NFT Glossary – A Guide to NFT Twitter Terminology

The world of NFT presents a whole new world of lingo. I’ve done my best to list as many of these as possible. Hit me up on Twitter if I’ve missed any.

  • 1:1 Art – This is where each piece of art is unique. The opposite of this are commonly PFP or generative art pieces where there may hundreds or thousands of pieces.
  • Airdrop = One of the most exciting elements of the NFT game. This is where if you you’re an NFT holder, you get a free NFT. This can be super valuable and is usually a reward for holding an NFT.
  • Alpha = new important information
  • Aped = Apes have a iconic role in the days of early NFT Crypto through the Bored Ape Yacht Club and prior to that, the famous 24 ape punks. If you ‘ape’ into something it means you take a large position i.e. you buy a lot of NFTs in a particular collection.
  • Bags = These refer to the metaphorical ‘bag’s you keep your NFTs are kept in. Used in ways such as “My bags are packed full of Solsteads”.
  • Burning = When you burn an NFT it means you effectively destroy the token and remove it from the blockchain. The transaction is irreversible.
  • Buying On Secondary = After a collection is minted, owners of tokens can sell these on secondary marketplaces. For Solana, popular ones include Solanart or Alpha.art. On Ethereum the most popular one is OpenSea.
  • Cope = This is the opposite of FOMO (fear of missing out).
  • DAO = Stands for Decentralized Autonomous Organization. They act according to a pre-defined set of rules, like most organisations. Unlike centralized organisations, DAOs do not rely on trust to any third party. DAO contracts are immutable and cannot be manipulated or misinterpreted.
  • DeFi = Decentralised Finance (one of the key uses of Solana and many other blockchains, compared to TradFi (traditional finance that is centralised)
  • DeGen = Degenerate. Degen mode is when a trader does trading without due diligence or research, aping into signals and FOMO’ing into pumps.
  • Delist = If prices are rapidly rising you may be encouraged to delist your NFT. This means removing it from a marketplace.
  • Derivates = NFTs can also work as derivatives. Derivatives are a contract between two or more parties that obtains its value from fluctuations in the underlying asset.
  • Diamond Hands = Someone who does not sell (or waits a very long time).
  • Discord = Popular messaging app platform that is used by almost all NFT projects. They are extremely useful to gauge the strength of a community behind an NFT project. Don’t worry, it may well seem overwhelming at first. And take care please! They are full of scammers – just see my Discord NFT scam I was a victim of.
  • Doxxing = This is the act of revealing identifying information about someone online e.g. real name, address, phone or many other kinds of personal info.
  • Drop = A specific date and time on when a new collection of NFTs will become available to mint and / or trade.
  • DYOR = Do Your Own Research. There is so much fluff and hype around projects, no matter who says what, it’s important you always do your own research.
  • Exchange = A marketplace where you can buy, sell or mint NFTs. Solanart is a popular Solana one. OpenSea.io is the most popular Ethereum marketplace.
  • Few = Shortened version of “Few Understand” a FOMO type term alongside probably nothing.
  • Flip = the act of buying and selling an asset. This happens usually quite quickly.
  • Floor Price = The lowest available price for an NFT of a whole collection.
  • FOMO = Fear of missing out. There are new NFTs released all the time and if you decide to mint for no other reason than the fear of missing out then you were FOMOed.
  • Fren = misspelling of friend – the NFT community is a polite and friendly one. You’ll see this used a lot!
  • FUD = An acronym for Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. Anyone can FUD, this is where you spread ‘rumours’ about something which can have an effect on value.
  • Gas Fee = real-time cost of transactions to cover the processing power to verify transactions. These occur when you mint, buy or sell NFTs.
  • Generative Art = This is art that is algorithmically generated, and can be done in real-time, when a project is minted.
  • GM/GN = Good morning / Good Night
  • GOAT = As a mark of respect you may calll someone the GOAT – the Greatest Of All Time.
  • HODL = An intentional misspelling of “Hold” i.e. holding an asset and not selling it, would be someone with diamond hands, not paper hands 🙂
  • IRL = In Real Life.
  • IYKYK = If You Know You Know – shorthand for information that it is not known by all.
  • LFG = Let’s F***ing Go! Couple them with rocket emojis is a show of extreme excitement!
  • Liquidity = This is where you have available Sol (or any type) to buy NFTs.
  • Looks Rare – Often used ironically. Rarity is discussed all the time in the NFT space as it’s a variable driving the perceived value of something.
  • Maxi = This is someone who is all in on something particular, i.e a Bitcoin Maxi has all their eggs in the Bitcoin basket, they are not bullish elsewhere.
  • Mint = This is the process of creating an NFT through formally assigning it a unique address on the blockchain.
  • NFA = Not Financial Advice. NFTs are super risky. There are opinions being fired around from every direction – often you’ll see a caveat attached DYOR covering their back.
  • NFT = Non-fungible token. An NFT is a unique digital token that is stored on the blockchain and can be linked to an asset such as a digital artwork. They have a verifiable history of ownership that can be traded but can’t be copied.
  • NGMI = Not going to make it. A detracting comment, though often used in a self deprecating fashion, for those who don’t get it. For example, someone who possesses paper hands won’t make it.
  • Noob = Beginner! Don’t worry, the NFT world is full of them.
  • OG = From Original Ganster – this could be someone who owned an NFT collection from when it was first minted.
  • OK Boomer = This is in reply to a comment coming from someone early into their NFT journey.
  • Paper hands = Someone who is quick to sell.
  • PFP = Personal Profile Picture. Many NFT projects are released with the intention of being used as profile pictures on social networks.
  • Probably Nothing = A sarcastic comment as it actually means the opposite – probably something. If a whale swept the floor you may say probably nothing.
  • Pumping = This is when the price of an NFT goes up quickly. This can be for any number of reasons, for example, an NFT influencer can tweet about a project and it’s price can go up. Or an NFT can announce they are going to do airdrops (which bring value) hence the price goes up.
  • Rekt = Shorthand for wrecked. When your portfolio is in a shocking state. This happens very often in the world of NFT trading.
  • Right Click Save As = A term used by many non-NFT believers. They show their technical prowess by saying they can simply save the JPG to their computer.
  • Roadmap = This is the schedule of activities that an NFT project sets out. They are usually used for PFP projects where the community is looking for long term value. You won’t see them for art projects. Art is art.
  • Rug Pull = Scam by which a project is launched through the process of a drop and mint but through sending Sol to the creator no minting takes places. The perpetrator usually disappears immediately after.
  • Seems legit = Shorthand for Seems legitimate – when a project looks to have seriously positive prospects. Be watchful though! This term can also be used sarcastically when a project looks anything but!
  • Ser = Misspelling of Sir and is a polite way to direct a comment to someone – can lighten the tone if you’re in disagreement.
  • Shilling = When someone is being overzealous in getting people to ape into a collection. Don’t shill!
  • Sniping = This is the action of picking up a banger of an NFT deal. Someone may list an undervalued NFT and you snipe it. It could be listed undervalue for various reasons. The seller may want a quick deal to free up some liquidity. Or they are not aware of it’s value. For example, they may list a rare one but not be aware of its rarity.
  • Sweep The Floor = This is the action of buying many NFTs in a project at the bottom price. This does require a fair amount of Sol and can be a big time buyer who feels a project is undervalued and they buy big at the base price.
  • Szn = Short fro season – when one is moving into a good period for something, it’s Up only now because it’s ‘whatever token’ szn.
  • Up Only = The value of a token has reached a point where the only way is up!
  • WAGMI = We All Going To Make It – upbeat comment usually to support someone or others.
  • Wen Moon? = Used commonly in the crypto world to refer to when a coin is going up in price by many orders of magnitude. Tends to be used ironically in the NFT world. A similar one is Wen Lambo 🙂