Glossary
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Smart Contract - “A smart contract, like any contract, establishes the terms of an agreement. But unlike a traditional contract, a smart contract’s terms are executed as code running on a blockchain like Ethereum. Smart contracts allow developers to build apps that take advantage of blockchain security, reliability, and accessibility while offering sophisticated peer-to-peer functionality — everything from loans and insurance to logistics and gaming.” Like a vending machine, a smart contract has a guaranteed result once it runs. For DAOs, smart contracts ensure that any DAO processes executing on a blockchain cannot be interfered with by a third-party. Smart contracts are particularly important for DAOs because they ensure shared treasury and vote management will fail if they are tampered with.
Category - Blockchain
Source - What is a smart contract? (https://www.coinbase.com/learn/crypto-basics/what-is-a-smart-contract) -
Minimum Viable Community (MVC) - A minimum, viable community takes the principles of a minimum, viable product (MVP) and applies them to a community around a token, protocol or a DAO. DAOs “building MVCs tell the story of what they’re going to build, share their vision with the internet, invite people to join in its inception on Discord, provide them some vested interest in the realization of the vision (tokens or otherwise), give them a platform to share ideas, listen, and then deliver.” Starting with a community allows DAOs to identify early contributors, crowdsource and iterate on early versions of the DAO mission. Instead of product-market fit, DAOs look for community-market fit. “New order of operations: release product vision, build community, release product features one by one, get feedback + iterate with community, release product into community-led product-market fit.”
Category - Community, product development
Source - Nikolas, “Minimum Viable Community” -
Treasury - A treasury is the wallet containing the digital assets held in common by members of a DAO. A treasury is hosted on a shared wallet, known as a multisig (see Multisig definition). Treasuries are secured and enabled by smart contracts (see smart contract definition), and are thus unable to be tampered with by an outside party. Because treasuries are a wallet, they can contain any type of token for their native blockchain, including NFTs. Treasuries are also programmable, as in the case of a popular option for DAOs, GnosisSafe (now known as Safe).
Category - DAO tooling
Source - 0xSardius -
Multisig - A multisig is a wallet that requires multiple signatures to execute a transaction. DAOs often use multisig wallets to manage their shared treasuries. Multisig wallets help ensure decentralized control of shared resources, and are executed using smart contracts.
Category - DAO tooling
Source - 0xSardius -
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) - A DAO uses web3 technology to help coordinate members around a shared mission. The mission a DAO pursues is unique to the community that chooses to form the DAO. “DAOs are a novel coordination mechanism. These internet-native organizations utilize immutable smart contracts deployed on public blockchains rather than traditional legal contracts to implement the rules that govern the organization. A collective group of members come together in a digitally-native way to communally direct the DAO forward.”
Category - DAOs
Source - DAO Research Collective, “DAO Treasury Management”. -
gm - Meme in the web3 space meaning “good morning.” Used by web3 enthusiasts to greet each other on Twitter, Discord, IRL or in the metaverse. Generally used to signal good vibes, no matter what time it actually is.
Category: Web3 Culture -
NGO - “A non-governmental organization (NGO) is a group that functions independently of any government. It is usually non-profit. NGOs, sometimes called civil society organizations, are established on community, national, and international levels to serve a social or political goal such as a humanitarian cause or the protection of the environment.”
Category - Non-profit
Source - Jean Folger, “Non-Governmental Organization (NGO)? Definition, Example, and How it Works”. -
NFT - Non-fungible token. A key web3 primitive, an NFT represents a smart contract based token that is not a one-to-one copy of another. Ether is a “fungible” token, because each token is the same as the other. The same goes for fiat money like the US dollar. NFTs enable representation of digital assets and ownership on the blockchain. Commonly used to represent digital artwork, NFTs are also used for membership tokens, Intellectual Property (IP), video game characters, and much more. NFTs are also programmable because they are a smart contract, an important thing to keep in mind for builders
Category - web3 primitive
Source - 0xSardius -
Mint - “Minting refers to the process of turning a digital file into an NFT on the Ethereum blockchain. This NFT is stored on the decentralized database making it impossible to edit, modify, or delete.” Minting can be used to create an NFT around any digital asset. An NFT mint would commonly be used to generate an NFT for speculative purposes, or create a membership NFT to allow access to a DAO.
Category: web3 primitive
Source: Edward Jones, “Mint Your Own NFT with Web3.js”. -
Digital (Crypto) Wallet - “A cryptocurrency wallet is an application that functions as a wallet for your cryptocurrency. It is called a wallet because it is used similarly to a wallet you put cash and cards in. Instead of holding these physical items, it stores the passkeys you use to sign for your cryptocurrency transactions and provides the interface that lets you access your crypto.” Crypto wallets have a private key that you should never reveal that allows you to sign transactions for smart contracts. If revealed, a user with your private key will have access to your wallets funds. A wallet also has a public address that you can use to send and receive tokens, including NFTs.
Category: web3 primitive
Source: Jake Frankenfield, “Cryptocurrency Wallet”. Investopedia, 3/27/22, -
Office Hours - Office hours are the hours of business that meetings are held and routine business is conducted in. DAO contributors will often list the office hours they are available to meet, where anyone can drop by on Discord or put a meeting on their calendar.
Category: DAOs
Source: 0xSardius -
POAP - “Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) is a protocol that creates digital badges or collectibles through the use of blockchain technology. While the acronym derives from the protocol name, POAP is also used to describe the collectibles themselves. POAPs are minted through smart contracts as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain. They are ERC-721 tokens created to celebrate and record the attendance of an event.”
Category: DAO tooling, NFTs
Source: Binance Academy, “Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP)” -
Governance - Governance refers to how DAOs achieve consensus in a decentralized manner. Without a traditional hierarchy to dictate decision making, DAOs implement and experiment with different types of governance systems to help make decisions. Different types include, direct on-chain democracy, direct off-chain democracy, representative democracy, and quadratic democracy. Usually, token voting is involved in how DAOs reach decisions, and each approach has different pros and cons, as outlined in this article by Chainlink.
Category: DAO governance
Source: Chainlink, “DAOs and the Complexities of Web3 Governance.” Chainlink, 8/6/22. -
L2 - We often refer to Layer 2 solutions as “off-chain” blockchain technology. Their primary purpose is to enhance the capacity of blockchain transactions while keeping the distributed protocol’s decentralized benefits. L2 blockchains help larger blockchains scale by handling transactions. Some L2s include, Optimism, Arbitrum, Starkware, and Polygon
Category: Blockchain Tech
Source: Gianluca Longiotti, “Layer 2 Blockchain Projects – A Guide for Beginners”. -
Lurk - To read without commenting or contributing, therefore effectively invisible to the rest of the group or community. Generally recommended for joining any forum so that you can observe rules, attitudes and patterns. Online equivalent of attentive listening before speaking.
Category: DAO Culture -
Quadratic Voting - “Quadratic voting is a system that is similar to rank-choice voting (allowing one to express preference of certain choices over others), however it also serves an additional function in that it allows for the intensity of conviction to be weighted. When compared to other common voting mechanisms like one-person-one-vote or one-token-one-vote, QV can help align incentives, balance power, and encourage voter participation.”
Category: DAO Governance
Source: Austin Robey, “A Simple Guide to Quadratic Voting” -
Blockchain - “Blockchain is the innovative database technology that’s at the heart of nearly all cryptocurrencies. By distributing identical copies of a database across an entire network, blockchain makes it very difficult to hack or cheat the system. While cryptocurrency is the most popular use for blockchain presently, the technology offers the potential to serve a very wide range of applications.”
Category: Technology
Source: David Rodeck, Benjamin Curry, “What is Blockchain?” Forbes Advisor -
Solarpunk - Solarpunk is a movement that imagines bright, fair, sustainable futures built on renewable energy sources. It's a hopeful vision for a better tomorrow, one in which we work together to create a more equitable and environmentally-friendly world.
Category: Culture
Source: AI Generated Definition -
Digital Asset - “Digital assets are items you can buy, sell, and hold online, but typically can’t physically see or touch. They can be in the form of digital currency itself, or they may be the underlying works that are traded using blockchain technology. Either way, their value, like all assets, comes from a claim to ownership.”
Category: Technology
Source: Eric Rosenberg, “What are digital assets?” -
Cryptocurrency - Cryptocurrency (also known as crypto) is a digital currency designed to work as a medium of exchange. It uses cryptography to secure and verify transactions, as well as to control the creation of new units of a particular digital currency. Many cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain technology, which is a distributed ledger enforced by a distributed network of computers. Cryptocurrencies are distinguished from fiat currencies like the United States dollar or the British pound because any central authority does not issue them, making them potentially impervious to government intervention or manipulation.”
Category: Technology
Source: What is cryptocurrency? A beginner’s guide to digital currency -
Fren - The more frenly version of "friend".
Category: Culture -
Web3 - Web3 has become a catch-all term for the vision of a new, better internet. At its core, Web3 uses blockchains, cryptocurrencies, and NFTs to give power back to the users in the form of ownership. A 2020 post on Twitter said it best: Web1 was read-only, Web2 is read-write, Web3 will be read-write-own
Category: Technology, Culture -
Regen - Regen, like degen, is a term used to describe a crypto user who jumps into ReFi communities or invests in tokens that use blockchain technology to advance positive environmental impact
Category - Culture
Source: https://coinmarketcap.com/alexandria/glossary/regens -
Anon - Short for Anonymous, someone who hides their identity and often uses a pseudonymous identity. “A pseudonym is emblematic of Web3’s overarching purpose — instating users with autonomy over their online presence. “
Category: Culture -
DAO Contributor - A DAO Contributor is a person who puts his/her skills into a DAO to build the community goal.
Category: DAOs -
Tokenization - Tokenization is the process of transforming ownerships and rights of particular assets into a digital form. By tokenization, you can transform indivisible assets into token forms.
Category: Web3
Source: What Is Tokenization? A Complete Guide -
ImpactDAO - “DAO stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization, a new type of internet-first organization that exists only because technology can now allow anyone to collaborate seamlessly. Impact DAOs are DAOs focused on making a positive impact on people and the planet. Think of them as internet-native nonprofits and social impact organizations.”
Category: DAOs, Non-profit
Citation: https://cryptogood.substack.com/p/what-are-impact-daos -
Degen - In crypto, “degen” is short for degenerate. It describes someone who chases after seemingly promising opportunities without conducting sufficient prior research. Being a degen can certainly be a bad thing, although it’s commonly used by crypto traders (who do in fact do their research) to jokingly refer to themselves.
Category: Culture
Citation: https://blog.libertasbella.com/glossary/degen/ -
POAP Votes - POAP.vote it’s a website part of the POAP ecosystem that gives anyone the ability to easily create polls between POAP token holders.
Category: Governance NFT
https://poap.vote/faq -
Quadratic Funding - A way to allocate the distribution of funds based on quadratic voting, noting that such a mechanism allows for optimal production of public goods without needing to be determined by a centralized legislature. Quadratic voting works by allowing users to "pay" for additional votes on a given matter to express their support for given issues more strongly, resulting in voting outcomes that are aligned with the highest willingness to pay outcome, rather than just the outcome preferred by the majority regardless of the intensity of individual preferences.
Category: Grant Making
Citation: https://wtfisqf.com/?grant=&grant=&grant=&grant=&match=1000 -
Carbon Votes - Using tokenized carbon offset tokens to vote in an ImpactDAO, typically part of a Regenerative FInance (ReFi) DAO governance protocol
Category: Governance
Citation: Sardius -
L3 - The layer 3 protocols are basically unique solutions for empowering different blockchain networks with cross-chain capabilities. The primary objective of the layer 3 solutions would focus on achieving actual interoperability without depending on intermediaries or custodians. One of the interesting highlights of layer 3 solutions refers to the emphasis on similarities with layered structure of the internet.
Category: Blockchain Tech
Citation: https://101blockchains.com/layer-3-protocols-blockchain/ -
Soulbound Token - Soulbound Tokens (SBTs) are digital identity tokens that represent the traits, features, and achievements that make up a person or entity. SBTs are issued by “Souls,” which represent blockchain accounts or wallets, and cannot be transferred. Think non-transferable NFTs.
Category: Blockchain Tech
Citation: Decentralized Society: Finding Web3's Soul -
Gas Fees - “A gas fee is a blockchain transaction fee, paid to network validators for their services to the blockchain. Without the fees, there would be no incentive for anyone to stake their ETH and help secure the network.” Gas fees are paid each time a transaction is executed on a blockchain. Anytime the state of the blockchain is altered in some way, a gas fee is paid to ensure the smart contract executes. Gas fees have become high at times in the past when transaction volume was high on Ethereum in particular. However, many solutions have been developed to mitigate this problem, including L2 chains, Optimistic rollups, and proof-of-stake chains.
Category: Infrastructure
Citation: Gas (Ethereum): How Gas Fees Work on the Ethereum Blockchain -
ERC-20 Token - “Tokens can represent virtually anything in Ethereum: reputation points in an online platform, skills of a character in a game, lottery tickets, financial assets like a share in a company, a fiat currency like USD, an ounce of gold, and more… Such a powerful feature of Ethereum must be handled by a robust standard, right? That's exactly where the ERC-20 plays its role! This standard allows developers to build token applications that are interoperable with other products and services. The ERC-20 introduces a standard for Fungible Tokens, in other words, they have a property that makes each Token be exactly the same (in type and value) as another Token. For example, an ERC-20 Token acts just like the ETH, meaning that 1 Token is and will always be equal to all the other Tokens.”
Category: Ethereum Blockchain
Citation: ERC-20 TOKEN STANDARD -
Non-Custodial Wallet - A non-custodial wallet is contraster from a custodial wallet. Non-custodial wallets are self-managed, with no intermediary able to dictate how the funds or transactions can be sent or used. Non-custodial wallets require a higher degree of involvement than custodial or managed wallets. Users must develop their own security practices, as they are 100% responsible for managing their funds. Non-custodial wallets are contrasted with custodial or managed wallets. Custodial wallets have the private keys managed by a company or organization, like Coinbase or Reddit, to make it easier for users to interact with the blockchain.
Category: Blockchain Tech
Citation: Custodial Wallets vs. Non-Custodial Crypto Wallets -
On-chain - Refers to data that is stored or a process that is implemented and executed within a blockchain system.
Category: Blockchain Tech
Citation: CSRC
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Decentralized Applications (dApps) - Decentralized applications are like regular applications, except that they inherit special qualities due to running on a blockchain. dApps have no owners, once deployed they can’t be taken down, and any users can find the address to access and use the smart contracts of a dApp. They are free from censorship with no company intermediating them. dApps have built in payment functions due to having access to the native token of the blockchain they are built on. They are completely secured by cryptography, have no down time, and allow one anonymous login to use their functions.
Category: Blockchain Tech
Citation: Ethereum.org -
Transferable - A digital asset that can be freely sent between wallets. Contrasted with non-transferable (In the case of soulbound tokens) that once sent, remain in the wallet they were originally sent to.
Category: Blockchain Tech
Citation: Sardius -
Non-Transferable - Also known as Soulbound Tokens, non-transferable tokens are meant to represent a person’s identity and achievements in web3. Once transferred or earned initially, they cannot be transferred out of that wallet.
Category: Blockchain Tech
Citation: Sardius -
Delegated Voting - A form of governance where token holders can choose to assign their voting power to a delegate who can represent their interests in a DAO. Delegated voting is meant to solve some of the problems around centralization of power in DAOs, which can occur when one party accumulates a majority of tokens.
Category: Governance
Citation: Sardius -
Conviction Voting - Conviction Voting offers a novel decision making process that funds proposals based on the aggregated preference of community members, expressed continuously.
Category: Governance
Citation: Conviction Voting: A Novel Continuous Decision Making Alternative to Governance -
Regenerative Finance (ReFi) - Regenerative Finance is the process of using various forms of capital to drive systematic, sustainable, and positive change for all stakeholders. ReFi aims to direct investment toward regenerative businesses in order to accelerate their growth and help them scale up their impact.”
Category: Web3
Citation: Regenerative Finance: Innovation for a sustainable future -
Workstream - “The organized output of several distinct, and often unrelated, work groups.” In DAOs, members often self-organize into workstreams to accomplish work and complete objectives within the overall DAO structure.
Category: DAOs -
Staking - Staking offers crypto holders a way of putting their digital assets to work and earning passive income without needing to sell them…when you stake your digital assets, you lock up the coins in order to participate in running the blockchain and maintaining its security. In exchange for that, you earn rewards calculated in percentage yields. These returns are typically much higher than any interest rate offered by banks.
Category: Web3, Decentralized Finance (DeFi)
Citation: Crypto Staking 101: What Is Staking?
- Universal Basic Income (UBI) - Universal basic income (UBI) is a sociopolitical financial transfer policy proposal in which all citizens of a given population regularly receive a legally stipulated and equally set financial grant paid by the government without a means test.” In crypto/web3, UBI has been explored as being offered without a government intermediary through various different mechanisms.
Category: Social Development
Citation: Wikipedia, Universal basic income