It doesn’t matter if you’re a novice or a seasoned pro. The blockchain is a fast-paced environment, and you must be conversant in the community’s jargon. The crypto and NFT groups have their own dialect, and this article will help you understand some of them.
Let’s go over some of these NFT slang terms to know
1. Airdrop
These are new NFTs or cryptocurrencies that are transferred to your wallet immediately and for free. This strategy is used to recruit and reward early project adopters.
2. Project
An NFT project is a collection of art or digital assets that are collectively distributed as part of a larger story or road map. Fluf World and Loot are two recent compilations that are worth checking out.
Typically, the artist or creator will give a “Roadmap” for their concept, which is intended to assist you to grasp the scope, purpose, and direction of the project. Once you’ve grasped the scope of a project, you can determine whether or not you want to participate. Before you invest in a project, always do your own research (DYOR).
3. WAGMI
This is the acronym for “We’re All Gonna Make It”. When there is good news, it is presented in this way.
4. PFP
It means profile picture. It’s important to note that this is not the same as an avatar; it’s only meant to serve as a unique, personal profile photo, and you won’t be able to use it for anything else.
5. Alpha
This means having access to critical insider knowledge. For example, “I work at Opensea, so I have Alpha on the new musicians we’re collaborating with next month”.
6. Collectible
Something that is considered to have worth or rarity, such as LEGOs or sneakers that were produced in limited quantities.
7. DAO(Decentralised Autonomous Communities)
DAOs, or decentralized autonomous organizations, are communities that are owned by their individual members and do not have a single individual or organization serving as its central leader. Instead, the rules and governance are written into smart contracts that are stored on the blockchain, and the only way that changes can be made is through the vote of members of the DAO.
8. DEX
Instead of going through a third party, decentralized exchanges (DEX) enable peer-to-peer (P2P) transactions.
9. Drop
An event in which users are rewarded with free tokens/NFTs in exchange for holding onto specific assets.
10. ERC-721
A token standard that enables the generation of non-fungible, unique tokens. It’s not like ERC-20, which is used to create fungible tokens.
11. Fiat
Government-issued currencies (e.g., the US dollar, the euro, and the British pound) are not pegged to the price of gold or silver.
12. GameFi
Refers to decentralized applications (dapps) with economic incentives, which typically reward tokens or NFTs to users who complete game-related tasks such as winning battles, mining in-game materials, or nurturing digital crops. Play-to-earn is another term for this strategy (P2E)
13. Gwei
The cryptocurrency ether has a denomination called Gwei (ETH). Gwei, often known as nanoether, is the ninth power of the fractional ETH (i.e. 0.000000001 ETH). Simply said, Gwei is the amount of gas required to complete a transaction or execute a contract on the blockchain.
14. IDO
IDO is an acronym for “Initial Game Offering.” IGO players get early access to in-game assets (usually NFTs) while supporting the game’s early development, similar to an ICO.
15. AB
Art Blocks, in reality, is a generative art platform that makes, sells, and saves generative art on the Ethereum blockchain. Fidenza is one of the most well-known Art Blocks collections, with #313 being the most expensive piece ever sold, fetching 1,000ETH in August 2021.
16. Ape in
Ape in is a term used to describe people who rush into purchasing a new NFT or currency without conducting extensive due diligence or study. It all started with the ‘apes together, strong’ meme. However, it is always recommended not to jump into any projects without first conducting a thorough study and knowledge of what you’re purchasing.
17. Bot
A bot is a piece of software that is programmed to carry out specified tasks. To handle trades and execute transactions on behalf of human investors, for example, and to provide a variety of Discord server customizations, such as answering frequently asked questions, offering mini-games to their communities, spitting out jokes on a daily basis, and so on.
18. Copycat
Copycat is one of the NFT slang terms that are easy to understand. It originally referred to someone who imitated another’s ideas, looks, or behavior; however, in the NFT world, it refers to a knock-off project that imitates a more popular project.
19. Degen
Degen is short for “degenerate,” and it usually refers to persons who make dangerous and unwise bets on a regular basis. It can refer to persons who engage in digital assets like NFTs without conducting due diligence in the crypto industry.
20. Delist
It refers to the act of removing an NFT from the open market for sale.
21. Discord
For NFTs and gamers, Discord is one of the most popular social networking networks. The majority of NFT projects have their own Discord channels to keep the community active and updated about new project developments.
22. Dutch auction
The Dutch auction is a bidding strategy that takes into account all offers for a specific asset before determining a ceiling price that declines with time.
23. Flipping
The term “flipping” refers to the practice of purchasing products at a low cost and swiftly selling them for a profit. In the NFT market, flipping is becoming more prevalent, when people acquire and sell NFTs for a quick profit, especially during the early stages of projects when demand is stronger.
24. Floor price
The lowest price indicated for an NFT project is referred to as the “floor price.” It doesn’t imply you should constantly buy NFTs at floor pricing because most of them are lower in rarity; nonetheless, it is an excellent starting place for new joiners for the project.
25. Floor is lava
The phrase “floor is lava” stems from a children’s game in which they must avoid touching the floor at all costs. It also became a meme to describe the things we want to avoid in life. Because “floor” in the NFT world refers to “floor price,” “floor is lava” means “avoiding the low price,” implying that the floor price will rise.
26. Floor sweeping
This is one of the NFT slang terms to know. It refers to a person or a group of people who are constantly purchasing NFTs at the lowest price. On many NFT project Discord channels, you can often hear people yelling “sweep the floor!” to encourage community members to buy NFTs at the floor price in order to boost the project’s floor price.
27. IMX
Immutable X (IMX) is the first layer 2 Ethereum for NFTs. Immutable X has zero to extremely low gas fees, which is gaining popularity as fees on Ethereum-based NFT platforms like OpenSea can be rather exorbitant at times.
28. IPFS
It is a protocol and peer-to-peer (P2P) network for storing and sharing data on a distributed file system. It is short for “Interplanetary File System.” IPFS is a large-scale project Foundedby Juan Benet in 2015 with the goal of addressing some of the problems with HTTP.
For example, uploading content to the IPFS network requires every node to host data on the network, which is decentralized and distributed, rather than relying on a single-host server. NFT photos are typically hosted on IPFS platforms like Pinata.
29. Mint
The word “mint” means “to generate for the first time.” Minting is the process of creating a new NFT in the NFT world.
30. Moonboy
Moonboy is a term used to describe someone who is not reasonable and has unwavering trust in a coin/NFT project regardless of the circumstances, as well as anyone who disagrees.
31. Multisig
The term “multisig” stands for “multi-signature wallet.” It’s a wallet that requires many signatures to complete a transaction before transferring funds. It’s a common feature of DAOs. The DAO multisig wallets are overseen by a committee of trusted individuals that ensure the DAO’s security and ensure that passed proposals result in on-chain action.
32. Burn
In order to get rid of an NFT, it must be completely destroyed. You can “burn” an NFT by sending it to the NFT contract address which will destroy it and make it useless.
33. Doxxed
This is when an NFT team member’s, developer’s, or creator’s identity is made public, known, or verified. When an NFT team gets doxed in the NFT market, it’s usually a symbol of trust and transparency for NFT collectors, ensuring they won’t be conned by an anonymous inventor.
34. ENS
The Ethereum Name Service (ENS) is a company that sells.eth domains. These domains reduce your long Ethereum wallet, making it easier for others to recognize it and send ETH/NFTs to it.
35. Metadata
An NFT’s metadata is the essential and unique data that makes up the NFT and defines its appearance.
36. Migration
During a blockchain transition, a token or NFT is migrated from one blockchain to another.
37. Open editions
This means a non-limited edition pf NFT.
38. Paper hand
The opposite is ‘Diamond hands’. It refers to someone who sells something (typically an NFT) for an unreasonably low price.
39. Presale
A funding technique in which firms or project developers obtain funds through an initial sale (such as an ICO, IDO, or IGO) in which investors and early adopters purchase new tokens/NFTs using ETH (or other cryptocurrencies).
40. Royalties
Money earned by an NFT creator from the sale of the token. Some NFTs pay these commissions automatically each time an NFT is traded. An NFT can also be hardcoded to pay an artist royalty in perpetuity, which is a desirable use case that could revolutionize the music industry.
41. Sharding
Sharding in the context of NFTs refers to the practice of dividing NFTs into smaller subsets, usually for the purpose of allowing a group of people to buy an expensive NFT and own it together.
42. Shilling
As a marketing tactic, it is when someone promotes an NFT initiative and urges others to invest in it.
43. Snapshot
NFT developers and P2E games typically use this to determine who is eligible for airdrops and early access at a given moment in time. For example, everyone who has NFT X in their wallet at the time of the snapshot on January 1st will receive a free airdrop of NFT Y the following week.
44. SZN
This is the short form of “season” depicting an NFT cycle.
45. GTD
This is an acronym for “going to dust”. It is used when a token or NFT project proves to be a poor investment with rapidly declining value.
Final Words
It is important you know these NFT slang terms so you don’t get confused while interacting in the community. Learn them and have them at your fingertips.
