The Onchain Dictionary

A shared ledger that many independent computers maintain together. Records are grouped into blocks, and each block references the one before it, so history is hard to rewrite without the whole network noticing.

Teams use blockchains when they want a record that no single party controls.

A digital unit of account that lives on a blockchain and uses cryptography to keep records straight. The name travelled from “crypto”, meaning the mathematics involved, not anything hidden.

People value these units for different reasons: paying network fees, moving value across borders, or simply collecting them.

The first widely known blockchain network, launched in 2009. Its unit, also called bitcoin, moves on a public ledger kept by thousands of independent machines.

Most later protocols borrow vocabulary from Bitcoin, which is why it opens this dictionary.

A network built for programs, not only transfers. Developers publish small programs called smart contracts, and anyone can run them for a fee paid in ether, the network’s coin.

Many of the applications teams ask us about — pools, staking services, exchanges — live on Ethereum or on similar networks.

One of the earliest networks modelled on Bitcoin. It confirms blocks faster and mostly serves as a lightweight venue for moving value and testing ideas.

We mention it because its documentation is approachable when a team wants a first example.

A group effort packaged as one account. In a mining pool, many machines share the work of confirming blocks and split whatever the network grants. In a liquidity pool, holders place coins into a shared pot so visitors can swap without waiting for a counterparty.

Either way, the idea is the same: combine small contributions so the group can do what one participant could not.

A venue where people swap one asset for another — euros for bitcoin, ether for a token, and so on. Some exchanges are companies with order books; others are on-chain programs that run against a pool.

When we walk teams through one, we focus on how it accounts for every swap, not on which coin moves first.

Locking coins so a network can confirm blocks. Participants place their units at risk as a good-conduct bond, and the protocol grants them a share of new units and network fees while they behave.

Many newer networks use staking instead of mining, which changes who can take part and what skills a team needs.