Abbreviations
Here are some common abbreviations that have come into use in the cryptocurrency and general financial ecosystems, and also in the fields of technology and computing as they relate to cryptoassets. If you'd like more information about any of the abbreviations that isn't obvious in meaning, check out the Definitions page. We've also included some common slang abbreviations which may be commonsense to a generation that grew up on the internet, but which may not be as obvious to people who don't currently frequent social media such as Reddit.
/S - End of sarcasm, or This was sarcasm
ACES - Ark Contract Execution Services
ACH - Automated Clearing House
AFAIK - As Far As I Know
ALT - Alternative Coin (any coin that is not bitcoin)
AMD - Graphics card made by Advanced Micro Devices
API - Application Programming Interface
ATM - Automatic Teller Machine (Bank Machine, Cash Dispenser)
ATM - At The Moment
AUM - Assets Under Management
2FA - Two Factor Authentication
2X - Segwit2x
AML - Anti Money Laundering
AS - Atomic Swaps
ASIC - Application-Specific Intergrated Circuit
ATH - All Time High (sometimes also represents, depending on grammatical syntax, At The Height or At The High)
AWS - Amazon Web Services
B2B - Business To Business
BGTC - Beginner's Guide to Cryptocurrencies
BOINC - Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing
CFB - Come From Beyond
CLI - Command Line Interface
CMC - Coin Market Cap website
CPU - Central Processing Unit
CT - Confidential Transactions
DAG - Directed Acyclic Graph
DAO - Decentralized Autonomous Organization
DAPP - Decentralized Application
dBFT - Distributed Byzantine Fault Tolerance
DCA - Dollar Cost Averaging
DCI - Digital Currency Initiative
DD - Due Diligence
DDOS - Distributed Denial of Service
DEX - Decentralized Exchange
DLT - Distributed Ledger Technology
DNA - Distributed Network Architecture
DNM - Dark Net Market
DOX - Personal Information
DPOS - Delegated Proof of Stake
DYDD - Do Your Due Diligence
DYOR - Do Your Own Research
DRP - Dread Pirate Roberts
ELI5 - Explain Like I'm Five
ERC20 - One common type of token on the Ethereum Network
EVM - Ethereum Virtual Machine
FA - Fundamentals Analysis
FFS - Fee For Service
FFS - For F's Sake
FIAT - Fiat Currency (traditional national currencies)
FINCEN - The [US] Financial Crimes Enforcement Network
FOMO - Fear Of Missing Out
FUD - Fear, Uncertainty, & Doubt
GOX - Mt. Gox Exchange
GPU - Graphical Processing Unit
GTO - Game Theory Optimized
GUI - Graphical User Interface
HDD - Hard Disk Drive
HIBP - Have I Been Pwned? (website)
HODL - Hold (for the Long Term)
HODL - Hang On for Dear Life
HTLC - Hashed Timelock Contract
I2P - Invisible Internet Project
ICO - Initial Coin Offering (crypto tokens)
ICO - Initial Public Offering (stocks)
ICYMI - In Case You Missed It
IIRC - If I Recall Correctly
IKR - I Know, Right?
IMA - Independent Management Architecture
IMHO - In My Humble Opinion
IMO - In My Opinion
ILP - Interledger Protocol
IoT - Internet of Things
IRL - In Real Life
IRS - Internal Revenue Service (the US taxation authority)
JMO - Just My Opinion
KYC - Know Your Customer
LAMBO - Lamborghini
LCW - Live Coin Watch website
LE - Law Enforcement
LIT - An alternative lightweight Lightning Network developed by the MIT Media Lab
LMK - Let Me Know
LN - Lightning Network
LND - Lightning Network Daemon
LPT - Life Pro Tip
M2M - Machine To Machine
MC - Market Cap
MITM - Man In The Middle
MM - Market Maker
MRW - My Reaction When
N/A - Not Applicable or Not Available
NFC - Near-Field Communication
OC - Overclocking
OG - Original Gangster
OP - Original Poster (used on Reddit)
P2P - Peer To Peer (or Person to Person)
PGP - The "Pretty Good Privacy" encryption standard
PITA - Pain In The Ass
PKI - Public Key Infrastructure
PND - Pump & Dump (also P&D)
POA or PoA - Proof of Authority
POB or PoB - Proof of Brain
POB or PoB - Proof of Burn
POC or PoC - Proof of Concept
POD or PoD - Proof of Devotion
POLO - Poloniex cryptoasset exchange
POR or PoR - Proof of Research
POS or PoS - Proof of Stake
POS - Piece of Shyte
POW or PoW - Proof of Work
PR - Public Relations
PR - Pull Request
PS - Power Supply
PWD - Password
QC - Quantum Computing
QC - Quality Control
QR - Quick Response code
QS - Quantum Supremacy
R&D - Research & Development
RAM - Random Access Memory
SA - Sentiment Analysis
SEC - United States Securities and Exchange Commission
SEGWIT - Segregated Witness
SHUM - Should Have Used Monero
SMS - Standard Messaging Service (traditional text message on mobile device)
SNARK - Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge
SPV - Simple Payment Verification
SSD - Solid State Drive
STARK - Scalable Transparent Argument of Knowledge
TA - Technical Analysis
TFW - That Feeling When
TIL - Today I Learned
TLDR - Too Lazy; Didn't Read
TOD - Time Of Day
TOR - The Onion Router (network)
TOR - Terms Of Reference
TOX - Peer to Peer encrypted messaging protocols
TPM - Trusted Platform Module
TREX - Bittrex cryptoasset exchange
TVL - Total Value Locked
TVM - Time Value of Money
Ux - User Interface
YOY - Year Over Year
YTD - Year To Date
ZK - Zero Knowledge (as in zk-SNARKS and zk-STARKS)
If you come across an abbreviation that you don't recognize and it's not on this list, it's possible that it's a ticker for a particular cryptoasset. You can try putting it into the search box on CoinMarketCap.com and see if it shows up as a type of crypto.