Moneropedia
Comprehensive glossary of Monero and blockchain terms.
A
Account
Similar in function to a bank account, contains all of your sent and received transactions
Address
Either an alias, such as donate.getmonero.org, or a set of 95 characters starting with a 4
Airgap
An airgap is a security measure to physically separate a computer or device from all other networks, such as the Internet.
Atomic Units
Atomic Units refer to the smallest fraction of 1 XMR.
B
Block
A container of transactions, a sequence of which forms a blockchain
Blockchain
A distributed ledger of all transactions both past and present, without revealing who the funds came from or went to
Bootstrap Node
A node to which a daemon connects to give immediate usability to wallets while syncing
Bulletproofs
A new kind of range proofs replacing RingCT in transactions to encrypt the amounts sent
C
Change
Monero sent as part of a transaction, that returns to your account instead of going to another recipient
Clearnet
The Internet in which anonymous overlay networks are built upon
Coinbase
A special type of transaction included in each block, which contains a small amount of Monero sent to the miner as a reward for their mining work
Consensus
Consensus describes a property of distributed networks like Monero where most of the participants follow the rules, and thus reject bad participants
Cryptocurrency
A digital currency in which encryption techniques are used to regulate the generation of units of currency and verify the transfer of funds, usually operating independently of a central bank
Curve Trees
A transparent zero-knowledge proof construction used in Monero transactions
D
Daemon
Background process which runs and controls a Monero node
Denominations
A denomination is a proper description of a currency amount. It is oftentimes a sub-unit of the currency. For example, traditionally a cent is 1/100th of a particular unit of currency.
F
FCMP++
Monero's transaction proving system
Fluffyblocks
A way of saving bandwidth when sending new blocks around the network
Fungibility
Property of a currency whereby two units can be substituted in place of one another
K
Kovri
C++ router implementation of the I2P network
L
Locally Unique Host
A host defined by you and resolved only by you
M
Merge Mining
The process of mining two or more blockchains at the same time
Mining
The process of cryptographically computing a mathematical proof for a block, containing a number of transactions, which is then added to the blockchain
Mnemonic Seed
A 13 or 25 word phrase used to backup a Monero account, available in a number of languages
N
Node
A device on the Internet running the Monero software, with a full copy of the Monero blockchain. It can be local or remote
O
OpenAlias
A standard that allows you to use an email or domain syntax to pay someone instead of an address, eg. donate@getmonero.org or donate.getmonero.org
P
P2Pool
Peer to peer mining pool for Monero
Paper Wallet
A paper wallet stores the information necessary to send and receive Monero
Payment ID
An optional flag that is added to identify transactions to merchants, consisting of 64 hexadecimal characters
Pedersen Commitment
Pedersen commitments are cryptographic algorithms that allow a prover to commit to a certain value without revealing it or being able to change it
Pruning
Feature that allows node operators to download and sync only 1/3 of the blockchain
R
RandomX
ASIC-resistant POW algoritm currently used by Monero
Remote Node
Nodes which are not running in the same machine as the wallet. Open remote nodes allow to use the Monero network immediately
Ring Signatures
A group of cryptographic signatures with at least one real participant, but no way to tell which in the group is the real one as they all appear valid
Ring Size
Total number of possible signers in a ring signature
RingCT
A way to hide the amount sent in a Monero transaction
S
Scalability
How Monero scaling is flexible and can accommodate many transactions as demand changes
Sidechain
A blockchain that is merge mined with a primary blockchain
Signature
A cryptographic method for proving ownership of a piece of information, as well as proving that the information has not been modified after being signed
Smart Mining
A process of having a throttled miner mine when it otherwise does not cause drawbacks
Spend Key
One of the two pairs of private and public cryptographic keys that each account has, with the private spend key used to spend any funds in the account
Stealth Address
Automatic one-time addresses for every transaction
T
Tail Emission
The block reward at the end of the emission curve
Transaction
A cryptographically signed container that details the transfer of Monero to a recipient (or recipients)
U
Unlock Time
A special transaction where the recipient(s) can only spend the funds after a future date, as set by the sender
V
View Key
One of two sets of private and public cryptographic keys that each account has, with the private view key required to view all transactions related to the account
W
Wallet
A wallet stores the information necessary to send and receive Monero