CryptoBasics
Bitcoin Explained
A network without a centre, a fixed cap and a public ledger: how Bitcoin works and what you should know before getting started.
Section
Crypto
Bitcoin, blockchain, custody, stablecoins, regulation
Crypto assets are a market of their own, highly volatile, with their own technology and their own rules. Crypto explains Bitcoin, wallets, stablecoins and European regulation for beginners, factually and without promises.
CryptoBasics
Wallets and Custody: Who Controls the Keys?
Exchange, app or hardware wallet: how the custody of crypto assets works, what a private key is and how to protect your recovery phrase.
CryptoBasics
Stablecoins: How They Work, Their Uses and Risks
Digital tokens with a fixed link to the euro or the dollar: how stablecoins aim to hold their value, what they are used for and what MiCA regulates.
Do the maths
Business Glossary
The terms from business, finance, markets and crypto, explained briefly and clearly.
Business glossary
Terms from Crypto
- Algorithmic stablecoin
- A token whose price is meant to be kept stable by software that controls the supply, without a full reserve behind it. Such models are considered particularly vulnerable to a loss of confidence.
- Asset-referenced token
- A crypto-asset under MiCA that is meant to keep its value stable by referring to other values or rights, such as a basket of currencies or commodities.
- Block reward
- Newly created bitcoin that a miner receives for successfully adding a block, in addition to the transaction fees. Since April 2024 it has been 3.125 bitcoin per block.
- Cold wallet
- A wallet whose keys are kept offline, for example on a hardware wallet. It offers better protection against remote access but requires more effort for every transaction.
- Crypto-asset service provider
- A company that provides services such as custody, trading or exchange of crypto-assets for clients on a commercial basis. In the EU this requires authorisation under the Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA).
- Crypto-asset white paper
- An information document that must be drawn up under MiCA for many crypto-assets. Among other things, it describes the issuer, the rights of holders, the technology used and the risks.
- E-money token
- A crypto-asset under MiCA whose value is meant to be kept stable by referring to exactly one official currency.
- Halving
- The halving of the block reward for miners, which in Bitcoin takes place every 210,000 blocks and therefore roughly every four years.
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