Glossary
Public Key / Address
The shareable half of a key pair. It is the account address other people send funds to.
Your public address is the half of your key pair that is meant to be shared. It is derived from your private key, and it is what appears in explorers, on exchanges, and in every transaction you send or receive.
There is no way to work backwards from an address to your private key, which is what makes sharing one safe. What is not safe is sending funds to the wrong address, because a blockchain has no undo button.
On modern chains the address and the public key are effectively the same string. Older formats like Bitcoin's legacy addresses use a different, hash-based format for the address and the key separately.
Related terms
Airdrop
Free tokens distributed to wallet addresses, usually to reward early users of a protocol.
AMM
Automated Market Maker — a protocol that prices assets with a formula instead of an order book.
APR vs APY
APR is the yearly rate without compounding; APY includes compounding and is always higher.
ATH
All-Time High — the highest price an asset has ever traded at.
Bear Market
A prolonged decline, conventionally 20% or more from recent highs.
Bull Market
A prolonged rise driven by new demand, easy credit and rising confidence.