Web3 Glossary
37 core online terms (fully indexed glossary in the printed edition of The P2E Bible).
Every term you need to navigate the Web3 gaming ecosystem — explained in plain language.
A
Airdrop
Free distribution of tokens or NFTs to wallet addresses, often used to bootstrap a community or reward early adopters.
AMM
Automated Market Maker — a smart contract that creates liquidity pools for decentralized token trading without an order book.
APY
Annual Percentage Yield — the annualized rate of return on staked or deposited crypto, including compounding effects.
Audit
A third-party security review of a smart contract's code to identify vulnerabilities before deployment.
B
Blockchain
A distributed, immutable ledger that records transactions across a network of computers without a central authority.
Bridge
A protocol that enables the transfer of assets between different blockchain networks (e.g., Ethereum to Polygon).
Burn
Permanently removing tokens from circulation by sending them to an inaccessible wallet, reducing total supply.
D
DAO
Decentralized Autonomous Organization — a community-governed entity where decisions are made via token-holder voting.
DeFi
Decentralized Finance — financial services (lending, borrowing, trading) built on blockchain without traditional intermediaries.
DEX
Decentralized Exchange — a platform for peer-to-peer crypto trading using smart contracts instead of a central operator.
DYOR
Do Your Own Research — a reminder to verify project fundamentals before investing, rather than relying on influencer hype.
F
G
GameFi
The intersection of gaming and decentralized finance (DeFi), where in-game economies use blockchain-native tokens.
Gas
The fee required to execute transactions or smart contracts on a blockchain network (e.g., ETH gas on Ethereum).
Guild
An organized group of players who pool resources to play P2E games, often lending NFTs to scholars in exchange for a revenue split.
M
N
P
R
S
Scholar
A player in a guild scholarship program who borrows NFTs to play P2E games and shares a percentage of earnings with the NFT owner.
Sink
An in-game mechanism that removes tokens from circulation (repair costs, entry fees, crafting), counteracting inflation.
Smart Contract
Self-executing code deployed on a blockchain that automatically enforces the terms of an agreement when conditions are met.
Staking
Locking tokens in a protocol to earn rewards or secure the network, typically providing APY returns.
T
W
Wallet
Software or hardware that stores your private keys and allows you to interact with blockchains (e.g., MetaMask, Phantom).
Web3
The vision of a decentralized internet where users own their data, identity, and digital assets through blockchain technology.
Whale
An individual or entity holding a large amount of a particular cryptocurrency, capable of influencing market price.