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Business English | Bitcoin glossary

Bitcoin and blockchain glossary 

Altcoin: This term refers to cryptocurrency deriving from Bitcoin and is created by means of fork. Altcoin is algo a simplified construction from the words “alternative” and “coins”. Among the most famous Altcoins you can find: Litecoin, Dogecoin, Freicoin, Primecoin, Peercoin, Darkcoin.

ASIC – Application-Specific Integrated Circuit: Its is a device with the specific function to solve blocks, i.e. to mine Bitcoins.

Block: It is a group of Bitcoin transactions whether they are confirmed or being processed. All confirmed transactions are included to the blockchain through mining. This process may take around 10 minutes.

Blockchain: It is a chronologically ordered record of all confirmed transactions. All the users have access and can verify Bitcoin transactions since it is a public key.

BPI – Bitcoin Price Index: It is the Bitcoin average price index  in the main global stock exchanges and is calculated by CoinDesk.

BTC: BTC o฿ are the symbols commonly used for the Bitcoin currency (see also XBT).

Coinbase: It is the main reward that miners receive for mining Bitcoins. It is a portfolio commonly used for buying, selling, sending, receiving and storaging Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Confirmation: It means that one transaction has been processed by the net and is included in a block of the blockchain. The more confirmations one transaction has, the lower is the risk to be reverted. 

Cryptocurrency: It refers to the digital currency based on cryptography or the digital media in which that currency is exchanged.

Fork: In Bitcoin, this term may be used with two different meanings. On the one hand, it is the process by which modifications to the Bitcoin source code are introduced. These modifications may derive in the creation of a new cryptocurrency, also known as Altcoin. On the other hand, this term may be understood as a blockchain fork, consisting in the ramification of a blockchain into two chains.

Doublespending: It happens when a user tries to transfer Bitcoins to two different users irregularly.

Hash function: In cryptography, it is an algorithm that transforms  an arbitrary block of data in a new fixed alphanumeric series. Bitcoin uses the SHA-256 algorithm. By creating a hash with a lower value than the current target, the miner solves a block and earns a Bitcoin.

Hash rate: It is the unit of measure of the processing power of a Bitcoin.

mBTC: Milibitcoins, amounts to a thousandth part of a Bitcoin, or 0.001 BTC.

Mining: Bitcoin mining is the process of making cryptographic calculations of hash functions in order to validate net transactions. Miners look for the correct hash by adding a nonce to create a block that gives them a coinbase. This hash belongs to the Hashes that join the blockchain.

Node: It refers to the computer equipped with software Bitcoin-Qt or Bitcoin Core to take part of the net P2P (peer to peer). When we say Bitcoin net, we refer to the group of nodes that execute the protocole P2P.

Nonce: The nonce within a block is a field of 32 bits (4 bytes) whose value is established so that the block hash contains a string of zeros. Miners look for the correct hash, the one that starts by a specific number of zeros in order to obtain a reward.

Public Key: It is used to receive Bitcoins. The public key derives from the private key. 

Private Key: It is used to sign transactions to spend Bitcoins.

uBTC: Microbitcoin, amounts to a millionth part of a Bitcoin (0.000001 BTC).

XBT:  It is the ISO 4217 symbol to refer to Bitcoin.