Other Bitcoin Concepts

Last update:  May 19, 2022

Other cryptocurrencies, abbreviations, and symbols

Bitcoin was the very first cryptocurrency, a new form of money that exists only on the Internet.  Since then, hundreds of other cryptocurrencies have sprung up, many of them trying to offer some advantage over Bitcoin, but so far none has come close to approaching Bitcoin's popularity.  That could change, though.  And if it does, Bitcoin's price could come crashing down.

The name cryptocurrency (or "crypto", for short) comes from encryption, the system in which passwords and addresses are generated with a kind of cryptography.

All cryptocurrencies have abbreviations, just like stocks, for trading purposes.  Bitcoin's abbreviation is BTC.  The next-most popular crypto, Ethereum, is ETH.

Bitcoin also has its own unicode symbol (₿).  Terms for fractional bitcoins are millibitcoin (1/1000 bitcoin) and satoshi (1/1,000,000 bitcoin).


Bitcoin jargon

Bitcoin Cash, and other forks.  A number of new cryptocurrencies are forks that originated with the original Bitcoin, such as Bitcoin Cash,  Bitcoin Gold, Bitcoin Core, and Bitcoin XT.  (A fork is a new software program that starts with the code from an old version, which is then edited, and the new piece of software is given a new name.  In the desktop software world, LibreOffice is a fork of OpenOffice.)  These cryptos are all completely separate cryptocurrencies from Bitcoin, as separate as dollars are from pesos.  There is no financial relationship between them, they simply have similar names.

Blockchain.  This is the public ledger that contains a list of all Bitcoin transactions.  You can look up a transaction by entering the address (aka public key) on Blockchain.com.

Cryptocurrency.  Any of a number of digital (Internet) currencies.  Bitcoin is only one, there are hundreds of them.

Exchange.  A company/website that lets you exchange one asset for another, such as USD for stocks, or USD for Bitcoin, or Bitcoin for USD.

HODL.  A verb meaning to hold Bitcoin long-term, hoping for appreciation.  Depending on whom you believe, it came either from an accidental misspelling of "hold" on an Internet post, or it means "Hold On [for] Dear Life".

Private Key.  This is the password to your actual Bitcoins (not the password to the app or exchange that stores your Bitcoins for you).

Public Key.  This is the address for your Bitcoin, that you give to people who are going to send you Bitcoin.  (Or, it's the receiving address you use when you're sending Bitcoin from your account on one exchange to another.)

Wallet.  Something that holds your Bitcoin addresses (public keys) and the passwords to those addresses (private keys).  The wallet can be printed on paper, or an app on your phone or your computer, an account at an exchange, or a piece of hardware similar to a USB thumb drive.