Hi,
It’s a new year and investors are eager for growth in their crypto investments. But first, let’s visit some of the emerging language in cryptoland.
Here are slang terms you’d want to know if you want to make sense of crypto blogs, forum discussions and tweets in 2018.
To the moon
This past year bitcoin, bitcoin cash, ripple and other big coins blasted off for the moon. The term simply refers to a cryptocurrency’s meteoric rise in price. Whenever any coin goes on a bull run, everyone gets excited and you’ll often hear the expression that it’s about to “go to the moon”.
For a lot of dreamers, they’ll ask which color Lamborghini they plan on buying with their future fortune. The slang is sometimes referred to as #LAMBOMOON.
HODL
HODL (hold on for dear life) is an intentional misspelling of “hold” and refers to someone who holds on to their crypto asset without selling or trading, no matter what. Anyone hodling their cryptocurrency has faith that someday, their investment will make their financial dreams come true.
Altcoin and Rekt
Altcoin stands for alternative coin but these small tokens are often mocked as “sh**coins” in forums and social media. Basically, any coin that is not established or doesn’t have sufficient market capitalization can be considered an altcoin. Many tokens are outright scams, reflecting a pejorative attitude towards speculative tokens that carry high risk.
If you’re not careful, you could get #Rekt (wrecked).
ICO
Among the wackiest coins out there are Titcoin (adult industry), Trumpcoin, Cannabiscoin and Insanecoin. To each’s own, I guess. Did you buy PutinCoin?
If you don’t know that ICO stands for initial coin offering then you’ve probably lived under a rock the past couple of years. It’s a fundraising method like Kickstarter but on steroids. There are so many ICOs these days that it’s often hard to tell which ones are actually worth the investment.
FUD and BTFD
Anyone who invests in cryptocurrency knows that on any given day, the value of their investment could plummet. You’re up 10% one moment and down 15% just minutes later. Volatility often feels like a wild roller coaster ride and, unfortunately, there can be steep valleys referred to as FUD: fear, uncertainty and doubt. As soon as people see bad media coverage or a sudden downswing, panic selling can ensue out of fear that they’ll lose their money.
Which leads to the opposite phrase: BTFD or buy the f***ing dip. When people are scared, it’s the right time to buy. As the saying goes, buy low and sell high.
Shills
These days, many people are skeptical of the media and public forums. And who can blame them? With cryptos, there are financial incentives to provide great coverage of a coin in order to boost its perception in the eyes of potential investors. Shills are people who endorse a cryptocurrency in public in an effort to increase its price.
FOMO
Many skeptics have completely missed the boat on becoming a bitcoin or crypto millionaire. These are the types who keep warning family and friends that the industry is Tulip Bubble 2.0.
But each day, there are more believers. FOMO refers to fear of missing out, thus you find more people stepping outside of their comfort zone and buying cryptos. One side-effect of FOMO is that you often lose hours of sleep researching various tokens and setting up wallets.
Satoshis
The designer of bitcoin is the mysterious Satoshi Nakamoto. No one really knows who he actually is, but everyone knows of him. Since many transactions involve fractions of a bitcoin, people often refer to prices in Satoshi units. One thousand Satoshis is equivalent to $0.15 USD at current prices.
So there you have it. You now know these slang terms and are in a better position to share your investment ideas in the blogosphere. Just make sure you don’t get #Rekt.
For the latest news on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies, visit news.bitcoin.com.