AML
Anti-Money Laundering — a set of policies and procedures that exchanges and financial institutions use to prevent illicit financial activity.
See also
Custodial wallet
A wallet whose private keys are held by a third party (such as an exchange) rather than the user. The principle "not your keys, not your coins" applies.
Non-custodial wallet
A wallet in which the private keys are fully controlled by the user, with no intermediary. It carries more responsibility, but also more control over the funds.
KYC
Know Your Customer — an identity-verification procedure that users complete on regulated exchanges to comply with the law.
Airdrop
A free distribution of tokens by a project, usually for marketing purposes or to reward early users. Be cautious: phishing schemes are often disguised as airdrops.
ICO
Initial Coin Offering — a fundraising method where a project sells its tokens to investors, broadly analogous to an IPO on the stock market.
IDO
Initial DEX Offering — a token launch that takes place directly on a decentralized exchange, without a centralized intermediary.