Some of those confusing terms I can put now in my understanding of what they mean. I'm still learning.
Here's some additional information to expand your knowledge a bit...
1: Blockchain - This is a list of all blocks that have ever been listed. I see this as a bank statement of account.
In the beginning, when you're first trying to understand, it's probably fine for you to think of it as a bank statement of account. As you learn more, you'll discover that what it stores and how it stores it is nothing at all like a bank statement of account. Don't let this initial understanding confuse you when you start to dig deeper. You'll need to unlearn some of the assumptions you've made.
2: Coinbase - The first transaction in each bitcoin block. I learnt also of Genesis block which is the ever first block by Satoshi.
This is one of several terms that seems to have multiple meanings depending on who you ask, as well as when and where they learned it. In many cases, "the first transaction in each block" is called a "generation transaction" (because it generates the new bitcoins that are entering the system) or a "block reward transaction" (because it is the transaction that pays the solo miner or mining pool their block reward). In those cases, "coinbase" is the only a small portion of that transaction. Specifically, the portion that would be called "inputs" in the other standard transactions.
3: Cryptography - Secured techniques based on mathematical concepts. This is still not too clear to me completely.
Cryptography is the study of techniques for secure communication in the presence of adversarial behavior. There are many types of cryptography. Only some of them rely on mathematical concepts. Bitcoin relies on a few clever mathematical algorithms such as those commonly known as "hashing" and "digital signatures".
5: CEX (Centralized exchange) - A cryptocurrency exchange where people trade cryptocurrency with middlemen involved. It is the opposite of Dex and those who trade there are exposed to loosing their coins if the Cex shuts down because they don't own keys to their bitcoin on the exchange.
That risk can be reduced (but not eliminated) by removing your funds from the CEX whenever you are not actively engaged in making an exchange of currencies.
6: Digital signature - This is something that can be attached to a message to show that the sender is the owner of the private key.
Correct. It is a piece of data (essentially, a number) that is calculated by using the original message in a digital data form and the private key and a specific mathematical process. Then providing a public key to anybody that might want to verify the signature. Another mathematical process (a verification process) can be performed using the signature, the message, and the public key. That verification process can prove beyond any doubt that the only way that the signature could be created is with the specific private key that is associated with the given public key.
7: Private Key - This is a set of alphabets and numbers associated with wallets to show you are the right owner if you can produce them to claim the bitcoin in it.
The "alphabets and numbers" are just a convenient way (for computer programmers) to represent really big numbers. In the case of Bitcoin's signature algorithm, the private key is actually just an integer. A really, really big integer. you don't "produce" the key to claim bitcoin. Instead, you use the key to generate a digital signature when you create a transaction. That digital signature is then provided to demonstrate to every node on the bitcoin network that you are authorized to spend the specific bitcoins that you are attempting to spend.
8: Seedphrase - This is a set of words like a password to a wallet. I see it is also like a private key.
Just like a private key, this is also just a clever way to store a very big integer. Really, really big numbers are difficult for humans to remember, and are prone to mistakes when humans attempt to write them down or type them. The "seed phrase" is a way to convert a really big number into a set of words, and to convert that set of words back into the original really big number. Once the seed phrase is converted back into the original number that it represents, there is a standardized process for generating a HUGE quantity of private keys from that one number. So, as long as you have the phrase, and you have software that knows the standardized process for converting it back into a number and knows the standardized process for generating private keys from that starting number, you can always regenerate the exact same set of private keys.
9: Wallet address - This is a set of letters associated to a wallet that we give out to people to send Bitcoin to.
You may start to see a pattern in what I'm saying here... That set of letters is just a convenient way to represent a very big integer. In that very big number is all the information that a wallet software would need to be able to create a bitcoin transaction output script. It includes things like the public key (a pair of very large integers), a checksum (a number that software can use to determine if you mistyped the address), and a script type (a number that tells the wallet software what type of transaction to create).
10: Satoshi - Units of Bitcoin, just the way we have units of our local currencies in denominations.
Specifically, there are 100,000,000 satoshi units in 1 bitcoin unit. Some other units you might hear used are millibitcoin and microbitcoin. Here are some other conversions:
1,000 millibitcoin = 1 bitcoin
1,000 microbitcoin = 1 millibitcoin
1,000,000 microbitcoin = 1 bitcoin
100 satoshi = 1 microbitcoin
100,000 satoshi = 1 millibitcoin
11: Dust - Bitcoin transaction output with little value, like tiny Satoshis.
Bitcoin transactions have a certain minimum amount of bitcoins that are typically required to be paid per unit of size (vbytes) of the transaction. Dust is often used as a term to describe transaction amounts that would cost more in transaction fees to spend than they are worth.
So, for example, if the average cost in transaction fees to spend some received bitcoin is about 800 satoshis, and you receive a transaction with only 700 satoshis, then any attempt to spend those 700 satoshis will require you to pay ALL 700 of them to the transaction fees AND still come up with an extra 100 satoshis from somewhere else. This means that including those 700 satoshis in a transaction will not result in the recipient receiving any extra funds, and will just cost you even more money. You come out ahead financially by just NEVER spending the 700 satoshis.
It'd be a bit like if I gave you a special coin worth $1, but the ONLY way you could ever spend that coin would be to pay an appraiser at the time of your transaction $100 to verify that the special coin is not counterfeit and is actually worth $1. You'd be better off just tossing the coin in the trash than ever trying to spend it.
So, you are correct that "dust" is an output with little value. Specifically, many people use the term to describe outputs that effectively have negative value.
12: Fiat - This is the one that shocked me most. Until now I never knew the traditional currency I used in buying and selling is also called a fiat. This humbled me.
It's a word that's used to differentiate modern currencies which get their value from their relationship to the government that issues them from the older currencies which were backed by a physical quantity of something valuable such as gold.
Cryptocurrencies are neither. They don't have a government that issues them, nor are they backed by anything physical that a holder can dependably exchange the currency for.
13: Bitcoin Halving - A preprogrammed of the bitcoin block subsidy, which occurs every 210,000 blocks. Some say it happens every four years also. A lot of people are talking about it here with excitement that it will happen in 2024.
Since blocks happen on average approximately every 10 minutes, 210,000 blocks mathematically works out to be just about 4 years. 210,000 blocks takes an average of about 2,100,000 minutes. There are 60 minutes in an hour, so that's 35,000 hours. There ar 24 hours in a day, so that's 1458 (and a third) days. There are 365 (and a fourth) days per year, so that's 3.99 years (or just about 4 years).
There are many more of these confusing terms and I'm ready to acquire more of them with belief that they will become easier the more I read about bitcoin.
Feel free to ask about any terms you see that aren't clear. There are many people here that are willing to help. Be careful though about who you rely on for information. There's a lot of misinformation and people that will confidently state things that are entirely untrue.
I'm truly grateful to you for this breakdown of the terminologies that I listed. The way you explained it in very simple terms makes it easy for even a layman to easily understand. I didn't imagine that there'd be so much technicalities involved in acquiring the knowledge of bitcoin, now I have a new and huge respect for people that trades on bitcoin, because of the level of intelligence required to master the technicalities and terminologies. I really love this forum, it's by far the most interactive and educative forum that I've ever been in, and what makes it more unique is because members are anonymous.
