Crypto glossary: 56 terms for buying crypto in Mexico

Buying crypto in Mexico means learning two vocabularies at once. One is crypto's own: seed phrases, spreads, networks, makers and takers. The other is Mexico's financial system, which comes with its own alphabet soup: CLABE, CURP, SPEI, RFC, UMA, IFPE. If you've just moved here, or you're a visitor wondering why an exchange wants a "CURP", that second list can be the harder one.

This glossary covers both. Mexican terms keep their Spanish names, because that's what you'll see in apps and on forms, with a short note on the nearest equivalent back home where there is one. Terms are in alphabetical order. We use "coin" and tokenA digital unit that lives on a blockchain. It can represent a currency, a right or an asset. almost interchangeably. If you're starting from zero, the beginner's guide puts them in context first.

A

Address. A string of letters and numbers, similar to an account number, that crypto is sent to. Each network has its own format. Always copy and paste it, and check the first and last few characters before sending.

Airdrop. Free tokens handed out by a project to attract or reward early users. It's also a favourite lure for scammers: an "airdrop" that asks you to connect your wallet to an unknown site or type in your seed phrase is a theft attempt.

Altcoin. Any cryptocurrency other than bitcoin: ether, XRP, Solana, Dogecoin and thousands more. They're generally more volatile than bitcoin.

AML. Anti-money laundering. Mexico's AML law, the LFPIORPI, treats crypto exchanges as a "vulnerable activity": they must verify you and report operations from 210 UMA to the Finance Ministry. The guide to crypto law in Mexico explains the details.

B

Banxico. The Banco de México, Mexico's central bank. It issues the peso, runs the SPEI transfer system and, through Circular 4/2019, bars banks and licensed fintechs from selling crypto to the public. It has not issued a digital peso.

Block explorer. A website that lets you look up any transaction or address on a blockchain. Paste a transaction hash and you can see whether your transfer has confirmed, without asking anyone.

Blockchain. The public record of every transaction for a given cryptocurrency, copied across thousands of computers and grouped into linked blocks. Once something is written, it can't be erased or edited.

C

CARF. The OECD's Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, under which exchanges report clients' transactions to tax authorities, which share them between countries. Mexico joined the commitment in 2023 and is expected to apply it from 2027. More in the Mexico crypto tax guide.

CEX. Centralized exchange: a company that opens an account for you, verifies your identity and holds your crypto, such as Bitso, Binance or Kraken. The opposite of a DEX.

CLABE. Mexico's 18-digit standardized bank account number, used for SPEI transfers. Think of it as the local IBAN. The first three digits identify the bank, the next three the city, eleven the account, and the last is a check digit.

CNBV. The Comisión Nacional Bancaria y de Valores, Mexico's banking and securities regulator. It licenses banks and fintechs and keeps a public register of supervised entities. It doesn't license anyone to sell crypto to the public.

CoDi. Banxico's QR-code and NFC payment request system inside bank apps, settled over SPEI. It has existed for years with low usage, and we know of no exchange that accepts it for deposits.

Cold storage. Keeping your crypto keys on a device that never touches the internet, such as a Ledger or Trezor hardware wallet, or even on paper. It protects against remote hacks and is the standard for larger holdings.

CONDUSEF. Mexico's financial consumer protection agency. It handles complaints against financial institutions, flags companies impersonating real ones, and runs SIPRES, the register where you can look up a provider. Its hotline is 55 5340 0999.

Custodial wallet. A wallet where a company holds the keys for you, which is what happens when you leave crypto on an exchange. Convenient, but the company's solvency and security become your risk.

CURP. Clave Única de Registro de Población, Mexico's 18-character population ID, roughly comparable to a Social Security or National Insurance number. Mexican exchanges ask for it to deposit or withdraw pesos. Foreign residents are assigned one with their residency; tourists don't have one.

D

DCA. Dollar-cost averaging: buying a fixed amount on a schedule, say MXN 500 every payday, whatever the price. It spreads your entry over time and reduces the risk of going all in at a peak.

DEX. Decentralized exchange: a program on a blockchain where you swap tokens straight from your wallet, with no account. Uniswap is the best known. There's no customer support and mistakes can't be undone.

DiMo. Dinero Móvil, Banxico's service that lets you send a SPEI transfer using just the recipient's mobile number, linked to their bank account. It works inside participating bank apps.

E

ERC-20. The token standard on Ethereum. "USDT ERC-20" means USDT travelling on Ethereum. Network fees, paid in ETH, can spike when the network is busy.

Escrow. On a P2P trade, the platform locks the seller's crypto and only releases it once the seller confirms your payment arrived. It's what makes buying from a stranger workable. See the P2P guide.

Exchange. A platform where you swap pesos or dollars for crypto and back. In Mexico, exchanges use a local payment company for your pesos and a foreign entity for the crypto. We review each one in our exchange reviews.

F

FIX rate. The official peso–dollar exchange rate Banxico publishes each business day. It's a handy benchmark to see how much markup a P2P seller or a card issuer is adding when you convert.

G

Gas. The fee you pay the Ethereum network, and similar networks, to process a transaction. It's measured in a unit called gwei and rises when many people use the network at once.

H

Halving. A scheduled event in bitcoin's code that cuts the miners' reward in half every 210,000 blocks, roughly every four years, so fewer new bitcoins are created over time.

Hash. A transaction's unique ID, a long string of letters and numbers. It works as a receipt: look it up in a block explorer to see whether your transfer has confirmed.

Hot wallet. A wallet connected to the internet, such as a phone app or browser extension. Practical for everyday use, more exposed to hacks and phishing than cold storage.

I

IFPE. Institución de Fondos de Pago Electrónico, a CNBV-licensed e-money company that holds peso balances, roughly like a regulated payments wallet. Bitso's Nvio Pagos México and Binance's Medá are IFPEs. Balances aren't covered by IPAB deposit insurance.

IOU. From "I owe you": a balance representing a coin the platform promises to deliver later. Some platforms sell Pi Network as an IOU; if the platform doesn't deliver, you never owned the real coin. Our Pi Network guide explains the risks.

ITF. Institución de Tecnología Financiera, the Fintech Law's name for a licensed fintech. There are two kinds, crowdfunding platforms and IFPEs, and neither may sell crypto to the public.

K

KYC. Know Your Customer: the identity check an exchange requires. In Mexico expect a passport or residency card (INE for citizens), a selfie and, for peso accounts, a CURP.

L

Lightning Network. A payment network built on top of bitcoin for small, near-instant transfers with tiny fees. Bitso, for example, charges nothing to withdraw bitcoin over Lightning. More in the bitcoin guide.

M

Mainnet. A cryptocurrency's live network, where coins have value and transactions are final, as opposed to a test network. Pi Network opened its mainnet in February 2025.

Maker and taker. The two fees on an order book. You're a maker when you place an order that waits for someone else, a taker when you fill an order already there. On Bitso's lowest volume tier, maker is 0.600% and taker 0.780%.

Memo or tag. An extra number or text some coins need when depositing to an exchange, so it knows which account to credit. XRP uses a destination tag. Forget it and your deposit may sit unassigned until support finds it.

Meme coin. A coin born as an internet joke, like Dogecoin or Shiba Inu. Its price runs almost entirely on social-media mood and can soar or collapse within days.

N

Non-custodial wallet. A wallet where only you hold the keys, such as MetaMask, Trust Wallet or a hardware device. Nobody can freeze it, and nobody can rescue it if you lose your seed phrase. The wallet guide compares options available in Mexico.

O

Order book. The live list of buy and sell offers for a trading pair, with prices and amounts. Buying from the order book is usually cheaper than instant buy, because you pay a visible fee instead of a hidden spread.

OTC. Over the counter: desks that handle large trades directly with businesses or wealthy clients, away from the public order book, so the price doesn't move. See the OTC guide.

P

P2P. Peer-to-peer: a marketplace inside an exchange where you buy or sell directly with another user, who pays by SPEI, cash or other methods, while the platform holds the crypto in escrow.

Private key. The secret code that can move the crypto at an address. Your seed phrase is essentially a backup of your private keys; whoever has it controls the funds.

R

RFC. Registro Federal de Contribuyentes, Mexico's tax ID, 13 characters for individuals. You need one to file a Mexican tax return, including gains from selling crypto. Foreign residents who file in Mexico get one from the SAT.

S

SAT. The Servicio de Administración Tributaria, Mexico's tax authority, the local IRS or HMRC. It has no crypto-specific rule, but gains on selling crypto are generally reported on the annual return in April.

Satoshi. The smallest unit of bitcoin: 0.00000001 BTC. One bitcoin is 100 million satoshis, named after Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of bitcoin.

Seed phrase. The 12 or 24 words your wallet generates to restore it on any device. It's the master key to your funds: write it on paper, store it safely, never share it. No genuine support agent will ever ask for it.

Slippage. The gap between the price you expected when you clicked and the price your order actually filled at. It happens when prices move fast or when you buy a large amount in a thin market.

SPEI. Sistema de Pagos Electrónicos Interbancarios, Banxico's real-time transfer system. It moves pesos between accounts in seconds, 24/7, and a transfer can't be reversed once accepted. It's how most residents fund exchange accounts; see the SPEI guide.

Spread. The difference between the buy and sell price, or between the price you're quoted and the market price. On instant buys it's usually baked into the price, so it's a cost you won't always see labelled as a fee.

Stablecoin. A token designed to hold a steady value, usually one US dollar, such as USDT or USDC. Peso versions exist too, like MXNB, the peso stablecoin issued by a Bitso subsidiary.

Staking. Locking coins on a network that runs on proof of stakeA system where the network picks transaction validators according to how many coins they have locked up, instead of using mining. to help validate transactions in exchange for rewards. Returns aren't guaranteed and coins may be locked for a period.

T

Travel rule. An international standard requiring crypto providers to collect and share details of the sender and recipient of a transfer. Mexican rules published in August 2026 require wallet addresses in AML reports.

TRC-20. The token standard on Tron. "USDT TRC-20" is USDT travelling on Tron, very common in Mexico for P2P trades and remittances. Sending from your own wallet requires a little TRX to pay the network.

U

UIF. The Unidad de Inteligencia Financiera, Mexico's financial intelligence unit within the Finance Ministry. It analyses reports from banks and exchanges and can freeze accounts linked to money laundering.

UMA. Unidad de Medida y Actualización, a peso reference value used for fines, thresholds and tax exemptions instead of the minimum wage. From February 2026 to January 2027 it's MXN 117.31 a day and MXN 42,794.64 a year.

USDT (Tether). The world's most used stablecoin, pegged to the dollar. In Mexico it's popular for holding "digital dollars", P2P trading and remittances. See the USDT guide.

V

Volatility. How much and how fast an asset's price moves. Crypto is very volatile: drops of 10% or 20% in a few days are normal, which is why you should only invest what you can stomach seeing fall.

From glossary to practice

Words help, but nothing teaches like doing one full round trip with a small amount: deposit, buy, check the effective priceWhat you actually paid per coin once fees and spread are included. you got, send a little to your own wallet and back. Along the way you'll see spread, network, memo and network feeWhat the blockchain charges to process your transfer; the exchange doesn't keep it. in action, and why each one matters.