Kriptografinių valiutų srities terminai: reikšmės, raiška ir variantai

128 Robertas Stunžinas Terms in the field of cryptocurrencies: reikšmės, raiška ir variantai Terms in the field of cryptocurrencies: reikšmės, raiška ir variantai ROBERTAS STUNŽINAS Lietuvių kalbos institutas KEY WORDS: cryptocurrencies, cryptography technology, terminology, debt, metaphors The era of cryptocurrencies began in 2009, when a person or group of persons named Satoshi Nakamoto created the software for the Bitcoin network and started executing their transactions. The core of the Bitcoin network consists of the so-called ledger technology – in a synchronized database distributed between sites, countries and institutions, users not controlled by supervisory authorities, using an encrypted information chain and sending information objects (blocks), trade or settle in special settlement units. Soon there were many other currencies that were not controlled by central banks and governments, and there are currently over 15,001 different cryptocurrencies in circulation. Cryptocurrencies are a new phenomenon that is just beginning to be legally regulated, so the Lithuanian terminology in this field is new, unsettled and full of foreign words. This article examines the terms of cryptocurrencies and related subjects in various styles of electronic texts. The aim of the thesis is to analyze the meanings, definitions and variants of terms in the field of cryptocurrencies that occur in texts published on the Internet and in other sources. The article uses a descriptive method. When analyzing the expression of Lithuanian terms, a lot of attention is paid to the relationship with English equivalents. 1 Based on data from Coinmarketcap as of May 21, 2018. 2 This article adopts a broad concept of variants, i.e. different linguistic units that share the same meaning or function. The concept of variants may be narrower – formal variants of the same language unit, having the same lexical and grammatical meaning, the same morphological structure, which may differ in pronunciation, phoneme composition, accent position, form formation, syllable endings and grammatical form (Miliūnaitė 2009: 141–147). 129Terminology | 2018 | 25 are evaluated in terms of normativity and semantic accuracy of language and terminology. The material is taken from news portals, documents published on the Internet, scientific papers, blogs, chat sites and term databases. theme – terms were searched according to English Elektroninės erdvės duomenys rinkti naudojantis „Google“ paieškos sisterms used in Lithuanian texts, subjects crypto(-), cryptographic and other associative combinations. When searching for Lithuanian cryptocurrencies terms were based on English dictionaries in this field3. Aspects of meaning, expression, variation and terminology accuracy are examined in terms of cryptographic currencies, cryptographic currency technologies and operations, cryptographic currency mining persons and their actions. In total, 151 terms containing 51 concepts are examined. Names of cryptocurrencies, their types and smaller parts. This section examines 56 terms covering 15 different concepts. Related names of the digital currency variant, which is obtained using mathematical operations and encryption technology, are used by more than two dozen Lithuanian terms, such as: interneto pinigai (bitcoincentras.lt), koduota valiuta (lietuviu.globalsciencecollaboration.org), kripto turtas (delfi.lt), kripto valiuta (aipt.lt), cryptographic electronic currency (giruzis.lt), kriptografinė valiuta (naujienos.vu.lt), kriptografiniai pinigai (www.15min.lt), kriptografinis turtas (lt.all4bitcoin.com), kripto-pinigai (delfi.lt), kriptoturtas (kriptovaliutos.org), kriptovaliuta (lt.wikipedia.org), privata digitalinė valiuta (sarmatas.lt), skaitmeninė valiuta (spectrocoin.com), kripto (traders.lt), skaitmeniniai pinigai (bitcoincentras.lt), virtuali kriptovaliuta (vvtat.lt), virtuali valiuta (giruzis.lt). You can see that almost half of them are created by the example of the English synonymous terms cryptocurrency (IATE), crypto-money (IATE), crypto-asset (IATE) and their long variants cryptographic currency (patents. google.com), cryptographic money (applancer.com), cryptographic asset (bravenewcoin.com), e.g.: kriptovaliuta, kripto valiuta, kriptografinė valiuta; cryptocurrencies, crypto-money, crypto-money; crypto asset, crypto asset, cryptographic asset. The most accurate representation of the concept is the terms with the elements cryptographic, (-a) – monetary units are obtained using Dūriniai su dėmeniu kriptolaikytini nepakankamai tiksliai sąvoką atspin3 Pavyzdžiui, Cryptocurrency Vocabulary: 50 Terms to Understand Cryptocurrency (coinherald.co), 21 Terms cryptographic technologies. to Understand Cryptocurrency (medium.com). 130 Robertas Stunžinas Terms in the field of cryptographic currencies: reikšmės, raiška ir variantai crypto- (from Greek kryptos – “hidden, secret” TŽŽe) indicates the secrecy, invisibility of the concept represented by the second part of the word, for example, kryptonimas “a nickname consisting of the author’s last name and first letters of his name”, cryptodepression “a submerged depression on the Earth’s surface, whose bottom is below the sea level and the surface of the water is above it” (see TŽŽe). In colloquial style texts, compounds with separate elements crypto are often considered irregular. It can be used only as an accent in compound words. Sometimes the name of the currency is shortened to the dependent point sando kripto, for example: “If Russia diversifies its reserves in crypto, how will we talk if the ECB starts doing it?”4 (traders.lt). Terms with the suffix cryptographic are used in recent EU institutional documents, e.g.: cryptographic asset (52018DC0109), cryptographic currency (52017DC0345). True, there are also short variants – punches with the accent crypto- – cryptocurrency (52017PC0806). Terms are evaluated differently in relation to the main elements (money, currency, assets). The specialists of the Bank of Lithuania say that the subject of discussion should not be called currency, because this subject does not have the characteristics of a commonly perceived currency (for more information see Grigolytė 2018). It may be added that the same phenomenon is also not to be called money. The terms money and currency are defined as “<...> banknotes, coins and funds in accounts issued by the bank, bank notes issued by other states, state treasury notes, coins and funds in accounts which are legal means of payment, other means of payment having monetary expression” (the Law on the Amendment of the Money Laundering Prevention Act (Journal of Laws, 2008, No. 10-335)); “a monetary unit of a country (gold, silver, paper money); the type of monetary system; foreign currency used in international circulation (foreign currency)’ (‘FCIC’). The subject of the article is not a one-country phenomenon, it is not controlled by national or international institutions, it is not linked to gold, silver or other money, it is not legal tender in many states. Thus, the terms with accents money, currency are considered metaphorical – it is a means of payment and with real money or currency is related to the similarity of function. Some variants have arisen from the use of terms in their non-original meanings. Cryptocurrency5 is often referred to as electronic money (geopo4 The language of the samples, except for proofreading errors, has not been corrected. 5 For convenience, the term ‘cryptographic currency’ is used in the following. 131Terminology | 2018 | 25 litika.lt) or its variants electronic currency (geopolitika.lt, decrypto.ee), digital money (bitcoincentras.lt), digital currency (spectrocoin.com), internet money (bitcoincentras.lt)6. Electronic money is defined as ‘e-money issued by electronic money issuers upon receipt of funds from natural or legal persons in the form of electronic money’. 2) intended for payment transactions; 3) is accepted by persons who are not the issuers of that electronic money” (Draft Law of the Republic of apyvartą išleidžiama piniginė vertė, išreikšta kaip reikalavimas jos leidėjui ir Lithuania on Electronic Money and Electronic Money Institutions; LRTB). Cryptocurrencies are only considered as a variant of electronic money – they are stored on electronic media and are intended to be used for payment transactions. However, it differs from electronic money in that it is not legally defined and its issuers are also users (for more information see “Are cryptocurrencies electronic money?”, alfa.lt). Terms with additional elements, indicating more distinctive characteristics of the concept, such as: cryptographic electronic currency (giruzis.lt), private digital currency (sarmatas.lt) are considered more accurate. The term virtual currency is sometimes used to refer to a crypto currency, e.g.: „Lietuva atranda virtualią valiutą [heading]. Abroad, kr ip tova litas is increasingly used by large banks, and Lithuanian companies that settle in this currency are under a magnifying glass” (lzinios.lt). Virtual currency is a broader term that includes all unregulated digital money: “unregulated digital money that can be used as a means of payment but is not issued and guaranteed by a central bank” (IATE). Cryptocurrency is considered a subset of virtual currency – it is obtained using cryptography technology. A more accurate term would be a cryptographic virtual currency. In the username, such a term could not be detected, only the term with the reverse order of dependent domains and its short two-word variant – virtual cryptocurrencies (it.lrytas.lt) and virtual cryptocurrencies (vz.lt) were found. These terms are not accurate because their emphasis on virtual is redundant – a crypto currency cannot be non-virtual. The spelling variant with the dependent elements connected by a hyphen – virtuali-kriptografinė valiuta (it.lrytas.lt) is also considered inaccurate. A hyphen may be written between two syntactically equivalent adjectives denoting a complex property of the object, e.g.: 6 For the synonymy of the terms electronic currency, electronic money, digital currency and digital money see more. Digital currency (en.wikipedia.org), Digital Currencies vs. Cryptocurrencies, Explained (cointelegraph.com). 132 Robertas Stunžinas Terms in the field of cryptographic currencies: reikšmės, raiška ir variantai interrogative-relative pronouns, socio-economic system. A hyphen is not written between syntactically unequal adjectives, which are not equally related to the noun under which they go. One of them, usually the second, is closely related to the noun in its meaning and forms a compound with it, and it is described by the previous one (that goes further from the noun), e.g.: vakarinė vidurinė mokykla, steam hydraulic press (for more see Brūkšnelis, http://www. vlkk.lt/aktualiausios-temos/rasyba/bruksnelis). Cryptocurrency is also referred to as the term encrypted currency (globalsciencecollaboration.org). This term is considered accurate, since encryption is one of the essential aspects of the technological process of mining cryptographic currency. In the case of cryptocurrencies, the opposite is the traditional currency, which is authorized and controlled by state authorities. The term is most commonly used in the context of monetary policy. In the economic dictionary, decree money is defined as "government paper money issued by decree, not backed by gold reserves, not convertible into gold, and used only as a means of exchange. Most modern money is decree money." The synonym traditional money (currency) is used in publicistic style texts, e.g.: "Prominent Lithuanian entrepreneur, chairman of the Nextury Ventures foundation Ilja Laurs claims that traditional money is no longer suitable for the modern electronic economy and can be replaced by cryptocurrencies" (diena.lt). “First of all, there are no intermediaries between the buyer and the seller when making orders in bitcoins, so they are made much faster and cost less than performing transactions in traditional currencies through the banking system” (delfi.lt). Sometimes the term is inserted in the unadapted7 fiat debt (cf. fiat "official authorization or offer, decree" ODE 2010), e.g.: decree (fiat) money (delfi.lt), traditional (fiat) currency (verslas.lrytas.lt). The term "fiat currency" is derived from the English term fiat money, which is derived from the Greek word "fiatos" (fiat) and "currency" (currency). Sometimes the loan is mistakenly treated as an abbreviation, e.g. FIAT pinigai (avnt.lt). When it comes to cryptocurrencies, the first one is usually mentioned – bitcoin (abbreviation – BTC (spectrocoin.com). In the broad usage there are orthographically and morphologically adapted variants, not adapted variants at all, combinations with unadapted variants, e.g. : Bitcoin (admiralmarkets.lt), bitcoinas (seopaslaugos.com), 7 More about the integration of debt into the text see. 2016: 90–91. 133Terminology | 2018 | 25 graphical currencies are called altcoins (masterforex-v.lt). Other corrections that bitcoin (kriptorinka.lt), bitcoin valiuta (youtube.com). Visos kitos kriptooccurred at the end of last year" (ecoin.lt). “Alternative native cryptocurrencies are a way to solve the vartojami terminai – altcoinas (kriptovaliutos.org), alternatyvioji valiuta, alternatyvioji kriptovaliuta, pvz.: „Šie metai kripto rinkai prasidėjo neramiai – Bitcoin ir kitos al ter natyv ios valiutos bando kapstytis po shortcomings of Bitcoin, expand and provide new opportunities, accelerate transactions” (kriptovaliutos.lt). The term alternative currency is only a contextual synonym8, referring to a broader concept, i.e. a privately created, central bank-unregulated form of money (e.g. Brixton pound, sardex) or unregulated electronic money (cryptographic currency) used in a particular territory instead of the national currency (see worldpolicy.org). Another popular currency is commonly referred to as ether (delfi.lt). A much less common variant is ethereum (udris.lt). The first is correct – the name of the currency is derived from the term ether (see Ethereum, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethereum). Smaller units of cryptographic currencies or their value units (token) are named by figurative words or terms – token (52018DC0109), virtual token (52018DC0109). Initial Coin Offering (ICO) is referred to by the loan abbreviation or polyglot terms, e.g. : ICO (aipt.lt), initial distribution of cryptocurrencies (52018DC0109), initial offering of cryptocurrencies (delfi.lt), initial distribution of coins or tokens (aipt.lt). The term "cryptographic currency initial offering" would reflect the concept most accurately. Smaller parts of various types of cryptocurrencies are characterized by metonymy – antonymic9 – nomination. The smallest part of Bitcoin is named after the founder, Satoshi. This is the smallest possible part of a bitcoin transaction, approximately equal to one hundred millionth of a bitcoin. Other Lithuanian names of bitcoin units were not detected, but the thousandth part of a bitcoin is called a borrowed millibitcoin or millibit, and the millionth part is called a microbitcoin (see Millibit, en.bitcoin.it). Other popular cryptocurrencies – 8 Contextual synonyms are formed only in certain contexts and situations when the same thing is alternately referred to by words of different meanings (LKE 1999: 572). 9 Antonomy – the use of a proper name in a generic sense (LKE 1999: 410). 134 Robertas Stunžinas Terms in the field of cryptographic currencies: ether – reikšmės, raiška ir variantai smaller parts Lithuanian names could not be detected, but they should be terms from the adapted forms of the personal names of the creators of currencies finis (finney < Hal Finney), sabas (szabo < Nick Szabo, en.wikipedia.org), vėjus (wei < Wei Dai, en.wikipedia.org). Names of technologies, operations. This section discusses 85 terms representing 34 concepts. A distributed ledger (DL) is a synchronized database that is distributed across sites, countries, or institutions, and is often metaphorically referred to as a ledger because of the similarity of its function. The metaphorical term is used alone or with the elements digital, distributed, distributed digital, scattered (naujienos.alfa.lt), e.g.: "You download a huge accounting book, in which all previous transactions are encoded and according to which you can allow the computer to check new orders" (pareigunuunija.lt). “A blockchain is a digital ledger that securely stores information about economic transactions and can be programmed to record not just financial transactions, but basically anything that has value” (weststeincard.com). There are also other variants: digital ledger (delfi.lt), ledger (ecoin.lt), book (15min.lt), distributed journals (delfi.lt), transaction log (ecoin.lt). Non-metaphorical terms represent the concept most accurately, for example, in the EU Institutions’ IATE term base, the non-metaphorical – distributed register (IATE) is provided next to the metaphorical term scattered ledger. Viena iš tokio registro technologijų, t. y. duomenų sistema, leidžianti sukurti kriptografinių valiutų sandorių sistemą necentralizuotame tinkle, vadinama metaforinį pagrindinį dėmenį turinčiu terminu blokų grandinė arba skoliniu blokčeinas (angl. blockchain), pvz.: „Blokų grandinė yra technologija, sukurta atsiskaityti bitkoinais, tačiau jos galimybės daug eteriumas, kriptovaliutos platesnės – pradedant mokėjimais, baigiant elektroniniu balsavimu ar sveikatos apsauga“ (lrt.lt). „B lokų g ran dinė, blokčeinas, bitkoinas, – vis dažniau verslo spaudoje ir šiaip viešojoje erdvėje skambantys naujadarai, apie kuriuos daug kas jau girdėjo, bet neadaptuotų variantų, mažai kas ką apie juos žino“ (udris.lt). Plačiojoje vartosenoje pasitaiko pvz.: „Šiame straipsnyje paprastais žodžiais paaiškinsiu, kas yra blo ckchain technologija ir kaip ji veikia“ (lifehacks.lt). The first such block (genesis block) in the chain is called two 135Terminology | 2018 | 25 terms – initial block (how-to.blogspot.lu), primary block (aipt.lt). In terms of terminology, both terms are to be considered as offerings – the original “1. earlier than others; The first is "The Beginning", the second is "The End". the initial part of a length-bearing object.’ In colloquial style texts there are terms with unadapted borrowings – genesis block (traders.lt). The block property, showing how many blocks there are in the chain up to the initial block, is called the block size (ecoin.lt). This term is clearer than the variant block height (medium.com), which is derived from the English term block height (bitcoin.stackexchange.com). The fork of the blockchain is metaphorically referred to as a branch, e.g.: "The Bitcoin software branch is confusing because every user connected to the Bitcoin network must ensure network compatibility, or miners may start mining the wrong block chain" (admiralmarkets.lt). The block reward is referred to as the block reward. Halving such a reward is usually referred to as debt halving, e.g.: "Halvings live in less than three hours!" (traders.lt). A more descriptive term would be block reward splitting in half. A block that is not connected to the block chain is called a single block or a separate block. The metaphoric term used in English is orphan block (blockchain.info). Programs that execute transactions between buyers and sellers are usually referred to as smart contracts, e.g.: “A modern smart contract is essentially a computer program that fulfills the intended contractual terms written in the program code.” (lzinios.lt). In some places, there are terms with a lending focus – smart contract (m.technologijos.lt). Other names of programs, technologies, operations also have a transitive meaning. For example, a faucet10 is a reward distribution system – a website or an application. A special cryptographic operation is called a hash11, e.g.: “Even without delving into all the technical nuances, one should pay attention to ciphers (hash, lit. maiša, although this Lithuanian term is accurate, but to many it sounds quite strange)” (ecoin.lt). 10 Faucet "tap" (ODE 2010). 11 Hash ‘to mix, shred, chop’ (ODE 2010). 136 Robertas Stunžinas Terms in the field of cryptocurrencies: reikšmės, raiška ir variantai The same thing is called borrowed, for example: “Just as distance is measured in meters and kilometers, the mining capacity of a currency is measured in hash units: megahash, gigahash, terahash, etc.” (bznstart.lt). A hash is a common term in computing: a hash is a "method of obtaining a formal summary of a dataset, called a hash value. The hash value is used for data management, retrieval, encryption, integrity checking, and other purposes. <...> The method is called hashing because it is based on hashing of data” (ECJ). The transactions of buying and selling cryptocurrencies are called transactions, e.g.: “All this means that the current number of bitcoin transactions is very limited – only 7 per second” (aina.lt). However, there are also borrowed words in the usage, for example: "In principle, Bitcoin would not exist if there were no supercomputers that confirm transactions <...>" (bankai.lt). A special integrated circuit used for mining cryptocurrencies is commonly referred to as an ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit) with or without the nomenclatural focus chip, e.g.: „Samsung enters the world of cryptocurrencies, will start producing ASIC“ [heading]. <...> “Produced ASICs will be very efficient and, probably, will be aimed at Bitcoin mining” (technews.lt). The proper term is special-purpose integrated circuit. In usage, the term is mostly used in the non-noun form, for example: "applicationspecific integrated circuit (ASIC) – an integrated circuit adapted to solve specific problems" (en.wikipedia.org). There are many irregular variants of texts published in electronic space. Sometimes the abbreviation is mistakenly considered the real name - this is indicated by the spelling with quotes, for example: "There will be produced ASIC (specialized integrated circuits for one customer) and ASSP (specialized processors used in a certain field, developed according to the characteristics desired by several customers) processors" (delfi.lt). In other cases, terms with different meanings or abstract statements are used, for example: special-purpose integrated circuit (rtn.elektronika.lt) (see integrated circuit – “the whole of interconnected components inside or on the surface of a medium” (AETŽ)), applied integrated circuit (rtn.elektronika.lt), specialized chipsets (15min.lt). Sometimes the spoken integrated circuit is jargonized by the names of jungtų elektroninės grandinės elementų, neatskiriamai susijusių tam tikros individuals, 143Terminology | 2018 | 25 LRTB – Lithuanian Republic Terms Bank (terminai.vlkk.lt/pls/tb/tb.search). Miliūnaitė R. 2009: Variants of the Contemporary Lithuanian Use, Vilnius: Lithuanian Language Institute. ODE 2010: Oxford Dictionary of English. Third edition. Edited by A. Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford university press. "International Dictionary of Languages" (PDF). www.worldlanguages.org. Vaičiakauskienė S. 2016: New Debtors in the Field of Computing. – Man and Word 18, 80–95. 52017DC0345 – Report from the Commission on the Pericles programme for the protection of the euro against counterfeiting 2020 implementation and results in 2016". 52017PC0806 – Recommendation for a Council decision authorising the opening of negotiations on an agreement between the European Union and the State of Israel on the exchange of personal data between the European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol) and the competent authorities of Israel in the fight against serious crime and terrorism. 52018DC0109 – Communication from the Commission: Action Plan on FinTech: Towards a more competitive and innovative European financial sector. Website of the Audit, Accounting, Asset Valuation and Insolvency Management Service (avnt.lt). "Kiberzona.lt". "Maze.lt Forum". Google Patents website (patents.google.com). Integrated Lithuanian Language and Writing Resources Information System Raštija.lt (raštija.lt). Online shopping website (perkuinternete.lt). Investor portal Traders (traders.lt). 21 Terms to Understand Cryptocurrency (medium.com). Cryptocurrency Vocabulary: 50 Terms to Understand Cryptocurrency (coinherald.co). Cryptocurrency investment website (prekybakriptovaliuta.lt). Globalsciencecollaboration (globalsciencecollaboration.org). Cryptocurrency news portal Ecoin (ecoin.lt). Lithuanian National Radio and Television (lrt.lt). TV3 (TV3.lt). "15min.lt". Alfa.lt (in Lithuanian). "Bernardinai.lt" (in Lithuanian). bernardinai.lt. "BZN start" (in Lithuanian). bznstart.lt. "Delfi News". delfi.lt. "Geopolitics". geopolitics.com. News portal Kripto rinka (kriptorinka.lt). "Lietuvos rytas" news portal (pasaulis.lrytas.lt, verslas.lrytas.lt). "Lietuvos žinios" (in Lithuanian). lzinios.lt. Lifehacks.lt (lifehacks.lt). "Sarmatas.lt". Technologijos.lt (m.technologijos.lt). News portal Zinaukaip.lt (zinaukaip.lt). "World Policy". worldpolicy.org. Official website of the Union of Independent Credit Unions (pareigunuunija.lt). The ad portal Skelbiu.lt (skelbiu.lt). Admiral Markets website (admiralmarkets.lt). Website All4bitcoin.com (en.all4bitcoin.com). "About the website" (PDF) (in Lithuanian). Applancer website (applancer.com). "Bankai.lt" (in Lithuanian). Website Bitcoin Baltic (bitcoinbaltic.com). Website Bitcoin centras (bitcoincentras.lt). Website Bitcoin.org (bitcoinlt.org). Website Bitcoin Stack Exchange (bitcoin.stackexchange.com). Website of Bravenewcoin (bravenewcoin.com). 144 Robertas Stunžinas Terms in the field of cryptocurrencies: reikšmės, raiška ir variantai Chron website (smallbusiness.chron.com). Svetainė Coinmarketcap (coinmarketcap.com). Svetainė Cointelegraph (cointelegraph.com). Svetainė Decrypto (decrypto.ee). "Digimedia". digimedia.lt. Website How to make money (how-to-make-money.com). Website Cryptocurrencies (kriptovaliutos.org). Website Master forex (masterforex-v.lt). Website Medium.com (medium.com). "Newsletter of the Electronic Communications Society (ECS)". electroniccommunications.org. Website Seo services (seopaslaugos.com). Website Spectrocoin (spectrocoin.com). "Technews.lt". "Udris.lt" (in Lithuanian). Blockchain.info (blockchain.info). "Bitcoin (BTC)". bitcoin.com. Website about computers (kykompiuteris.blogspot.com). Blog IT (kaip-padaryti.blogspot.lu). Blog Hobo with laptop (hobowithalaptop.com). "YouTube.com". youtube.com. Official website of the State Lithuanian Language Commission (vlkk.lt). Website of the State Consumer Rights Protection Service (vvtat.lt). "Giro d'Italia - Giro d'Italia". giroditalia.it. Business news portal Verslo žinios (vz.lt). Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org). Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org). "Vilnius University News Site" (in Lithuanian). naujienos.vu.lt. ThE TERMINOLOgy Of cRypTOcuRRENcy DOMAIN: SEMANTIcS, fORMS AND vARIATIONS This article deals with Lithuanian cryptocurrency terminology from electronic discourse. The aim of the article is to determine form, semantics and variations of Lithuanian cryptocurrency terms. Variations of terms are evaluated according to the Lithuanian language and terminology requirements. Terminology is taken from websites, blogs, chat sites, term bases and other information posted online. Material has been collected using „Google“ search engine to look for English cryptocurrency terms in Lithuanian texts, Lithuanian terms having components kripto(-), kriptografinis and other associative combinations. Online English vocabularies of cryptotocurrency terms. Terms denoting cryptocurrencies, currency terms were used as the basis for searching for English and Lithuanian cryptechnologies and operations of cryptocurrencies, cryptocurrency miners and their actions are analyzed in respect of semantics, form, variation and terminological precision. Overall 151 terms denoting 51 concepts are analyzed. Analysis shows that variety, metaphoricity and irregularity of terminology of cryptocurrencies is caused by novelty, diversity, absence of regulation of this domain and intentional following of English terms. The majority of concepts have more than one denotation and texts of spoken language contain plentiful foreign words, part of which are unadapted loan words. Variability is the characteristic feature of this domain – more than two thirds of concepts have more than one denotation. Variability is particularly specific to terms, 145Terminologija | 2018 | 25 denoting cryptocurrencies and their smaller parts. This abundance of variations could have been caused by lack of clarity of concepts and poor understanding of their essential characteristics, attempts to use calques of English terms, use of terms in incorrect meanings, designating different concepts by the same terms. The figurative nature of cryptocurrency terminology could have been a caused by the influence of English language. Metaphoricity is specific to main terms of this domain – according to the similarity of function payment measure is named using the terms valiuta (currency), pinigai (money). Methonymic nomination is used for denoting smaller parts of cryptocurrency and peer-to-peer network. The majority of figurative terms have appeared due to the influence of English terminology and only small part of terms are traditional metaphors and used in term dictionaries. In standardizing cryptocurrency terminology the principles of terminological clarity, precision and correctness should be taken into account and term dictionaries of various subject fields (computing, economics, engineering etc.) as well as dictionaries of standard language should be taken as the basis for the creation of cryptocurrency terminology. Retrieved 2018-06-06. Robertas Stunžinas Lietuvių kalbos institutas P. Vileišio g. 5, LT-10308 Vilnius, Lithuania Email: [email protected]