Cryptocurrency in Chinese // 21 Cryptocurrency Names Plus Much More

Cryptocurrency in Chinese // All the Vocab You Need

Here at LTL we always strive to bring you any new hot topics that emerge which is why today we’ll be talking all about cryptocurrency in Chinese.

Cryptocurrency-in-Chinese

So let’s start with the basics.

What is cryptocurrency in Chinese?

Cryptocurrency = 加密货币 jiāmì huòbì

This words is made up of the characters for encrypt (加密 jiāmì) and currency (货币 huòbì).

If you want to break it down even further the word encrypt literally means “add” (加 jiā ) “secret/confidential” (密 mì) which really makes a lot of sense when you think about what encryption actually does.

The word currency literally means “money/goods” (货 huò) “coin” (币 bì), again makes perfect sense!

Cryptocurrency in Chinese | General Finance Vocab

Cryptocurrency in Chinese | Cryptocurrency Names

Cryptocurrency in Chinese | Cryptocurrency Specific Vocab

Cryptocurrency in Chinese | Cryptocurrency in China

Cryptocurrency in Chinese | General Finance Vocab

Before we delve into the more complicated world of cryptocurrency in Chinese let’s have a look at some general finance vocab to start us off.

First things first, we have some basic banking vocabulary.

EnglishChinesePinyin
Bank银行yínháng
Capital资金 zījīn
Cash现金xiànjīn
Credit card信用卡xìnyòngkǎ
Deposit存款cúnkuǎn
Investment投资tóuzī
Investor投资者tóuzī zhě
Exchange交易所jiāoyìsuǒ
Exchange money换钱huànqián
Exchange rate汇率huìlǜ
Finance金融jīnróng
Loan借款jièkuǎn
Mortgage/collateral抵押dǐyā
Mortgage loan抵押贷款dǐyādàikuǎn
Wallet钱包qiánbāo
Cryptocurrency-in-Chinese

With the basics out the way let’s move onto some more complicated finance vocab that’s related to cryptocurrency in Chinese.

Starting with digital currency.

There are actually a few different ways to say digital currency in Chinese in mainland China it’s called either 数字货币 shùzìhuòbì or 数码货币 shùmǎhuòbì.

Whereas in Taiwan it’s slightly different and is called 数位货币 shùwèihuòbì.

数字 shùzì, 数码 shùmǎ and 数位 shùwèi are all just different ways to say digit in Chinese.

Now, how about some more complicated financial vocab!

EnglishChinesePinyin
Compensation plan, reimbursement case 补偿方案bǔcháng fāngàn
Decentralization去中心化qù zhōngxīnhuà
Electronic payment system电子现金系统diànzǐ xiànjīn xìtǒng
Escrow托管tuōguǎn
Exchange traded funds交易所买卖基金jiāoyìsuǒ mǎimài jījīn
FIAT Currency法币fǎbì
Inflation通货膨胀tōnghuò péngzhàng
Liquidity pool流动池liúdòngchí
Market maker做市商zuò shìshāng
Market making capital做市资金zuò shì zījīn
Margin trading融资融券róngzī róngquàn
Transaction fees手续费shǒuxùfèi
Working capital流动资金liúdòng zījīn

Cryptocurrency Names in Chinese

Moving onto the next section in our complete guide to cryptocurrency in Chinese we have the different cryptocurrency names in Chinese.

Cryptocurrency-in-Chinese

First up has to of course be the coin that started it all.

Bitcoin 比特币 bǐtèbì.

As you can probably tell, this is a transliteration of “bit” with “coin” (币 bì) added.

However, there is another name for bitcoin in Chinese which is a translation of bitcoin instead: 位元币 wèiyuánbì.

The character 位 wèi is a classifier for binary bits.

It’s very rare to see this translation though, the most commonly used name by far is 比特币 bǐtèbì.

Following on from bitcoin we of course have altcoin which in Chinese is 山寨币 shānzhàibì.

山寨 shānzhài literally means “mountain” “stronghold”, but it has become a humorous term for counterfeit or copycat in Chinese.

For example counterfeit goods can be called 山寨货 shānzhàihuò.

Cryptocurrency-in-Chinese

So the name for altcoin in Chinese is “counterfeit coin”, as all altcoins are all technically copies of bitcoin that makes sense!

Originally altcoin was actually called 竞争币 jìngzhēng bì in Chinese which translates to “competition coin”, again a very literal translation of what altcoin is.

Anyone familiar with cryptocurrency will also know that there are also some slang terms within that, so what is the Chinese for some of those?

Well, shitcoin in Chinese has two (much more PC) translations: 空气币 kōngqìbì and 垃圾币 lājī bì.

These literally translate to “air” coin and “rubbish” coin.

Opposite to that we have blue chip coin which is 主流币 zhǔliúbì, meaning “mainstream” coin.

Now, let’s have a look at 10 of the most common altcoin cryptocurrencies:

EnglishChinesePinyin
Ethereum (ETH)以太坊yǐtàifāng
Litecoin (LTC)莱特币láitèbì
Cardano (ADA)艾达币àidábì
Polkadot (DOT)波卡币bōkǎbì
Bitcoin cash (BCH)比特现金bǐtè xiànjīn
Stellar (XLM)恒星币héngxīngbì
Dogecoin (DOGE) 狗狗币 gǒugǒubì
Binance Coin (BNB)币安币bìānbì
Tether (USDT)泰达币tàidábì
Monero (XMR)门罗币ménluóbì
Cryptocurrency-in-Chinese
Cryptocurrency-in-Chinese

Our personal favourite from that list has to of course be Dogecoin (狗狗币 gǒugǒubì) because it is based off one of the BEST memes ever.

The story of it starting off as a joke currency and then becoming one of the biggest cryptocurrencies is also pretty entertaining we have to say.

It really shows how crazy the world of cryptocurrency can be!

This coin is so popular it’s even sparked off some copycat coins such as the Shiba Inu (SHIB) 柴犬币 cháiquǎnbì coin which was launched in 2020.

Here are a few other common cryptocurrencies also worth mentioning:

EnglishChinesePinyin
Solana (SOL)索拉纳suǒlānà
Avalanche (AVAX)雪崩币xuěbēngbì
Chainlink (LINK)链环liànhuán
Tron (TRX)波场币bōchǎngbì
ZCash (ZEC)大零币dàlíngbì
EOS (EOS)柚子币yòuzibì
Neo (NEO)小蚁xiǎoyǐ
Dash (DASH)达世币dáshìbì
NEM (NEM) 新经币xīnjīngbì

Cryptocurrency in Chinese – Crypto Specific Vocab

With cryptocurrency names all covered it’s time for the last section where we’ll really delve into super specific cryptocurrency in Chinese vocab.

Let’s start off with the name that started it all, Satoshi Nakamoto.

In Chinese Satoshi Nakamoto is referred to as 中本聪 zhōng běn cōng, this name is based off the name used by some Japanese media (中本哲史 Nakamoto Tetsushi).

At the heart of cryptocurrency is of course blockchain technology, so let’s have a look at some words related to that:

  • Blockchain 区块链 qūkuàiliàn
  • Blockchain technology 区块链技术 = qūkuàiliàn jìshù
  • Create/find a block 打个包 dǎ gè bāo
  • Block reward 打包奖励 dǎ bāo jiǎng lì
  • Genesis Block 创世区块 chuàng shì qū kuài

Another crucial aspect of cryptocurrency is mining and in Chinese they also use the word for mining: 挖矿 wākuàng, which means “dig” ( 挖 wā) “mine” (矿 kuàng).

Then a miner is simply 矿工 kuànggōng (mine worker), mining machines are 矿机 kuàng jī (mine machine) and mining pool is 矿池 kuàng chí (mine pool).

All very straightforward stuff, right?!

That is the essential cryptocurrency terms in Chinese covered, so are you ready to really get technical?

Here is all the specific vocabulary you’ll need:

EnglishChinesePinyin
Airdrop空投kōngtóu
ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit)特定功能ICtèdìng gōngnéng IC
Bag包包bāo bāo
Bagholder包主bāo zhǔ
Bounty Program奖金计划jiǎngjīn jìhuà
Bug Bounty奖金漏洞jiǎngjīn lòudòng
Chain Split链分裂liàn fēnliè
Coinbase 挖矿交易wākuàng jiāoyì
Coin Burn烧币shāobì
Cold Storage冷存储lěng cúnchú
Core developerCore开发者Core kāifāzhě
Core team/founding team核心团队héxīn tuánduì
Cryptography密码学mìmǎxué
Dead Cat Bounce死猫反弹sǐ māo fǎntán
Digital token数字通证shù zì tōng zhèng
Dump砸盘zápán
Faucet阀门fámén
Fork分叉fēnchā
Hard Fork硬分叉yìng fēnchā
Hash哈希hāxī
Hash rate算力/哈希率suànlì/hāxīlǜ
Hot Storage热存储rè cúnchú
NFT (non-fungible token)非同质化代币fēi tóng zhí huà dài bì
Optimistic rollup乐观卷叠lèguān juǎndié
Paper wallet 纸钱包zhǐ qiánbāo
Peer-to-peer点对点diǎnduìdiǎn
Pickle Finance酸黄瓜金融suānhuángguā jīnróng
Project participants项目方xiàngmù fāng
Project proposals项目方案xiàngmù fāngàn
Pump 拉盘lāpán
Repair patch, bug fix 修补补丁xiūbǔ bǔdīng
Rollup卷叠juǎndié
Series A financingA轮融资A lúnróngzī
Smart contract智能合约zhìnéng héyuē
Soft Fork软分叉ruǎn fēn chā
Time lock时间锁shíjiān suǒ
Unlock解锁jiěsuǒ
Virgin Bitcoin原始比特币yuánshǐ bǐtè bì
White paper白皮书báipíshū
ZK rollup零知卷叠língzhī juǎndié

Cryptocurrency in China

If you keep up to date with cryptocurrency news, you should already know that in September 2021 China completely banned cryptocurrencies.

It had already been cracking down on cryptocurrencies since 2019 when trading cryptocurrency was officially banned.

So if you’ve got some cryptocurrency lying around you won’t be able to spend it on Taobao anytime soon.

As well as China there are eight other countries where cryptocurrencies are banned:

  • Egypt
  • Iraq
  • Qatar
  • Oman
  • Morocco
  • Algeria
  • Tunisia
  • Bangladesh

So why did China ban it?

Cryptocurrency-in-Chinese

Well, previously China had been a leader in mining for cryptocurrencies and the government said it was concerned over the environmental implications of this.

They also stated that there were concerns over digital currency being used for fraud and money laundering.

However, China have actually launched their own digital yuan currency (数字人民币 shùzì rénmínbì).

Unlike other cryptocurrencies it’s controlled and issued by the central bank.

Currently the digital yuan app is still being tested, it’s available for download, however only certain users living in certain “pilot cities”.

Compared to other countries, China is already well on the way towards becoming a cashless society, just look at how widely WeChat Pay and Alipay are used.

It will be interesting to see where this goes in the future and whether more countries will follow China’s lead and put more restrictions on cryptocurrencies.

Did you find our guide to Crypto in Chinese useful? Drop us a comment below and tell us what you thought.


Cryptocurrency in Chinese – FAQs

What is China’s cryptocurrency called?

China’s cryptocurrency is called “The digital yuan” or 数字人民币 shùzì rénmínbì, it’s also called the e-yuan or the e-CNY.

Is cryptocurrency illegal in China?

Yes, as of September 2021 cryptocurrency in China is illegal.

Does China have cryptocurrency?

China made cryptocurrency illegal in 2021, however they have launched their own digital currency called the digital yuan.

Unlike normal cryptocurrencies, the digital yuan is controlled and issued by the Bank of China.

What is Bitcoin in Chinese?

Bitcoin in Chinese is 比特币 bǐtèbì

What is cryptocurrency in Chinese?

Cryptocurrency in Chinese is 加密货币 jiāmì huòbì

What is altcoin in Chinese?

Altcoin in Chinese is 山寨币 shānzhàibì

What is digital currency in Chinese?

Digital currency in Chinese is 数码货币 shùmǎhuòbì

Related Articles

WeChat Pay vs Alipay

Find out what the real difference is between WeChat Pay vs Alipay and which one will work best for you.

Money in Chinese

Learn 44 must know words for talking about money in Chinese.

How to Save Money in China

We have 9 killer tips to help you save money in China.

Want more from LTL?

If you wish to hear more from LTL Mandarin School why not join our mailing list.

We give plenty of handy information on learning Chinese, useful apps to learn the language and everything going on at our LTL schools!

Sign up below and become part of our ever-growing community!

BONUS | Want to study the local dialect known as Shanghainese? We provide Shanghainese Classes in person and online.

Leave a Reply

You will get a reply from us
Your email address will not be published. Name and Email are required.