A daemon is a computer program that runs as a background process on a computing device rather than being controlled by an interactive user. Daemons are usually initiated upon booting up the computer, rather than being activated manually. They typically control functions like responding to network requests and detecting hardware activity.

Dagger is a specialized notification engine used to keep track of accounts and data events within the Ethereum network in real-time. Dagger is designed as a JavaScript (JS) based framework that allows developers to employ Polygon’s MoreVP scaling technology to create state-of-the-art dApps that can run on the Ethereum network.

DAI is an ERC-20 stablecoin token released by the Ethereum-based MakerDAO protocol that is used to facilitate collateral-backed loans without an intermediary. DAI is pegged to the US dollar in a 1:1 ratio so that each DAI should always be worth $1 USD. DAI is a decentralized crypto-backed stablecoin, and thus maintains its USD peg by using collateral in the form of cryptocurrencies like ETH.

On the Loom Network, a dAppChain is a dApp-specific transaction sidechain built on top of the base Ethereum blockchain to maximize efficiency. A dAppChain can handle complex processing tasks and even host entire dApps, all while minimally interacting with the base layer blockchain to which it is anchored. Applications developed using the Loom Network feature a unique dAppChain to carry out distinct consensus models, protocols, and optimizations.

Dapper Labs is a Canadian blockchain development firm owned by Axiom Zen. Dapper Labs is known for the creation of Crypto Kitties in 2017, and later for the development of several other notable blockchain projects. Dapper labs is focused on the creation of blockchain systems that are generally used for decentralized finance (DeFi), gaming and eSports, and non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Flow Blockchain — built by Dapper Labs — helped create NBA Top Shot (a platform for trading, collecting, buying, and selling of NBA NFT collectables) in 2020, and is expected to release similar platforms and products in the coming years.

RenVM is an inter-blockchain liquidity network made up of thousands of independently operated nodes called Darknodes. Anyone can run a Darknode, but each node must run the RenVM software via a Virtual Private Server and deposit 100,000 REN tokens into the Darknode Registry Contract. This mechanism incentivizes the node operators to refrain from malicious behavior at the risk of forfeiting their deposit. Darknodes collectively act as a trustless, decentralized custodian of the digital assets that users lock up on the RenVM platform. They allow users to collect fees every time the RenVM converts a digital asset into an ERC-20 token.

The dark web is a segment of the internet intentionally hidden from conventional search engines and only accessible by means of special software. The most common web browsers used to access the dark web are Tor and I2P, which use masked IP addresses in order to hide the identity of dark web users and site owners. The dark web is typically associated with cybercrime and illicit activity. The dark web constitutes a small sliver of the larger deep web, which is also hidden from conventional search engines, but is not generally associated with illicit activity.

A data access layer (DAL) is generally considered the main component of the back-end of a computer system or network. It is a layer within a computer program that allows programs to access data and persistent storage. DALs allow running programs to access data anytime it is needed to operate correctly. Applications that make use of DALs leverage a database server, or can operate without one. DALs support several database formats, but must be able to communicate with different data requests within a system.

On the Klaytn blockchain platform, the process of data anchoring connects data from the auxiliary service chain to the mainchain. Data anchoring periodically stores block hashes from the faster, more customizable service chain onto the more secure mainchain. The technique is meant to increase the security of service chains, which can be less secure than the mainchain due to their smaller number of nodes.

A data packet is a unit of data that can be transferred over a network. They are usually measured in megabytes (MB) or gigabytes (GB). A live internet connection contains a constant back-and-forth exchange of data packets.

Data science (DS) is the interdisciplinary study of data to create actionable insights into the growing amount of data the world uses in many sectors. DS generally combines the use of analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and scientific methodologies to compile, store, interpret, and process large amounts of data. DS can be employed in nearly any industry imaginable, and helps organizations, businesses, and other constituents learn from the data they use, often to help ensure greater technological innovation and higher rates of profitability.

Data scraping, also known as web scraping, refers to methods with which computer programs extract data from websites for use in local databases or other applications. Data scraping is most commonly used to gather content, prices, or contact information from online sources. While there are valid legal use cases for data scraping tools, the same software can also be used to download and reappropriate data for unauthorized purposes, such as identifying pseudo-anonymous web service users or plagiarizing branded content.

Datatokens are ERC-20 tokens that represent tokenized datasets and data services on the Ocean Protocol. By purchasing a particular datatoken on Ocean's data marketplace, users gain access to particular datasets and data services that the datatokens represent. Datatokens serve as both an on-ramp and off-ramp for data to enter the decentralized finance (DeFi) space and become monetized on the Ocean Protocol.

The Data Verification Mechanism (DVM) is the oracle process used to resolve disputes on the UMA protocol. When there is a price dispute between two parties over a synthetic token derivative contract, the DVM requests UMA token holders vote on the correct price. The DVM then relays the correct price to the requestor and rewards UMA token holders for their vote.

In traditional markets, day traders execute a trading strategy that involves only holding intraday positions and do not hold open positions overnight. Day traders attempt to take advantage of short-term price fluctuations between highly liquid assets. Day trading is generally regarded as a riskier investment than long-term strategies.

The NEO blockchain uses a highly advanced framework (dBFT 2.0) similar to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) called Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance or dBFT. NEO’s dBFT 2.0 solves several inefficiencies that the first version of dBFT struggled with. DBFT 1.0 was sometimes susceptible to a single block fork, meaning that messaging problems between system nodes could often occur, resulting in network inefficiencies. To fix this problem, dBFT 2.0 changed the messaging request system that allows nodes to communicate with each other, adding the Recovery Message option. This option helps the network’s main Consensus Nodes to recover faster in the event of messaging problems, and to thus maintain consensus more effectively.

A dead cat bounce is a technical analysis charting pattern that refers to a temporary recovery in the price of an asset that is experiencing a prolonged decline, followed by a continued downtrend. A dead cat bounce is essentially a fake out in the recovery of the price of an asset. This term is derived from a Wall Street adage that "even a dead cat will bounce if it falls from a great height."

Dead coins are cryptocurrencies that have been abandoned by defunct projects. Several criteria are used to designate dead coins: inactive webpages, lack of development updates, lack of active nodes, and less than $1,000 USD trading volume over three months. Over 1,000 dead coins have been documented as of 2020.

A death cross is a bearish technical trading signal in which the 50-day moving average crosses below the 200-day moving average, typically triggering a major sell-off. It is the opposite of a Golden Cross trading signal, and has been evident prior to many of the largest stock market crashes in history.

A debt instrument is a tool that an individual, government, or business entity can use to obtain capital. Credit cards, credit lines, loans, and bonds can all be types of debt instruments. The term debt instrument is used primarily for institutions that are trying to raise capital, usually in the form of a revolving line of credit that is not typically associated with a primary or secondary market. More complex debt instruments involve an advanced contract structure and the involvement of multiple lenders or investors, usually via an organized marketplace.

A debugger is a specialized software implementation that is designed to identify and remove errors — a process called debugging — in a software system, computer network, or related infrastructure. Debuggers audit computer systems by testing for correct performance. When a system exhibits a large number of bugs, or it crashes all together, it is critical to halt the operation of the system temporarily to repair it. Debuggers are often used to target the exact location of problems by using different mechanisms like instruction-set simulators, step-by-step code analysis, and computerized state modification, among others.

Decentraland is a virtual world that is integrated with Ethereum. On the Decentraland platform, users can explore a multifaceted, user-generated landscape that incorporates real estate, gaming, and social media elements. MANA, an ERC-20 token, is the digital asset token used to pay for goods and services in Decentraland, while LAND is a non-fungible ERC-721 token that represents the ownership of virtual land.

A decentralized application — or dApp — makes use of blockchain technology to address use cases ranging from investment to lending to gaming and governance. Although dApps may appear similar to web applications in terms of user experience (UX), dApp back-end processes eschew centralized servers to transact in a distributed and peer-to-peer fashion. Rather than using the central Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to communicate, dApps rely on wallet software to interact with automated smart contracts on networks like the Ethereum blockchain.

Decentralized application programming interfaces (dAPIs) — an innovation of the API3 protocol — are API services that are inherently compatible with blockchain technology. While dAPIs function very similarly to legacy APIs, legacy APIs are centralized and not natively compatible with blockchain technology. On the API3 protocol, API providers are able to leverage a serverless oracle node, called the Airnode, to sell their data feeds on the blockchain.

A decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) is a blockchain-based organization that is democratically managed by members through self-enforcing open source code and typically formalized by smart contracts. DAOs lack centralized management structures. All decisions are voted upon by network stakeholders. DAOs often utilize a native utility token to incentivize network participation, and allocate proportional voting power to stakeholders based on the size of their stake. As DAOs are built on top blockchains — often Ethereum — their transactions are executed transparently on the underlying blockchain.

Decentralization is in many ways the central and defining characteristic of blockchain technology. Applying decentralized processes and tech can reduce or even eliminate the role of intermediaries across industries and use cases. For example, by removing banking institutions from financial instruments, decentralized finance (DeFi) platforms can distribute profits and governance to users and the wider community rather than a centralized intermediary. On an even more foundational level, decentralized networks crowdsource consensus, making it much harder for any one entity to control or censor the data that transacts through that network. However, many experts believe that achieving optimal decentralization can tend to decrease network throughput.

A decentralized exchange (DEX) is a financial services platform for buying, trading, and selling digital assets. On a DEX, users transact directly and peer-to-peer on the blockchain without a centralized intermediary. DEXs do not serve as custodians of users' funds, and are often democratically managed with decentralized governance organization. Without a central authority charging fees for services, DEXs tend to be cheaper than their centralized counterparts.

A Decentralized Exchange (DEX) aggregator is a system that makes use of a DEX to give traders the ability to buy, sell, and trade different tokens and coins from numerous exchanges via a single streamlined interface. 1inch is an example of a DEX aggregator that is designed to find users the best asset price from DEX protocols like Uniswap, Balancer, SushiSwap, Bancor, KyberSwap, and others — all in one place. This type of specialized automated market maker (AMM) system gives users more options and a better overall user experience (UI) when using a DEX.

A decentralized exchange protocol defines the specific mechanisms that govern order book functionality, how trades transact once a match is found, and the deployment of potential rewards that incentivize buyers and sellers.

Decentralized finance (DeFi) is a major growth sector in blockchain that offers peer-to-peer financial services and technologies built on Ethereum. DeFi exchanges, loans, investments, and tokens are significantly more transparent, permissionless, trustless, and interoperable than traditional financial services, and trend towards decentralized governance organizational methods that foster equitable stakeholder ownership. Platform composability in DeFi has resulted in unlocking value through interoperability with innovations like yield farming and liquidity tokens.

For blockchain networks and dApps, decentralized governance refers to the processes through which the disintermediated, equitable management of a platform is executed. It involves different methodologies for voting on platform tech, strategy, updates, and rules. Blockchain governance is typically conducted using two distinct systems: on-chain governance and off-chain governance. On-chain governance relies upon blockchain-based systems, typically using automatic cryptographic algorithms through the network’s computational architecture and underlying consensus mechanism. Off-chain governance refers to decision making that is not codified on the blockchain, often on online forums or face-to-face.

A decentralized identity (DID) is a type of digital identification that is typically used on public blockchain networks. Once established, DIDs allow their users to verify and use their identities without a centralized authority, identity provider, or related third party. This is accomplished through the use of an identity wallet that uses key-pair cryptography to verify a person’s identity. One interesting application of DIDs is the ability to create separate DIDs that share specific data with specific online entities. For example, you could verify your nationality without revealing your name or date of birth (DOB).

A decentralized system is a conglomerate of connected, but separate entities that communicate with one another without a central authority or server. They stand in contrast to centralized systems, which feature a central point of governance. Blockchains are an example of a decentralized system: the data ledger of a blockchain is distributed amongst all the decentralized network participants (nodes), which must achieve consensus on the content of the data for the network to function. Without a single point of authority, decentralized systems like blockchains also lack a single point of failure, which means that a single damaged node cannot incapacitate the blockchain as a whole.

Generally, a decentralized oracle network (DON) refers to a network of decentralized blockchain oracles that provide external data to blockchains or requesting smart contracts. With many different data sources and an oracle system that isn’t controlled by a single entity, DONs provide increased security and transparency to drastically improve smart contract functionality. Chainlink is an example of a popular DON.

A Decentralized Storage Network (DSN) is a network that provides peer-to-peer access to users with the capacity to rent out their available hardware storage space. With the help of end-to-end encryption techniques, clients privately transmit files peer-to-peer via DSNs that provide cryptographic proofs for security. Sia, Filecoin, and Storj are examples of blockchain-based decentralized storage networks that aim to reduce the risk of data failures that can occur with a single centralized point of failure. On DSN platforms, smart contracts are used to formalize terms between providers and users.

DeCloud is Akash Network’s decentralized cloud that is designed specifically to allow users to make use of various decentralized finance (DeFi) and cloud computing services using the Akash Network cloud storage and computing protocol. DeCloud is designed to be serverless, interoperable, self-sovereign, censorship resistant, fast, flexible, and affordable. DeCloud is a permissionless cloud service provider for DeFi, decentralized projects, and high growth companies that are compatible with major cloud service providers and cloud-based applications.

As it relates to blockchain and cryptography, decryption is the process of utilizing encoded or encrypted text (ciphertext) or data and converting back into plaintext that can easily be read by the computer system that created it. Decryption in blockchain often relates to methods of unencrypting data manually, through a unique identifier code, or using specialized cryptographic keys.

The deep web is the portion of the World Wide Web (WWW) that is relatively hidden and much harder to access than the surface web. The deep web contains web pages that are not indexed by traditional web search engines like Google. The deep web is said to make up over 99% of the internet, and is comprised of web mail, social media accounts, online banking, and other websites that sometimes require a password to access. The deep web is also made up of private databases and statistics from global government agencies, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), large enterprises, and other constituents.

The DeFi Pulse Index (DPI) is an asset management index created by DeFi Pulse using Set Protocol. Originally created in 2020, the DPI represents a basket of various DeFi-focused ERC-20 tokens. The DPI is designed to track the most successful and relevant DeFi tokens, providing DPI holders with exposure to the DeFi market at large with one single token.

Deflation is the opposite of inflation and refers to the gradual reduction of prices in an economy relative to actual value, which increases the purchasing power of a currency over time. Deflation usually accompanies the contraction in monetary supply in a given economy, while inflation is often the result of increased money printing. For example, Bitcoin owes its value, at least in part, to its deflationary nature, which is integrated into the network’s code which reduces the circulating supply of bitcoin over time.

Delegated Byzantine Fault Tolerance (dBFT) is the consensus method that was created by Neo to be a more advanced version of Proof of Stake. The consensus mechanism is similar to regular Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) except it employs a methodology whereby anyone can become a delegate that meets specific requirements. In this case, delegates are allowed to share and compare the proposals from other potential delegates. The system possesses extremely fast finality times and transaction speeds, but some argue that it is highly centralized because Neo only employs 7 main Consensus Nodes to maintain network consensus.

Delegated Proof of Contribution (DPoC) is a unique economic governance protocol implemented on the ICON Network that leverages the ICON Incentives Scoring System (IISS). DPoC is a variant of Delegated Proof of Stake (PoS) in that stakers delegate votes towards block validation privileges, but DPoC sees ICX holders delegating tokens towards individuals who have exercised positive participation on the network rather than for particular nodes. The elected entity then validates blocks on a delegate's behalf, and earns token rewards accordingly.

Much like the more widespread Proof-of-Stake (PoS) system, Delegated Proof of Stake (or DPoS) incentivizes users to confirm network data and ensure system security by staking collateral. However, the distinctive characteristic of DPos is its voting and delegation structure. In contrast to PoS, where nodes are usually awarded the ability to process new blocks based solely on the total amount each node stakes, the DPoS system allows users to delegate their own stake to a node of their choosing — known as a delegate — and vote for the nodes to earn block validation access. Elected validators receive block rewards after verifying the transactions in a block, and those rewards are then shared with users who delegated them as validators.

Delegation refers to the contribution of some amount of a cryptocurrency or token to another user for participation in a network staking mechanism on Delegated Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) blockchain protocols. It is useful for users who want to earn staking rewards and participate in a network, but do not have a large enough stake to meet the minimum requirements on their own. DPoS intends to achieve a higher degree of equitability and democratization through delegation mechanisms.

A delegator is a type of node that is often employed by Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchain networks. Delegators have a diverse range of purposes depending on the specific blockchain protocol they operate on, but they are generally used to help full nodes or validator nodes, which are the primary nodes responsible for carrying out network consensus. Those who wish to participate in consensus, but don't wish to operate a full node, may become a delegator node and stake their tokens with a public validator node — through a process called delegation — to share in a portion of block rewards.

Delisting is the removal of a crypto asset from an exchange. Delisting may occur when the project no longer fulfills the listing requirements initially set out by the exchange. Common reasons for delisting include lack of regular trading volume, poor network and/or smart contract stability, evidence of fraudulent or risky behavior, lack of protocol development, non-existent business-to-customer communication, as well as several other factors. After an asset is delisted from an exchange, it can no longer be bought and sold on the platform. A delisting is usually permanent, but in rare cases a project’s asset can be relisted.

A Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack is a type of digital attack on a network that attempts to incapacitate a system by overwhelming it with repeated requests. A DoS attack is a malicious effort to disrupt normal traffic to a website or other internet property to temporarily crash the underlying network and make it non-functional.

A deposit contract is a smart contract that allows users to deposit cryptocurrency into a blockchain protocol, often via a validator node. While deposit contracts typically allow users to deposit tokens into a validator node to help maintain the operational efficiency of the network, they can also sometimes be used within a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol that allows for the use of specific financial instruments (such as staking, lending, and borrowing), enabling users to accrue incentivized token rewards.

A deposit transaction is the process whereby a user deposits their funds (usually in the form of cryptocurrency or fiat) from one platform to another. Deposits are generally conducted from a cryptocurrency exchange, cryptocurrency wallet, custodial provider, or from a fiat-to-crypto on-ramp. Deposits are a type of blockchain transaction, and often come with a transaction fee that is charged by the underlying blockchain network being used to carry out the transaction. Deposits, along with withdrawals, are generally used to move assets between wallets and exchanges, and to exchange fiat currency between a bank account and fiat on-ramp service provider.

The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC), along with the National Securities Clearing Corporation (NSCC) and other subsidiaries, is a U.S. corporation that provides institutional U.S. investors with post-trade clearing and settlement and other services. DTCC also provides asset custody for securities issuers from the U.S. and more than 60 countries globally. The company also offers services related to municipal and corporate debt, mutual funds, equities, derivatives, unit investment trusts, insurance offerings, and U.S. depository receipts. The DTCC is the largest financial processor in the world and is responsible for settling most of the securities transactions in the United States.

The Depth Limit Search (DLS) is a specialized consensus algorithm used within the Cosmos Network blockchain. It is designed to solve the specific technical problem of the infinite path challenge as it relates to uninformed search algorithms. While the DLS algorithm is very memory efficient, it suffers from a lack of completeness.

A derivative is a financial contract that derives its value from the underlying traits of an asset, index, or interest rate. Futures and options contracts are examples of derivatives. There are a variety of blockchain-enabled cryptocurrency derivatives, including synthetic cryptocurrencies and bitcoin futures, which represent agreements to trade bitcoin at a future date at a predetermined price.

A deshielding transaction is a type of transaction used on the Zcash blockchain that is sent from a private, anonymous sender to a public, transparent receiver wallet. Deshielding transactions employ zk-SNARK cryptographic proof technology to maintain data privacy, despite the differing settings of sender and recipient.

A design axiom (DA) is a term given to the critical elements of the Crypto.com blockchain's technical architecture. The Crypto.com technical whitepaper notes six design axioms critical to the overall success of the project: state-of-the-art security architecture; a scalable fast network with high transaction throughput; decentralization; upgradeability; data privacy; and an inclusive network design.

A desktop wallet is a software wallet for cryptocurrency and digital assets that is downloaded directly onto a computing device. Desktop wallets are almost always non-custodial in nature, which means users control their own private keys. Desktop wallets are hot wallets, meaning they are connected to the internet — unless the computing device is turned off or the wallet is installed on an offline secondary computer. Most desktop wallets offer password protection and can generate a recovery phrase as a backup to regenerate keys.

A deterministic module is a section of independent electronic circuits built into a circuit board that provides functions on a computer system that do not feature any degree of randomness. A deterministic module will thus always produce the same output from a given starting condition or initial state. A blockchain-based computerized system is typically deterministic in nature.

Similar to a testnet, the development network or devnet operates independently of the mainnet. Some differentiate these environments based on their intended uses. Although not every blockchain protocol utilizes a devnet or testnet, many use them as an experimental playground to try new features and as a way to stress-test blockchain updates for speed, reliability, and security metrics prior to their mainnet release.

The Dharma Protocol is a decentralized finance (DeFi) wallet built to operate on the Ethereum blockchain. According to the Dharma website, the wallet offers the ability for users to purchase nearly 74,000 different tokenized assets with the help of 55 different decentralized exchanges (DEXs). Dharma offers extremely low fees compared to many traditional centralized exchange and wallet competitors. Dharma also facilitates instant connectivity to any bank account in the United States. The platform leverages solid investment backers including Coinbase, Aave, Y Combinator, Polychain Capital, and others, further solidifying its value proposition in the marketplace.

Digital art can be described as the art that you create on your computer with programs like Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or MS Paint. You can also use more sophisticated tools to create animated or interactive digital art. The most common digital artwork files are .tiff, .gif, .jpg, .pdf, and .mp4 files. Digital art is one of the most popular subgenres of contemporary art. Once it’s on the blockchain, however, it’s cryptoart.

Digital asset is the catch-all term for assets that exist digitally. The term covers a wide variety of assets, including cryptocurrencies, utility tokens, security tokens, digital stocks, and digital collectables. All cryptocurrencies are digital assets, while not all digital assets are cryptocurrencies.

A digital currency is a currency that exists purely in a digital form, without a physical manifestation. Digital currencies possess multiple advantages over their traditional counterparts, including lowered transaction costs, greater transparency, increased transaction speeds, as well as decentralization. Various forms of digital currencies have existed since the late 1980s, but it was not until 2009 that the double-spend problem was solved through the Bitcoin blockchain protocol and the bitcoin (BTC) cryptocurrency.

Digital Currency Electronic Payment, or DCEP, is China’s central bank digital currency (CBDC) initiative. Underway since 2014, DCEP is intended to replace physical cash with a digital edition of China's RMB that can be exchanged between digital wallets without involving a bank. In contrast to decentralized blockchains, the Chinese government will maintain centralized authority over the platform and currency, which has undergone a number of large-scale public trials.

The 'digital dollar' is the commonly used reference of a potential United States central bank digital currency (CBDC). United States government agencies are researching the potential benefits and risks associated with creating a CBDC, but no clear path forward has yet been indicated.

A digital identity is data that is used to represent an individual, organization, or device. For individuals, digital identities can be digital versions of government documents that verify one’s date of birth (DOB), nationality, sex, and other important information. It also refers to an individual’s social media profiles, email, and internet usage history. The concerns with digital identity — particularly for individuals — typically revolve around security and personal privacy. Often in blockchain, a digital identity is directly linked to a Decentralized Identity (DID), which once established, allows for a blockchain-based ID that can be verified through key-pair cryptography.

A digital signature in cryptocurrency is the process of using a private key to digitally sign a transaction. Through public-key cryptography, a digital signature authenticates the sender and recipient of a transaction. It allows anyone with the sender’s public key to verify the digital signature or the authenticity of the message, transaction, or data.

The Digital Signature Algorithm (DSA) is a specialized standardization for the creation of digital signatures that are used within public-key cryptography systems such as blockchains or related computing infrastructure. DSA was standardized by the U.S. Federal Information Processing Standard in 1991 in conjunction with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Upon its creation, the DSA standard patent was made available for global use, but it is anticipated that an upcoming update to the standardization may render it deprecated and unusable.

Dilution is an economic term referring to the issuance of new assets which decrease existing shareholders' percentage of ownership. Dilution can occur with assets ranging from stocks to cryptocurrencies. In the case of cryptocurrency, dilution refers to the reduction in value of a single unit of currency, or the market capitalization of a cryptocurrency protocol overall, because of the creation of new tokens.

A directed acyclic graph (DAG) is a form of Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). In contrast to a blockchain, which groups transactions into blocks and orders them in a linear fashion, a DAG is a network of individual transactions themselves connected only to other transactions without blocks. While blockchains require block validation, in a DAG, individual transactions provide validation for one another. All network users in a DAG are simultaneously miners and validators, and therefore transaction fees tend to be much lower than those common to blockchain networks.

Directional trading refers to trading strategies in which the sole factor for investment is the future direction of the overall market. It is generally associated with options trading because different directional trading strategies can capitalize on moves both upward and downward.

Direct market access (DMA) refers to the ability for investment institutions to make trades and investments — for securities and other asset types — through the order book of an exchange or investment platform they don’t normally have access to. This direct access is usually only available to companies, or buy side firms, that fulfill certain criteria and is realized through third-parties such as investment banks, or sell side firms. DMA is generally fulfilled by making use of algorithmic electronic trading software to fulfill certain order types and investment strategies.

A Direct Public Offering (DPO) — sometimes known as a Direct Listing or Direct Placement — is a method of offering shares directly to the public, without an intermediary such as an investment bank, broker-dealer, or underwriter. One potential benefit of this approach is that it can ultimately help cut many of the costs that are typical during the much more common and traditional Initial Public Offering (IPO). DPOs are often used by smaller companies with a loyal client base and are meant to give the firm offering the shares more flexibility for capital allocation. Prior to a DPO, the enterprise must present compliance documents to regulators from each region where it plans to offer shares, but the enterprise often does not need to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Discord is an instant messaging (IM), voice over internet protocol (VOIP), and digital distribution platform for creating online communities. Discord enables users to communicate via voice calls, video calls, and instant messaging, and to share media and files in private chat environments organized into "servers." Discord has become well-known in the blockchain industry (along with Telegram) as a hosting community where blockchain projects give regular updates and allow fans, investors, and users to ask questions and keep in touch with founding team members.

The discounted cash flow (DCF) model is a valuation tactic that helps investors determine the present value of an investment by estimating how much money it will make in the future. DCF analysis projects future cash flows by using a series of assumptions about how the company or asset will perform in the future, and then forecasting how this performance translates into the cash flow generated. The future cash flows are discounted back in a net present value (NPV) calculation, which represents the amount an investor should be willing to pay today for receiving an asset’s cash flows in the future.

A disk operating system, or DOS, is a text-based user interface (TUI) that operates via a disk drive. DOSs are no longer widely used because the technology was replaced by more advanced operating systems as computing evolved, but are considered a foundational computating architecture. DOSs were generally used by hard disk drives (HDDs) and optical and floppy disks, and are characterized by a basic file system that is used to read, write, and organize files on its storage architecture. The most well-known disk operating system is called MS-DOS, which was initially developed in 1981 by Microsoft for IBM.

Similar to a Denial-of-Service (DoS) attack, a Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack is a type of malicious network offensive conducted by a number of systems against a target. In a DDoS attack, perpetrators use traffic from many different sources to flood a connected machine or service with requests in an effort to overwhelm its network and make it unavailable for use. Because multiple traffic sources are more difficult to identify, DDoS attacks are significantly more challenging to combat than DoS attacks.

A Distributed hash table (DHT) is a type of distributed database that is capable of storing and retrieving data associated with a network of peer nodes that can join and leave the network at any time. DHTs are typically designed to scale in a way that accommodates a large number of participating nodes that are organized in a structured and algorithm-dependent network topology. These network nodes coordinate amongst themselves to verify and store data in the DHT network without relying on a centralized coordinator.

Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) refers to a shared database upon which transactions and associated details are recorded in multiple places simultaneously. An example of DLT could be in the form of a permissioned network under control by a central authority, or a permissionless network maintained by a decentralized network of nodes lacking a central authority. Blockchains and Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs) are both examples of different types of DLT.

Distributed Randomness Generation (DRG) is a validation protocol used on several Proof-of-Stake (PoS) blockchains as a security measure. Using both a verifiable random function (VRF) and a verifiable delay function (VDF), DRG prevents the designated validator from altering the randomness or not submitting the last random number generated. This is because the preimage of randomness (pRnd), which is used to validate the current block on DRG-enabled blockchains, has already been written to the previous block and thus is unalterable. DRG is designed to be scalable, verifiable, unchangeable, and unpredictable (i.e. random).

In an investment context, divergence is when two data points go in opposite directions when charting technical analysis, such as when the current price of an asset rises, and its relative strength index (RSI) drops. The opposite of divergence is convergence, where two technical indicators rise or drop in the same direction. Divergence can also refer to a process whereby the price of a futures contract drifts farther away from the spot price of an underlying commodity as the delivery date of the contract expires. This type of divergence can result in the contract being liquidated.

Diversification refers to keeping a diverse investment portfolio of assets to protect against market turmoil. Different investments tend to perform differently depending on what’s happening in the market, so owning a variety of diverse assets means that when some lose value, others may gain value. A well-diversified portfolio usually includes a mixture of stocks, fixed income (bonds), and commodities. A diversified portfolio may also include one or more crypto assets, which should also be diversified.

Dividends are regular payments made by a stock issuing company to its company's shareholders. While not all stocks pay dividends, the exact distribution of stock dividends is determined by a company's board of directors. Dividends are usually paid in cash, although they are sometimes paid in new shares of additional stock.

A dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) takes dividends earned by investors in a company and automatically reinvests them into more stocks of that company, often at a discounted rate. A DRIP accommodates the potential for exponential earning: Dividends are reinvested in more stock, which in turn generates more dividends, and so on. However, investors are usually given the choice to reinvest their dividends or cash them out before the DRIP initiates.

DNV (formerly DNV GL) is a Norwegian accredited registrar and classification company that has about 14,500 employees and 350 offices in more than 100 countries. DNV has a direct partnership with VeChain to provide assurance and auditing services for many of the enterprises VeChain works with, and provides data for supply chain management, carbon-neutral vehicles, logistics, natural gas, and more.

Docking is the process of merging two protocols — for example from Ethereum 1.0 to Ethereum 2.0 — to become better and stronger over time. The docking process generally involves the transfer of data and information from the older and less technologically advanced protocol to the newer and more state-of-the-art version. Docking is a very complex process and can take weeks to complete because of the steps associated with sharing similar data types between network infrastructures that are often very different from one another (due to various formatting programming language differences and structural variations).

Dollar-cost averaging (DCA) is an investment strategy where an investor divides up their investment capital to make periodic purchases of an asset to gain a better overall average entry price. DCA is often considered one of the most prudent investment strategies for crypto due to the industry's inherent volatility. DCA helps investors avoid poorly timed large lump sum purchases. An example of DCA would be an investor buying $100 USD of bitcoin (BTC) every week for a long period of time, no matter what the price of BTC happened to be at the time of purchase.

A Domain Name Service (DNS) is a decentralized, hierarchical naming system for network infrastructure, computers, and other similar resources that are connected to the Internet or a private network. A DNS is generally used to translate more common domain names to the numerical IP addresses used to locate and identify specific devices and computer services within their underlying network protocols. By providing a global distributed directory for domain names, the Domain Name system has been a pivotal component of the Internet's infrastructure since 1985.

DOT is the native cryptocurrency of the Polkadot blockchain protocol and its underlying ecosystem. It is used to help maintain the security and consensus of the Polkadot Relay Chain and other components within the network (parachains, collators, fishermen, and nominators). DOT can be bonded through parachains, staked through validators, and used for other purposes. It is typically awarded to users who stake DOT to run a validator node. DOT helps the Polkadot ecosystem maintain a fair and transparent governance structure through validator staking and other mechanisms.

The double-spending problem refers to a critical risk with digital currencies where the same funds can be copied and spent more than once. With fiat currency, the spender transfers physical cash to the receiver, unable to spend it again. With digital currency, blockchain systems are devised to prevent a digital token, such as bitcoin, from being sent by more than one address. The risk of double-spending with cryptocurrencies is mitigated by various mechanisms that verify the authenticity of all transactions.

The DJIA, or the Dow, is a widely used index and barometer of stock market performance that consists of 30 stocks from multiple sectors. Companies included in the Dow are known as blue chip stocks because of their importance to the overall economy of the United States. The DJIA is calculated by adding the prices of the stocks and dividing the final value by a Dow divisor.

Do Your Own Research (DYOR) is a term that is used in the blockchain investing space to encourage potential investors to study, analyze, and perform thorough due diligence on a project they are considering investing capital into. As with any investment opportunity, there is always risk involved. Failure to research or understand a project in its entirety can often lead to loss of capital and a negative investment result.

A drawdown is a metric used to classify the decline in financial markets during a certain period. Drawdowns use a peak-to-trough approach in percentage terms. For example, if a specific market or stock drops from an initial position of $100,000 to $60,000, then rallies back above the initial position, the drawdown would be 40%. Market drawdowns are important to consider when a trader or fund manager is managing a large number of assets in an investment portfolio or fund. A drawdown is generally not considered a loss, but merely represents an asset’s movement from its peak (high) to trough (low).

In finance, due diligence refers to an examination of financial records that takes place prior to entering into a proposed transaction with another party. Due diligence broadly refers to an investigation, audit, or review performed to confirm the facts of a matter under consideration. The term originated in the US with the Securities Act of 1933 that made securities dealers and brokers responsible for fully disclosing material information about the securities they were selling at the risk of criminal prosecution. Now, it is a standard process in business transactions and arrangements.

Dust is a very small fraction of a cryptocurrency or token that can range within one to several hundred Satoshis, which is the smallest divisible unit of a bitcoin. Dust is a residual byproduct of trading and transacting with cryptocurrencies, and represents such small denominations of currency that it retains minimal monetary value.

A dusting attack is an attack in which a trace amount of cryptocurrency, called dust, is sent to thousands — sometimes even hundreds of thousands — of wallet addresses. This attack is deployed in order to track these addresses with the hope of “un-masking” or de-anonymizing them. These mass dustings may also be used as stress tests, where a large amount of dust is sent in a short amount of time to test the throughput, or bandwidth, of a network. Some say these dustings are also a way to spam a network, by sending huge batches of worthless transactions that clog and slow it down considerably.

Any address or unspent transaction output (UTXO) that has a lower balance than the current fee charged to transact on that blockchain is under what is called the dust limit. The dust limit varies by market forces on the network and varies between different cryptocurrency networks, but the funds are rendered without function unless the balance is restored above the transaction fee enough to trade or withdraw.

The Dutch East India Company was a trading megacorporation formed in the early 17th century for trading spices with India and, later, with Southeast Asia. The company is considered the first modern corporation due to its sophisticated structure and operations. It was also the first publicly-held company and its shares were traded at the Amsterdam Exchange. At its peak, the company is estimated to have been worth $7.9 trillion when accounting for inflation.

Dynamically typed programming languages are languages that only check the code after successful program deployment. Dynamically typed languages are generally considered slower and more complex to write compared to statically typed languages. The syntax (how code is formed and combined to form larger sequences) of languages is usually classified as either dynamically typed or statically typed. Type checking for dynamically typed languages normally occurs during the running phase (run-time) of the program, in contrast to statically typed languages which are checked during the compilation phase (compile-time).