AI and blockchain, explained from the ground up.
Every term in a few sentences, with an example from the familiar world of finance and everyday life and one sentence to pass on. No tech jargon, no hype. Just search or browse.
- Markets & tradingIntermediate
Adoption curve
The adoption curve describes how a new technology spreads: first a few pioneers, then a broad majority, finally the laggards, in the shape of an S.
Read explanation → - Artificial intelligenceIntermediate
AI agent
An AI agent is an AI system that does not just answer but independently completes multi-step tasks: researching, operating tools, making decisions, triggering actions.
Read explanation → - Artificial intelligenceIntermediate
AI and blockchain: why together?
AI and blockchain complement each other: AI produces decisions and content, blockchain provides verifiable provenance, programmable money and coordination of distributed computing.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingAdvanced
Airdrop
An airdrop is the free distribution of tokens to existing users of a network or application, usually as a reward for early use or to spread the tokens.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Altcoin
Altcoin is the umbrella term for every cryptocurrency other than Bitcoin.
Read explanation → - Artificial intelligenceBasics
Artificial intelligence (AI)
Artificial intelligence refers to programs that learn patterns from data and generate text, images, decisions or predictions from them, instead of following rigidly programmed rules.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is the first digital money that works without a bank and whose supply is capped at 21 million units.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Block
A block is a bundle of confirmed transactions sealed with a fingerprint of the previous block.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Blockchain
A blockchain is a shared ledger kept simultaneously by many computers that cannot be altered after the fact.
Read explanation → - DeFiAdvanced
Bridge (blockchain bridge)
A bridge connects two blockchains and allows tokens to be moved from one to the other.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensIntermediate
CBDC / digital euro
A CBDC is digital money issued directly by a central bank; the digital euro is the ECB's project for it.
Read explanation → - DeFiBasics
CeFi / crypto exchange
CeFi refers to centralised providers such as crypto exchanges that operate trading and custody as companies, in contrast to DeFi programs.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsIntermediate
Consensus (consensus mechanism)
The consensus mechanism is the rulebook by which thousands of computers agree, without a boss, on which entries are valid.
Read explanation → - Regulation & productsBasics
Crypto custody
Crypto custody is the professional, regulated safekeeping of the keys to digital assets by a licensed provider.
Read explanation → - Regulation & productsBasics
Crypto ETP / Bitcoin ETF
A crypto ETP is an exchange-traded security that tracks the price of a cryptocurrency and is physically backed by it; in the US the equivalent is called a spot ETF.
Read explanation → - Regulation & productsIntermediate
Crypto-assets (legal term)
"Crypto-asset" is the legal term German and EU law use for blockchain-based digital assets, from Bitcoin to stablecoins.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Cryptocurrency
A cryptocurrency is digital money whose bookkeeping is done by a blockchain instead of a bank.
Read explanation → - DeFiIntermediate
DAO
A DAO is an organisation whose rules are written in smart contracts and whose members vote on decisions using tokens.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Decentralisation
Decentralisation means no single actor controls a system or can switch it off.
Read explanation → - DeFiBasics
DeFi (decentralised finance)
DeFi is the umbrella term for financial services such as trading, lending or earning interest that run as programs on the blockchain, with no bank or exchange as operator.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureIntermediate
DePIN
DePIN stands for networks in which many individuals provide physical infrastructure such as radio antennas, storage, sensors or computing power and are paid in tokens for it.
Read explanation → - DeFiIntermediate
DEX (decentralised exchange)
A DEX is a trading venue for tokens that runs as a smart contract: buyers and sellers trade directly from their wallets, with no operator in between.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWAIntermediate
Digital securities (eWpG)
Digital securities are securities without a paper certificate; Germany's eWpG has allowed their register to be kept on a blockchain since 2021.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Ethereum
Ethereum is the largest blockchain for programs (smart contracts); its currency unit is called Ether (ETH).
Read explanation → - InfrastructureAdvanced
Fork
A fork is a change to a blockchain's rules; in a hard fork the network splits into two chains if not everyone agrees to the new rules.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWABasics
Fractional ownership
Fractional ownership means a large asset is divided into many small units that can be held and traded individually.
Read explanation → - Regulation & productsIntermediate
Fund wrapper: retail fund vs. special AIF
The fund wrapper is the legal shell in which investors invest collectively; retail funds (UCITS) are open to everyone, special AIFs only to professional and semi-professional investors.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureIntermediate
Gas (network fees)
Gas is the fee paid to the network for every transaction on Ethereum and similar networks; it rises when many people want to send at once.
Read explanation → - Artificial intelligenceIntermediate
GPU & computing power (compute)
Computing power ("compute") is the raw material of AI; GPUs are the specialised chips that make training and running AI models possible in the first place.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingIntermediate
Halving
The halving is the pre-programmed halving of the amount of new bitcoin miners receive per block; it takes place roughly every four years.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsIntermediate
Hash
A hash is a digital fingerprint: any data is turned into a fixed string that changes completely with the slightest alteration.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingBasics
HODL
HODL is crypto slang for "hold long term no matter how much the price swings"; it originated from a typo of "hold" in a forum post in 2013.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingBasics
Institutional adoption
Institutional adoption refers to the entry of banks, asset managers, insurers and pension funds into digital assets and blockchain infrastructure.
Read explanation → - Regulation & productsIntermediate
KYC & anti-money laundering
KYC ("know your customer") is the obligation of regulated providers to identify their clients; for crypto-assets the same anti-money-laundering rules apply as for banks.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureIntermediate
Layer 1
Layer 1 is the base blockchain itself, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum, where final settlement and security reside.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureIntermediate
Layer 2
Layer 2 is an additional layer on top of a blockchain that settles transactions quickly and cheaply and only secures the result on the base layer.
Read explanation → - DeFiIntermediate
Lending protocol (crypto loans)
A lending protocol is a smart contract through which users lend tokens and borrow against deposited collateral, with no bank.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingIntermediate
Liquidity
Liquidity describes how easily an asset can be bought or sold without noticeably moving the price.
Read explanation → - DeFiAdvanced
Liquidity pool
A liquidity pool is a smart contract into which users deposit two tokens so others can swap against them; depositors receive trading fees in return.
Read explanation → - Artificial intelligenceIntermediate
LLM (large language model)
An LLM is an AI model trained on vast amounts of text that understands and generates language; ChatGPT is the best-known application.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingBasics
Market capitalisation
Market capitalisation is the total value of all circulating units of a cryptocurrency: price times circulating supply.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingIntermediate
Market cycle (bull and bear market)
Crypto markets move in pronounced cycles: phases of strong gains ("bull market") alternate with long declines ("bear market" or "crypto winter").
Read explanation → - Regulation & productsIntermediate
Market structure legislation
Market structure legislation defines which digital assets count as securities, which count as commodities, and which authority supervises each.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensBasics
Memecoin
A memecoin is a cryptocurrency with no technical or economic purpose whose value lives on attention and community alone.
Read explanation → - Regulation & productsBasics
MiCA
MiCA is the EU regulation that has set uniform rules for crypto-assets, their issuers and service providers across all member states since 2024.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureBasics
Mining
Mining is the competition in which computers solve computational puzzles to earn the right to append the next block to the Bitcoin blockchain and receive new bitcoin for it.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingIntermediate
Narrative
A narrative is the story through which the market gives a topic meaning; capital often follows narratives before the fundamentals become visible.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensBasics
NFT
An NFT is a token representing a single, unmistakable object, rather than an interchangeable unit like a euro.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsIntermediate
Node (network node)
A node is a computer that keeps a full copy of the blockchain and checks every new transaction itself.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWAIntermediate
On-chain / off-chain
On-chain means something is stored or settled directly in the blockchain; off-chain means it happens outside of it.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingAdvanced
On-chain data
On-chain data is the publicly visible information from the blockchain itself: transactions, balances, activity, from which the behaviour of market participants can be read.
Read explanation → - DeFiAdvanced
Oracle
An oracle delivers real-world information (prices, weather, delivery status) to smart contracts, which cannot see anything outside the blockchain by themselves.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Peer-to-peer (P2P)
Peer-to-peer means two participants deal directly with each other, with no intermediary in between.
Read explanation → - DeFiAdvanced
Perpetual futures
A perpetual future is a futures contract without an expiry date, used to bet on the price of an asset without owning it.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Private key & seed phrase
The private key is the password to your blockchain balance; the seed phrase is its backup in the form of 12 or 24 words.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureIntermediate
Proof of stake (PoS)
Proof of stake is the consensus method in which deposited capital serves as the ticket: those who pledge coins may confirm blocks and risk the pledge if they cheat.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureIntermediate
Proof of work (PoW)
Proof of work is the consensus method in which computational effort serves as the ticket: only those who can prove they did the work may append a block.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingBasics
Rug pull & fraud patterns
A rug pull is a fraud in which a project's initiators collect investor money and then disappear; it is the most common fraud pattern among small tokens.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWAIntermediate
RWA (real world assets)
RWA stands for real assets such as government bonds, real estate or commodities that are traded as tokens on the blockchain.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensIntermediate
Security token
A security token is a security in token form: it certifies a right such as a company share, a bond or a fund unit.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWAIntermediate
Settlement
Settlement is the moment a trade is actually completed: security against money; on the blockchain this can happen in seconds instead of days.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Smart contract
A smart contract is a program on the blockchain that executes an agreement automatically once the conditions are met.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensBasics
Stablecoin
A stablecoin is a token that mirrors the value of a traditional currency such as the US dollar or the euro, usually 1:1.
Read explanation → - InfrastructureIntermediate
Staking
Staking means depositing coins in a proof-of-stake network as collateral and receiving a reward from network fees and newly created coins.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensBasics
Token
A token is a digital unit on a blockchain that stands for something: money, a right, a share or access.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWABasics
Tokenisation
Tokenisation means representing a real asset (property, bond, fund unit) as a token on a blockchain.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWAIntermediate
Tokenised funds
A tokenised fund is a normal investment fund whose units are issued and transferred as tokens on a blockchain.
Read explanation → - Tokenisation & RWAIntermediate
Tokenised shares
A tokenised share is a company share recorded not at a central securities depository but as a token on a blockchain.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensIntermediate
Tokenomics
Tokenomics describes a token's rules of the game: how many exist, who gets them when, and what they are needed for.
Read explanation → - Artificial intelligenceAdvanced
Training vs. inference
Training is the one-off, extremely compute-intensive learning of an AI model from data; inference is every subsequent use of the finished model, such as an answer in ChatGPT.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Transaction
A transaction is an entry in the blockchain that moves a balance from one address to another.
Read explanation → - DeFiAdvanced
TVL (total value locked)
TVL measures how much capital is deposited in a DeFi protocol or an entire blockchain; it is the key size metric for DeFi.
Read explanation → - Money & tokensIntermediate
Utility token
A utility token grants access to a service or a network, similar to an admission ticket or prepaid credit.
Read explanation → - Markets & tradingBasics
Volatility
Volatility measures how strongly a price fluctuates; for cryptocurrencies it is many times higher than for shares or bonds.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsBasics
Wallet
A wallet is your access to a balance on the blockchain: it does not hold the coins, it holds the key to them.
Read explanation → - FundamentalsIntermediate
Whitepaper
A whitepaper is the founding document of a blockchain project: it describes the problem, the solution, the technology and the token distribution.
Read explanation →
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21 Oaks Capital GmbH acts as a tied agent exclusively for the account and under the liability of AHP Capital Management GmbH, Weißfrauenstraße 12-16, 60311 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. This wiki is a general information service provided by 21 Oaks Capital GmbH. Its content does not constitute individual investment advice and is not a recommendation by AHP Capital Management GmbH. 21 Oaks Capital GmbH, its affiliated companies, the funds it advises or its employees may hold positions in assets explained in this wiki. The explanations are independent of this; the disclosure is made for reasons of transparency.