Glossary Term: Cryptocurrency

Uniswap is a protocol built on the Ethereum blockchain that allows for decentralized token swaps. It’s one of the most popular decentralized exchanges (DEX) on the Ethereum network as of my knowledge cutoff in 2021. Unlike traditional, centralized exchanges, Uniswap doesn’t require an order book to facilitate trades. Instead, it uses a model called automated liquidity provision.

Here’s a simple breakdown:

1. Decentralization: There’s no central authority that holds your money. You hold your funds in your personal wallet and you directly interact with the protocol.
2. Automated Liquidity Provision: Uniswap allows users to trade directly with a liquidity pool. These pools are filled by users who deposit an equal value of two tokens. In return, they receive liquidity tokens, which can be used to reclaim their share of the pool, as well as a portion of the trading fees.
3. Token Swaps: Users can easily swap between ERC-20 tokens directly from their wallet through a simple web interface. The protocol automatically calculates the price based on the balance of each token in a liquidity pool.
4. Openness: Anyone can create a new liquidity pool for any pair of tokens. This makes it possible to trade virtually any ERC-20 token.
5. Non-custodial: The protocol is designed so that you maintain control of your tokens at all times, apart from the brief period when a transaction is being confirmed.

Uniswap is a significant player in the DeFi (Decentralized Finance) movement, which aims to recreate traditional financial systems with decentralized versions, eliminating the need for intermediaries like banks and brokers.

MetaMask is a software cryptocurrency wallet used to interact with the Ethereum blockchain. It allows users to access their Ethereum wallet through a browser extension or mobile application, enabling them to interact with Ethereum-based decentralized applications, or “dApps”, directly in their browser.

Users can buy, store, send and swap tokens, while developers can use it to handle blockchain-related intricacies, making it easier to build Ethereum-based applications.

Beyond just Ethereum, MetaMask also supports Ethereum-compatible networks, such as Binance Smart Chain and Polygon (formerly Matic).

Please note that, as a hot wallet, security is an important concern. It means that it’s connected to the internet, and if your computer gets hacked, your wallet could potentially be at risk. It’s recommended to use hardware wallets or other cold storage methods for large amounts of cryptocurrencies.

Remember that while MetaMask is widely used and generally considered secure, it’s still important to be aware of phishing attempts and other online scams. Always make sure you’re using the authentic MetaMask service, and never give out your seed phrase to anyone.

A DAO, or Decentralized Autonomous Organization, is an organization that is run by rules encoded as computer programs called smart contracts. These are a type of organization represented by rules encoded as a transparent computer program controlled by shareholders and not influenced by a central government.

A DAO’s financial transactions and rules are maintained on a blockchain, providing complete transparency and making it near-impossible for any one person or group to take control. This structure avoids the need for traditional management and hierarchical control.

The primary goal of a DAO is to automate business operations and facilitate coordinated decision-making among stakeholders. This is often done through a process known as a consensus mechanism, in which decisions are made by voting or other forms of collective agreement.

In a DAO, token holders have the rights to vote on the direction of the organization. These tokens can represent any kind of asset, like voting rights, shares in a company, or even physical assets.

Please note that while DAOs present exciting possibilities for reimagining organizations and governance, they also have raised legal and regulatory challenges and have been associated with significant risks, including vulnerabilities to hacking as seen in events like the 2016 attack on “The DAO”. As always, it’s important to do thorough research and consider potential risks when interacting with this kind of emerging technology.

OurSong is an NFT platform that allows users to create, share, and trade digital trading cards called Vibes, which are tradable NFTs in the form of creative moments. OurSong is a social commerce platform that aims to build a community for digital art creators and artists who can be easily discovered and can monetize their work. It is a music non-fungible token (NFT) platform that is owned by Our Happy Company, a music company founded by John Legend and Chris Lin, the CEO of popular streaming service KKBOX.

The goal of OurSong is to help musical performers monetize their content more effectively and to build a community among their fans. The platform also wants to make NFTs more accessible and more equitable by prioritizing accessibility and using OurSong Dollars. The platform is a mobile app that works on Android and iOS devices but is not designed for web browsers. OurSong also allows musicians to create exclusive digital covers and get access to unique audio clips. The platform wants to move non-fungible tokens past JPEGs.

OurSong is a blockchain-based platform that hopes to address a fundamental problem with streaming services that now dominate the music industry by allowing entertainers to connect more directly with the people who admire their work. The platform has raised $7.5 million in seed funding led by Infinity Ventures and Animoca Brands.

TT Wallet is a crypto wallet that allows for secure and easy use of cryptocurrency. It has full DApp browser capability and can be downloaded from the App Store. TT Wallet supports the ThunderCore blockchain, which is a fast, high-performance Ethereum-compatible public blockchain that uses the same language and toolset as Ethereum.

The ThunderCore blockchain uses Thunder Token (TT) as its underlying token. Thunder Token is used for paying gas fees on the ThunderCore network and is to the ThunderCore network what ETH is to the Ethereum network.

The ThunderCore blockchain aims to solve the scalability problems of existing blockchains, especially Ethereum, while allowing users and developers to stick to the wallets, dev-ops tools, and programming languages they are used to. ThunderCore promises higher throughput, faster confirmation times, and lower costs compared to Ethereum.

Phantom Wallet is a non-custodial Web3.0 wallet designed for the Solana blockchain, one of the rising competitors to Ethereum. Phantom Wallet offers a range of features similar to what MetaMask provides for the Ethereum blockchain. It serves as a browser-based crypto wallet that enables users to interact with Solana applications and conduct transactions directly from the wallet’s interface​​.

Phantom Wallet is designed to facilitate the use of decentralized applications (DApps), allowing users to transfer crypto assets freely between their wallet and the Solana DApps. For example, gamers can use Phantom Wallet to play blockchain games, claim their in-game tokens, and then use the same wallet to connect to decentralized exchanges, such as Raydium, to exchange those tokens for fiat money or any other Solana-supported tokens​​.

Here are some of the key features of Phantom Wallet:

• Built-in exchange: Phantom Wallet includes a built-in decentralized exchange that allows users to instantly swap Solana-based tokens directly from within their wallets. The swap interface is similar to the one on the MetaMask wallet, and it displays the swap rate, slippage tolerance, and estimated fee when making swaps​​.
• NFT compatibility: Phantom Wallet supports NFT collectibles from the Solana blockchain. The wallet has a feature that automatically groups similar NFTs to make it easier to access​.
• Crypto staking capabilities: Phantom Wallet enables users to stake Solana (SOL) crypto and receive rewards. While the wallet doesn’t offer built-in staking options, it connects investors to validators that receive the stake and pay the rewards​​.
• Hardware wallet connection: Phantom Wallet allows you to connect to Ledger, a popular hardware wallet. This means that your tokens will always be safe on your hardware device​.
• Web3.0 support: Phantom Wallet supports Web3, the decentralized internet, combining the power of blockchain technology and the internet to allow decentralized applications (DApps)​.

While Phantom Wallet offers multiple features that users enjoy, it’s worth noting that it is primarily focused on the Solana ecosystem and doesn’t support other networks as of now. Future updates may include support for Ethereum and ERC-20 tokens, more markets on the Phantom Swap feature, and multi-chain support​.

Polygon, previously known as Matic Network, is a Layer 2 scaling solution for Ethereum. It’s a protocol and a framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.

Here’s more about it:

1. Increased Scalability: Ethereum has long been plagued by issues of scalability, with high transaction fees (or “gas fees”) and slow transaction speeds. Polygon provides a solution by allowing the creation of dedicated blockchain networks that bundle several transactions off-chain before finalizing them on the Ethereum main chain. This significantly increases the speed of transactions and reduces costs.
2. Interoperability: The Polygon framework allows different Polygon chains to interact with each other, fostering an environment of interoperability. This is a major development, given that many existing blockchains operate in silos and lack ways to communicate effectively with other blockchains.
3. Security: While the Polygon chains operate independently, they also benefit from the security of the Ethereum network, as the transactions are ultimately secured on the Ethereum main chain. In addition, Polygon chains can also implement their own security models, either acting independently or pooling their security.
4. User Experience: Polygon greatly improves user experience by providing faster and cheaper transactions while still maintaining a high degree of security. The model also allows developers to create a user-friendly interface and eliminate many of the complexities typically associated with blockchain technology.
5. Ethereum Compatibility: Perhaps most importantly, Polygon maintains full compatibility with the Ethereum network. This means that it can harness the existing Ethereum infrastructure, including its tools, DApps, and ecosystem.

It’s worth noting that while Polygon helps alleviate many of the problems facing Ethereum, it’s just one of the many proposed solutions. There are other Layer 2 options as well as ongoing work on Ethereum 2.0, which aims to greatly improve Ethereum’s scalability and efficiency.

OpenSea is a decentralized marketplace for various types of digital assets on the Ethereum blockchain. Launched in 2017, it became one of the largest platforms for buying, selling, and trading NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens).

NFTs can represent ownership over digital or physical assets like digital art, virtual real estate, music, domain names, and more. Each NFT is unique (or “non-fungible”) and is stored on the blockchain, which verifies its authenticity and ownership.

OpenSea provides an interface that makes it easy for people to interact with these NFTs. The marketplace handles a wide array of token standards beyond the basic ERC721 standard, including ERC1155 and others. It also supports various blockchain networks in addition to Ethereum, though Ethereum remains the most widely used on the platform.

OpenSea has become a dominant marketplace in the NFT space, facilitating millions of dollars in transactions each day. It’s been central to the growth of the digital art scene, with artists directly minting and selling their art as NFTs on the platform.

BakerySwap is a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol built on the Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

It’s similar to other decentralized exchanges (DEX) like Uniswap, but it also provides other unique features such as:

1. NFT Marketplace: In addition to token swaps, BakerySwap features a marketplace for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Users can buy, sell, and trade digital art and other types of NFTs directly on the platform.
2. Bake Tokens: The platform’s native token, BAKE, is used for governance and to pay for transactions. Users can earn BAKE by providing liquidity to the platform’s liquidity pools, and they can stake BAKE to earn rewards.
3. Low fees: Because it’s built on the Binance Smart Chain, BakerySwap offers significantly lower transaction fees compared to Ethereum-based DEXs. This has made it a popular choice among users who are put off by Ethereum’s high gas fees.
4. Yield Farming and Liquidity Pools: Users can stake LP (Liquidity Provider) tokens in various yield farming pools to earn rewards, and they can contribute their tokens to liquidity pools to earn a share of the transaction fees.