fork — what is now Ethereum.
- Ethereum ClassicThe chain that kept the original execution result after the hard fork.
- SolanaThe high-throughput blockchain that absorbed much of the demand pushed off a congested Ethereum in 2021.
- BSCOne of the compatible chains that absorbed overflow demand in 2021.
- AvalancheOne of the blockchains that absorbed overflow demand in 2021.
- TerraThe blockchain UST and LUNA lived on. It failed outright in May 2022.
Protocols
- UniswapA protocol that swaps tokens automatically by a fixed formula. The user holds their own assets throughout the trade.
- CompoundAn on-chain lending protocol. Deposit to earn interest, post collateral to borrow — the rules live in the contract.
- AaveAn on-chain lending protocol.
- MakerDAOThe protocol that mints the on-chain dollar DAI against over-collateralized deposits.
- CurveAn exchange protocol built for assets that should trade near the same price.
- YearnA protocol that calls other protocols to earn yield. Its users are protocols, not people.
- OrdinalsWriting data directly into Bitcoin blocks — the opposite of the route that moves data onto a second layer.
Tokens
- DAIA token pegged to one US dollar, issued against over-collateralized crypto assets.
- USTA stablecoin that held its one-dollar peg through a mint-and-burn mechanism rather than reserves. It broke in May 2022.
- LUNAThe token bound to UST by two-way mint-and-burn. It was hyperinflated once UST lost its peg.
Companies
- eCashA 1990s digital cash system operated by DigiCash, which went bankrupt in 1998.
- Mt.GoxThe largest early Bitcoin exchange. Breached in 2011, bankrupt in 2014.
- The DAOThe 2016 on-chain investment organization. Funds were taken out of its contract by the rules as written, triggering a hard fork.
- CryptoKittiesThe late-2017 on-chain collectible game whose traffic made Ethereum block space scarce for the first time.
- Three Arrows CapitalA hedge fund. Its exposure to Terra left it insolvent in June 2022.
- CelsiusA crypto lending platform that halted withdrawals in June 2022.
- VoyagerA crypto broker that filed for bankruptcy in July 2022.
- FTXA crypto exchange that stopped withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
- Alameda ResearchThe trading firm closely tied to FTX. The link between them was not publicly visible before the collapse.
Events
- Genesis blockThe first block of the Bitcoin ledger, recorded in January 2009.
- The first real-world transactionThe 2010 trade of bitcoin for a physical good, usually treated as the moment it first had real purchasing power.
- The Bitcoin whitepaperThe nine-page document published in October 2008 that assembled existing parts into a system needing no trusted third party.
- The 2008 financial crisisThe moment when having to trust an intermediary was doubted at scale for the first time.
- DencunThe 2024 Ethereum upgrade that gave second layers a cheaper channel for their data.