In order to be included in the Merriam-Webster dictionary a word must be used in a substantial number of citations that come from a wide range of publications over a considerable period of time.

Recently this popular dictionary has added several words involved with cryptocurrency to their dictionary. One of these of course is the word “Cryptocurrency” which they define as follows: “any form of currency that only exists digitally, that usually has no central issuing or regulating authority but instead uses a decentralized system to record transactions and manage the issuance of new units, and that relies on cryptography to prevent counterfeiting and fraudulent transactions.” The dictionary lists the first know usage of the word to have occurred in 1990.

They also added “Blockchain” which they define as: “a digital database containing information (such as records of financial transactions) that can be simultaneously used and shared within a large decentralized, publicly accessible network; also : the technology used to create such a database.” They claim the first usage of this word was in 2011.

Last but know least they added the terminology “ICO” and define it as: “the first sale of a cryptocurrency to the public conducted for the purpose of raising funds (as to support a start-up).” Merriam-Webster dictionary claims that the term ICO was first used in 2014.

Of course, bitcoin was added to their dictionary back in 2016 with the definition “a digital currency created for use in peer-to-peer online transactions.”