Welcome back to the series where we untangle crypto jargon that trips everyone up. Today, we’re looking at valuation, creation, and control.

You see a coin with a low value and think it's a steal. But are you looking at the whole picture? Some projects have all their coins in circulation, while others have a certain amount locked for future release.

Both are ways to measure the total value of a crypto project, but one is usually higher than the other.

• Market Cap: Imagine a single slice of pizza sitting on a plate. This slice represents the coins that are actually in circulation right now. The price is based on the scarcity of just that slice (current price x circulating supply).

• Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV): Now, imagine the outline of the entire pizza box showing where the other 7 slices will eventually be. FDV calculates the value if all the future coins (which are currently locked or haven't been created yet) were released today (current price x total supply).

The Takeaway: Market cap is what it's worth now; FDV warns you if the market is about to be flooded with new supply later. This eventually leads to a form of controlled inflation, which might affect the price of the coin you're holding.

"I want to make some crypto." Okay, do you need a pickaxe or a button?

Both are methods of creating new coins or tokens, but one requires hardware while the other just runs on software. The difference is more than just a 't'.

• Mining: Picture a gold prospector in a dark cave, sweating and physically chipping away at a rock wall. This represents Proof-of-Work (PoW). It requires massive amounts of electricity and computational "sweat" to solve puzzles and extract new coins (like Bitcoin).

• Minting: Picture a clean, automated industrial press. You press a button, and a coin is stamped out instantly. This is how tokens are created via Proof-of-Stake (PoS) or when you create an NFT. It’s done via code commands and validation, without the intense energy expenditure.

The Takeaway: Mining is high-powered labor, while minting is digital administration. You can't mine an NFT, but you can always mint one.

Did You Know? Moving from PoW to PoS is one major reason why Ethereum went from costing $$$ in gas fees for transactions a few years ago to just a few cents today.

You use apps every day, from buying things to banking. Some of these platforms belong to large corporations, which store and manage your data. But in Web3, the app doesn't answer to a CEO.

Both are software applications you use on your phone or computer to get things done, but the difference is who owns your data.

• App: Think of a marionette puppet. It moves and dances, but if you look up, there are strings leading to a giant hand in a business suit (the company). But if the company (or the government) doesn't like what the puppet is doing, they can pull the strings or cut them entirely. They control and manage your data.

• dApp (Decentralized App): Think of a wind-up robot. It walks autonomously and runs on smart contracts within the blockchain. Once it's deployed, it works according to the rules of the code, and users own and manage their data. No single CEO or company can easily switch it off or ban you from using it. Operational updates are decided by a group of stakeholders who are active users themselves, not shareholders sitting in a boardroom.

The Takeaway: An app is rented land; a dApp is open territory.

There'll be more of these explainers coming up. Let us know in the comments below if there are any blockchain terms that you may have come across but struggle to understand, and we'll help simplify them for you.

Stay tuned for more coming up!

Welcome back to the series where we untangle crypto jargon that trips everyone up. Today, we’re looking at valuation, creation, and control.

You see a coin with a low value and think it's a steal. But are you looking at the whole picture? Some projects have all their coins in circulation, while others have a certain amount locked for future release.

Both are ways to measure the total value of a crypto project, but one is usually higher than the other.

• Market Cap: Imagine a single slice of pizza sitting on a plate. This slice represents the coins that are actually in circulation right now. The price is based on the scarcity of just that slice (current price x circulating supply).

• Fully Diluted Valuation (FDV): Now, imagine the outline of the entire pizza box showing where the other 7 slices will eventually be. FDV calculates the value if all the future coins (which are currently locked or haven't been created yet) were released today (current price x total supply).

The Takeaway: Market cap is what it's worth now; FDV warns you if the market is about to be flooded with new supply later. This eventually leads to a form of controlled inflation, which might affect the price of the coin you're holding.

"I want to make some crypto." Okay, do you need a pickaxe or a button?

Both are methods of creating new coins or tokens, but one requires hardware while the other just runs on software. The difference is more than just a 't'.

• Mining: Picture a gold prospector in a dark cave, sweating and physically chipping away at a rock wall. This represents Proof-of-Work (PoW). It requires massive amounts of electricity and computational "sweat" to solve puzzles and extract new coins (like Bitcoin).

• Minting: Picture a clean, automated industrial press. You press a button, and a coin is stamped out instantly. This is how tokens are created via Proof-of-Stake (PoS) or when you create an NFT. It’s done via code commands and validation, without the intense energy expenditure.

The Takeaway: Mining is high-powered labor, while minting is digital administration. You can't mine an NFT, but you can always mint one.

Did You Know? Moving from PoW to PoS is one major reason why Ethereum went from costing $$$ in gas fees for transactions a few years ago to just a few cents today.

You use apps every day, from buying things to banking. Some of these platforms belong to large corporations, which store and manage your data. But in Web3, the app doesn't answer to a CEO.

Both are software applications you use on your phone or computer to get things done, but the difference is who owns your data.

• App: Think of a marionette puppet. It moves and dances, but if you look up, there are strings leading to a giant hand in a business suit (the company). But if the company (or the government) doesn't like what the puppet is doing, they can pull the strings or cut them entirely. They control and manage your data.

• dApp (Decentralized App): Think of a wind-up robot. It walks autonomously and runs on smart contracts within the blockchain. Once it's deployed, it works according to the rules of the code, and users own and manage their data. No single CEO or company can easily switch it off or ban you from using it. Operational updates are decided by a group of stakeholders who are active users themselves, not shareholders sitting in a boardroom.

The Takeaway: An app is rented land; a dApp is open territory.

There'll be more of these explainers coming up. Let us know in the comments below if there are any blockchain terms that you may have come across but struggle to understand, and we'll help simplify them for you.

Stay tuned for more coming up!