A reference to anthropological studies of primates and humans that show their genetic predisposition to follow the crowd, particularly when in an excited emotional state. The actions observed when FOMO and herd mentality kick in, the brain disengages from logical reasoning and degens recklessly throw money at any Ponzi simply because everybody else is doing it.

Beta (Release) - An IT term to describe the second pre-production release of a piece of software. Usually software will have an alpha release, then the beta will include documentation added to the alpha, at which point the product is in final QA, then user testing, then release as a piece of production software. NOTE: Crypto projects, in particular DeFi, often skip all of the above and are released with no testing or documentation. See Ape In and Andre Cronje

What normies call crypto currency. Originally posted on Reddit as part of a Bitcoin advertisement, the MSPaint illustration of a wizard has been a badge of honour since 2013. Also a formerly successful and volatile protocol run by Daniele Sesta.

The collective noun for any new venture in web3, could be a new DeFi protocol or a group of NFTs. These can be generative, a limited series or whatever clever technique the Devs and project owner decides. Some will have utility; others will look nice as PFPs. Some may have a roadmap and some not.

Short for Total Value Locked. This is the overall value of crypto assets deposited in a DeFi protocol. It’s an important metric for determining the health of a project, and includes all coins that are being staked, lent or are in liquidity pools. Importantly, it reflects the value of these assets, not their yield.