quick glossary

ch00.asciidoc

@@ -13,6 +13,64 @@ Under the hood, bitcoin is the culmination of decades of research in cryptograph
 
 More than all of these parts, bitcoin is a digital economy platform, just like the Internet is a digital communications platform. With bitcoin, it is possible to build entire new financial systems, transaction types and economies on top of a purely digital, instantaneous and frictionless platform, an Internet for money.
 
+==== Quick Glossary
+
+bitcoin:: 
+	The name of the currency unit (the coin), the network and the software
+
+address (aka public key):: 
+	A bitcoin address looks like +1DSrfJdB2AnWaFNgSbv3MZC2m74996JafV+, they always start with a one. You can have as many as you like, share them so people can send you coins. 
+
+wallet:: 
+	Software that holds all your addresses. Use it to send bitcoin and manage your keys.
+
+secret key (aka private key)::
+	The secret number that unlocks bitcoins sent to the corresponding address
+	
+transaction::
+	A transfer of bitcoins from one address to another. 
+
+hash::
+	A digital fingerprint of some binary input
+	
+block::
+	A grouping of transactions, marked with a timestamp, and a fingerprint of the previous block. The block header is hashed to find a proof-of-work, thereby validating the transactions. 
+	
+network::
+	A peer-to-peer network that propagates transactions and blocks among all nodes
+	
+blochchain::
+	A list of validated blocks, each linking to its predecessor all the way to the genesis block.
+	
+genesis block::
+	The first block in the blockchain, used to initialize the crypto-currency
+	
+proof-of-work::
+	A piece of data that requires significant computation to find. In bitcoin, a hash that is less than a target.
+	
+difficulty::
+	A network-wide setting that controls how much computation is required to find a proof-of-work.
+	
+target difficulty::
+ 	A difficulty at which all the computation in the network will find blocks approximately every 10 minutes.
+	
+difficulty re-targetting::
+	A network-wide re-calculation of the difficulty which occurs once every 2106 blocks and considers the hashing power of the previous 2106 blocks.
+	
+miner::
+	A network node that finds valid proof-of-work for new blocks, by repeated hashing
+	
+reward::
+	An amount included in each new block as a reward by the network to the miner who found the proof-of-work solution. It is currently 25BTC per block.
+	
+fees::
+	An excess amount included in each transaction as a network fee or additional reward to the miner who finds the proof-of-work for the new block. Currently 0.5 mBTC minimum.
+	
+confirmations::
+	Once a transaction is included in a block, it has "one confirmation". As soon as _another_ block is mined on the same blockchain, the transaction has two confirmations etc. Six or more confirmations is considered final. 
+
+
+
 === Stories
 
 It is easiest to experience bitcoin from the perspective of a few specific stories that we will explore in detail throughout the book.