---
title: "Crypto Jargon to Avoid in Marketing: A Cut, Gloss, Keep List"
description: "The crypto jargon to avoid in marketing, sorted into cut, gloss and keep, with plain replacements and the audiences where the technical word is still right."
author: "Shilika Jain"
date: "2026-10-28T01:55:50.255+00:00"
tags: ["messaging", "web3 marketing", "crypto pr", "positioning"]
canonical: "https://www.shilikajain.com/blog/crypto-jargon-cut-list-messaging"
---

# Crypto Jargon to Avoid in Marketing: A Cut, Gloss, Keep List

By [Shilika Jain](https://www.shilikajain.com/authors/shilika-jain) - 10/28/2026

The crypto jargon to avoid in marketing, sorted into cut, gloss and keep, with plain replacements and the audiences where the technical word is still right.

---

# Crypto Jargon to Avoid in Marketing: A Cut, Gloss, Keep List

The crypto jargon to avoid in marketing is any term that describes how your product works rather than what it does for the reader: TVL, L2, rollup, MPC, account abstraction, AVS, composable, permissionless, trustless and most acronyms. Cut those from mainstream copy, gloss category words like DePIN or RWA the first time you use them, and keep the technical vocabulary only for crypto-native readers who already speak it. The list below sorts the common terms into those three verdicts with plain replacements.

I sort every term into one of three buckets, and the bucket depends on who's reading. That's the whole system. A word isn't good or bad on its own. It's right or wrong for a specific audience on a specific surface.

## Why does crypto jargon hurt marketing so much?

Each unfamiliar word is a small exit. A reader who hits "permissionless liquidity layer" in your hero line doesn't look it up. They leave, and they don't tell you why. I've said this plainly before:

> If you stop using technical jargons, half of your user onboarding problem is solved!
>
> [Shilika Jain on X, 31 Oct 2023](https://x.com/Shilika_jain/status/1719421944091824239)

The damage isn't limited to users. Jargon also makes projects sound identical. When every rollup describes itself with the same five terms, nobody can tell them apart. In 2023 I complained publicly that there were so many EVM rollups and so little differentiation between them, and the shared vocabulary was a big reason why.

Jargon is often a symptom of that. When a team can't say what makes it different in plain words, it hides behind the category's vocabulary. Cutting the jargon forces the differentiation question into the open.

## What are the three verdicts?

- **Cut.** Remove the word from mainstream and crypto-curious copy entirely. Replace it with the effect it has on the user.
- **Gloss.** Keep the word, but explain it in a short clause the first time it appears on a page. Use it for category terms that reporters and investors search for.
- **Keep.** Use it as-is. Reserve this for crypto-native audiences, technical docs, and developer channels, where a plain-English substitute would sound evasive.

The same term can be Cut on your homepage, Glossed in a press release and Kept in a developer blog post. Write the verdict per surface, not per company.

## The cut list: which terms should you replace?

This is the working table I use when I edit website copy, press releases and pitch decks. The "plain replacement" column is a starting point, not a script. Rewrite it to fit your product.

| Term | What a mainstream reader hears | Plain replacement | Verdict for mainstream copy |
|---|---|---|---|
| TVL | Nothing, or a finance acronym they don't know | "the amount people have deposited" | Cut |
| L1 / L2 | Levels of something | "a faster, cheaper network built on Ethereum" | Cut |
| Rollup | Nothing | "bundles transactions to cut fees" | Cut |
| Zero-knowledge proof | Something secret and complicated | "proves it's true without revealing your details" | Cut or gloss |
| MPC wallet | Nothing | "a wallet with no recovery phrase to lose" | Cut |
| Account abstraction | Nothing | "sign in with email, pay fees in dollars" | Cut |
| Gas | Fuel for a car | "network fee" | Cut |
| Bridge | Infrastructure, or nothing | "move funds between networks" | Cut |
| Non-custodial | A legal term | "only you control your funds" | Cut |
| Permissionless | Nothing | "anyone can use it, no sign-up approval" | Cut |
| Trustless | "Not trustworthy" | "doesn't depend on any company keeping its word" | Cut |
| Composable | Nothing | "other apps can build on it" | Cut |
| Interoperability | Enterprise software | "works across networks" | Cut |
| Restaking / AVS | Nothing | "reuses staked assets to secure other services" | Cut |
| Tokenomics | A made-up word | "how the token supply works" | Cut or gloss |
| dApp | A typo | "app" | Cut |
| Onchain | Nothing | "recorded publicly" or simply drop it | Cut |
| APY | A loan rate | "yearly return" (with risk disclosure) | Gloss |
| DePIN | Nothing yet | "networks of real devices run by individuals" | Gloss |
| RWA | Nothing yet | "real-world assets like bonds or property, as tokens" | Gloss |
| Stablecoin | Getting familiar | "digital dollars" on first use | Gloss |
| Self-custody | Getting familiar | "holding your own crypto, not on an exchange" | Gloss |

A few notes on the table. "Trustless" is the most dangerous one, because outside crypto it means the opposite of what you intend. "Gas" causes confusion rather than blankness, which is worse. And "onchain" is usually decoration: if the sentence works without it, delete it.

## Which crypto words are fine to keep?

Category words are the main exception. When a word is the label reporters, analysts and investors already file stories under, removing it can hurt you, because nobody searches for "networks of real devices run by individuals." They search for DePIN.

MANTRA Chain is a useful reference here. Its $11M raise in March 2024 ran wider partly because it carried a category word, RWA, that reporters were already covering, plus a Middle East angle. The coverage included CoinDesk, Cointelegraph and Milk Road. Dropping "RWA" from that announcement to sound more mainstream would have cost it the slot it fit into.

Fluence is a similar case on a different surface. Its co-founder's CoinDesk op-ed was titled "Not a meme: DePIN can take crypto mainstream." The category word sat right in the headline, because the readers of that opinion section knew it and the argument was about the category itself.

So the rule for category words: keep one, gloss it once, and don't chase five. If your copy uses DePIN, AI agents, RWA and restaking in the same paragraph, you haven't picked a category. You've listed the year's trends.

Crypto-native audiences are the other exception. A developer comparing data layers expects precise terms. So does a trader reading a crypto outlet's markets desk. For them, plain English can read as vague or even as a sign you don't understand your own product. Even I spend real time learning the vocabulary properly:

> juggling with these terms & spending time understanding them in entirety - chain abstraction, parallel execution, AVS, bitcoin L2's
>
> [Shilika Jain on X, 7 May 2024](https://x.com/Shilika_jain/status/1787905927187673388)

The point of the cut list isn't that these concepts don't matter. You should understand them deeply. You just shouldn't make your mainstream reader do that work before they know why they'd care.

## How do you decide the verdict for each audience?

Use a jargon budget. Before writing any surface, decide how many unexplained technical terms it can carry:

1. **Mainstream surfaces** (homepage hero, app store listing, general business press, consumer ads): zero unexplained terms. Every category word gets a gloss.
2. **Crypto-curious surfaces** (press releases to crypto media, investor one-pagers, LinkedIn): one category word, glossed once, then used freely.
3. **Crypto-native surfaces** (docs, developer blogs, governance posts, technical X threads): no budget. Use the precise term every time.

Then run the copy through the table above and mark each term Cut, Gloss or Keep for that surface. It takes ten minutes per page. The usual result is that the homepage loses most of its vocabulary, the press release keeps one category word, and the docs stay as they were.

One more test I apply: read the copy aloud to someone who doesn't work in crypto. Every time they frown, you've found a word the table missed.

## Where does jargon creep back in?

Teams cut jargon from the homepage and then it returns through side doors. Check these places specifically:

- **Press release boilerplate.** The "About" paragraph is often written once by an engineer and never revisited. It ends up in every article that quotes the release.
- **Founder bios and quotes.** Founders say "we're building the modular settlement layer for X" in interviews because that's how they talk to investors. Prepare a plain version for media quotes.
- **App store and wallet screens.** Error messages and confirmation screens are where "insufficient gas" and "sign this message" scare off new users at the worst possible moment.
- **Partner announcements.** Two teams co-writing a release tend to stack both companies' jargon, so the result is twice as dense.
- **Pitch emails to journalists.** A pitch that needs a glossary gets skipped. Reporters are busy, and a dense first line tells them the story will be hard to write.

If you're writing a release, my notes on [how to write a crypto press release](/playbook/how-to-write-crypto-press-release-2026) cover the structure. The vocabulary rules here apply on top of it.

## When is cutting jargon the wrong call?

Cutting has costs, and I'd rather name them than pretend the list is universal.

If your buyers are developers, cutting technical terms can lower trust. Engineers scan for the exact primitive you support. Hiding it behind "works across networks" makes them suspect there's nothing specific underneath.

If you're in a regulated category, plain replacements can change meaning. "Yearly return" sounds more like a promise than "APY" does to some readers, and "only you control your funds" is a claim you need to be able to stand behind. Simplify the language, not the disclosures, and get counsel to read consumer copy.

And if your audience is degen-native, an overly polished tone can feel off. Community-first projects sometimes win precisely by speaking the in-group language. That's a positioning choice, and I've written about the trade-off in [general versus degen Web3 marketing](/blog/general-vs-degen-web3-marketing). Just make it on purpose, not by default.

For the next step after the cut list, rebuilding the sentence that's left, see my [three-pass rewrite method](/blog/explain-crypto-product-to-non-crypto-audience). And if you'd rather hand the copy to someone who does this every week, this is part of my [content writing service](/services/content-writing).

## FAQ

### Is "Web3" itself jargon?

To most mainstream readers, yes. It doesn't tell them what the product does. Use it with crypto audiences and in category positioning, but describe the product's effect for everyone else, and don't rely on the word to carry meaning.

### Should I use "crypto" or "blockchain" in consumer copy?

Use whichever your user already uses, and only when it changes something they care about. A consumer app can do its job without either word on the main screen. If the word adds suspicion without adding clarity for your audience, move it lower on the page.

### How do I stop my team from reintroducing jargon?

Put the cut list in your brand or messaging document with the verdict per surface. Make one person the final reader for all external copy. A shared list ends most debates quickly, because the argument becomes about the audience rather than personal taste.

### Does cutting jargon hurt SEO?

Not if you keep the category words that people actually search for. Gloss them on first use so both humans and search engines read the page correctly. The terms in the cut column are ones your mainstream readers weren't typing into a search box in the first place.

*Not sure which of your terms belong in the cut column? [Book a 30-minute copy teardown](https://calendly.com/shilikajain/30min/) and bring your homepage and last press release.*

---

**Book a 30-min copy teardown with Shilika** - https://calendly.com/shilikajain/30min/

Canonical: https://www.shilikajain.com/blog/crypto-jargon-cut-list-messaging