The Complete Bitcoin Glossary: Every Term You Need to Know

Bitcoin has developed an extensive vocabulary that can be overwhelming for newcomers and even experienced users. This comprehensive glossary covers the essential terms and concepts needed to understand Bitcoin deeply.

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Address: A Bitcoin public key hash, encoded in base58check or bech32 format. Example: bc1qxy2kgdygjrsqtzq2n0yrf2493p83kkfjhx0wlh. You share your address to receive Bitcoin. Always verify you’re giving the correct address format for your wallet.

AML (Anti-Money Laundering): Regulations requiring financial institutions to identify customers, report suspicious activity, and monitor transactions. Applied to Bitcoin exchanges and custodians in most jurisdictions.

ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit): Specialized mining hardware designed to compute SHA-256 hashes as efficiently as possible. Not used for general computing. Replaced CPU/GPU mining around 2013.

ATH (All-Time High): The highest price Bitcoin (or any asset) has ever reached. Bitcoin’s ATH was approximately $73,750 in March 2024.