Crypto has its own vocabulary, and most of it was invented by engineers rather than by people trying to help you spend 500 lari wisely. That would be a mere annoyance if the words didn’t matter. In practice, three or four of them decide how much you pay, whether your coins arrive at all, and whether you still own them a year from now. This page gives you plain-language definitions of every term we use across the guide, but first, here is why a handful of them deserve your attention before you buy anything in Georgia.
Why the jargon costs real money here
The spread is where most of your cost hides. When you feed lari into a crypto ATM in a Tbilisi supermarket or hand cash to an exchange office in Batumi, you rarely see a line that says “fee: 5%”. Instead the machine or the desk quotes a price above the market rate and buys back below it — that gap is the spreadSpreadThe gap between the buy and sell price. A desk that buys USDT at 2.57 GEL and sells at 2.62 GEL earns a 0.05 GEL spread on each coin.. Cryptomat, which runs roughly 150 machines in the country, doesn’t publish its fees; a secondary Georgian guide puts the all-in cost of ATM purchases at around 6–12%, spread included. We could not confirm that figure with the operator, which is exactly why you should compare the amount of crypto you will receive rather than the commission on the sticker. Our crypto ATM guide and the page on cash exchange offices and OTC desks show how to do that comparison.
The network decides whether your USDT arrives. USDT exists on several blockchains. The two you will meet in Georgia are TRC-20TRC-20USDT issued on the Tron network. Cheap and fast transfers, which is why most OTC and property deals in Georgia quote TRC-20. (Tron) and ERC-20ERC-20Tokens on the Ethereum network. Widely supported but network fees can be several dollars per transfer. (Ethereum). Cryptomat machines handle USDT on both, and many cash desks quote TRC-20 because transfers cost cents rather than dollars. The address formats look different, but some wallets and exchanges hold both under one “USDT” balance, so it’s easy to pick the wrong one. If the sender chooses ERC-20 and your receiving address is on Tron, the money can end up stuck or lost. Before anyone sends you stablecoins — a buyer, an employer, a friend — agree on the network in writing. The USDT guide goes deeper.
Seed phrases and who really owns your coins
The words seed phraseSeed phrase12 or 24 words that restore your wallet on any device. Whoever has them owns the coins — never type them into a website or send a photo of them., custodialCustodialSomeone else (an exchange, a bank app) holds the keys for you. Easy to use, but you depend on that company. and non-custodialNon-custodialYou hold the keys yourself. Nobody can freeze the wallet — and nobody can recover it if you lose the seed phrase. describe the most important choice you will make after buying: who holds the keys. Coins on an exchange are custodial — convenient, but the company can freeze them. Coins in your own wallet are yours, but only as long as nobody else learns the 12 or 24 words that restore it. Fake support accounts on Telegram, “wallet validation” sites and airdrop messages all try to get those words out of you. No real exchange, bank or wallet maker will ever ask for them. Our wallet guide compares the options, and the scams page lists the tricks doing the rounds in Georgia.
KYC is the price of using a registered provider
Since the registration rule took effect on 1 July 2023, every exchange, ATM operator and custodian serving people in Georgia must be on the National Bank’s register of virtual asset service providers. Registered providers have to run KYCKYCKnow Your Customer: identity checks (passport, selfie, sometimes proof of address) that licensed services must run before you trade. and AMLAMLAnti-money-laundering rules. They are why an exchange or bank may ask where your money came from. checks: your passport or Georgian ID, usually a selfie, and for larger sums questions about where the money came from. According to a summary by Andersen, customer due diligence kicks in for single transactions above USD 1,000, EUR 1,000 or GEL 3,000. It can feel intrusive, but a desk that asks no questions is also a desk with nothing to lose if your money disappears. The licensed exchanges page shows how to check a provider on the register, and what is cryptocurrency covers the basics if you’re starting from zero.
Ready to put the vocabulary to work?Card purchases with ID verification, from a licensed global exchange.
Get startedAll terms, A to Z
Hover or tap any underlined term elsewhere on the site and you get the same short definition you see here.
- Airdrop
- Free tokens distributed to wallets by a project. Many "airdrop" messages are scams asking you to connect a wallet.
- AML
- Anti-money-laundering rules. They are why an exchange or bank may ask where your money came from.
- Cold storage
- Keeping crypto on a device that is never connected to the internet, such as a hardware wallet. Slower to use, much harder to hack.
- Cold wallet
- Any wallet whose keys stay offline — a hardware device or even a paper backup.
- Custodial
- Someone else (an exchange, a bank app) holds the keys for you. Easy to use, but you depend on that company.
- ERC-20
- Tokens on the Ethereum network. Widely supported but network fees can be several dollars per transfer.
- Escrow
- The platform locks the seller's coins until the seller confirms your payment arrived, so neither side can simply walk away with the money.
- Fiat
- Ordinary government money — lari (GEL), dollars, euros.
- Hardware wallet
- A small physical device (Ledger, Trezor, Tangem card) that stores your keys offline and signs transactions only when you press a button.
- Hash rate
- How much computing power is securing a network. More hash rate means a more expensive network to attack.
- Hot wallet
- A wallet app connected to the internet (phone or browser). Convenient for everyday amounts, riskier for savings.
- KYB
- Know Your Business — the company version of KYC. Pi Network only lets Pioneers move PI to exchanges that passed its KYB.
- KYC
- Know Your Customer: identity checks (passport, selfie, sometimes proof of address) that licensed services must run before you trade.
- Lightning Network
- A layer on top of Bitcoin for near-instant, very cheap payments. Useful for small amounts, not for buying property.
- Maker / taker fee
- Makers place orders that wait in the book; takers fill existing orders instantly. Takers usually pay slightly more.
- Markup
- Extra percentage added on top of the market price — common at ATMs and instant-buy widgets, often instead of a visible fee.
- Mining
- Using specialised computers to secure a blockchain like Bitcoin and earn new coins in return. It is mostly an electricity business.
- NBG
- National Bank of Georgia — the central bank. It supervises banks and, since 2023, crypto service providers (VASPs).
- Network fee
- The fee paid to the blockchain itself to process a transfer (also called gas). It goes to miners/validators, not to the exchange.
- Non-custodial
- You hold the keys yourself. Nobody can freeze the wallet — and nobody can recover it if you lose the seed phrase.
- Off-ramp
- Turning crypto back into fiat — selling on an exchange and withdrawing to a bank, or cashing out at a desk.
- On-ramp
- Any way of turning fiat into crypto: a card purchase, a bank transfer to an exchange, an ATM.
- Order book
- The live list of buy and sell orders on an exchange. The deeper it is, the less the price moves when you trade.
- OTC desk
- Over-the-counter: a desk that trades directly with you at an agreed price instead of on an exchange order book. Used for large amounts and cash deals.
- P2P
- Peer-to-peer: you buy crypto from another person and pay them directly (e.g. by TBC or Bank of Georgia transfer) while the platform holds their coins in escrow.
- Private key
- The secret code that signs transactions from your address. A seed phrase is a human-readable backup of it.
- Seed phrase
- 12 or 24 words that restore your wallet on any device. Whoever has them owns the coins — never type them into a website or send a photo of them.
- Slippage
- When the price moves between the moment you click "buy" and the moment the order fills, so you pay a bit more (or get a bit less) than shown.
- Source of funds
- Documents showing where money came from (salary, sale of property, exchange statements). Georgian banks may ask for them on large crypto-related transfers.
- Spread
- The gap between the buy and sell price. A desk that buys USDT at 2.57 GEL and sells at 2.62 GEL earns a 0.05 GEL spread on each coin.
- Stablecoin
- A token designed to track a currency, usually the US dollar. USDT and USDC aim to stay worth $1.
- TRC-20
- USDT issued on the Tron network. Cheap and fast transfers, which is why most OTC and property deals in Georgia quote TRC-20.
- VASP
- Virtual Asset Service Provider — a crypto exchange, ATM operator or custodian. In Georgia every VASP must be registered with the National Bank (NBG).
Terms you’ll meet in Georgia specifically
Some words only make sense once you know how the Georgian system is wired. These five come up again and again in our guides.
VASP
A virtual asset service provider: any business that exchanges, transfers or stores crypto for customers. In Georgia that includes global brands’ local companies, small exchange offices and the ATM operator. Commercial banks and microbanks can offer some crypto services under their own licences instead. If a business takes your lari and gives you crypto, it should be a VASP — the list of licensed exchanges shows who qualifies.
NBG register
The official list of registered VASPs published by the National Bank of Georgia (in Georgian: სებ). Version 23.10.2026 lists 43 providers. Among global brands, only Bybit Georgia (0019-9404) and WhiteBIT Georgia (0007-9404) appear; Cryptomat is there as 0005-9404. When someone claims to be “licensed in Georgia”, ask for the number and look it up.
Public Registry
The National Agency of Public Registry (NAPR) records who owns property. It registers a sale on the basis of the contract, and the official fee for registering a change of ownership is 150 GEL for four working days, 270 GEL for one day or 350 GEL for same-day service. Because crypto is not legal tender and Georgian businesses may not accept it as payment, a property deal is priced and paid in USD or GEL after you convert at a registered VASP. Our real estate with crypto guide walks through that compliant route.
Source of funds
Paperwork that shows where your money came from: payslips, a sale contract, exchange statements and withdrawal history. Georgian banks may ask for it when a large transfer arrives from an exchange, and VASPs may ask for it on big trades. Collect it before you need it. The page on Georgian banks and crypto explains what TBC and Bank of Georgia tend to look for.
PayBox
A network of more than 8,000 self-service payment terminals where people pay for around 1,000 different services, from mobile top-ups to utility bills. According to PayBox, you can buy crypto at its terminals through five registered exchanges: Cryptal, Coinmania.ge, WhiteBIT, CityPay and Bitanica.com. Cryptal, for example, charges 1% to top up a GEL balance via PayBox. It’s one of the easiest ways to turn cash into crypto without a bank card; see buying crypto with cash for the step-by-step.
