What is an SPL token on Solana?

An SPL token is a token on the Solana blockchain that follows the rules of Solana's built-in Token Programs. Solana's documentation says tokens on the network are referred to as SPL tokens, after the Solana Program Library that contains those programs. Stablecoins, meme coins and project tokens on Solana are almost all SPL tokens. The steps for making one are in how do you create a token on Solana. This guide covers what the term means when you hold or send one.

What is the SPL token standard?

The standard is not a document that each token copies. It is two shared programs that every token uses. The original Token Program handles basics such as minting and transfers. The Token Extensions Program, also called Token-2022, does everything the original does plus optional features called extensions.

Every token is a set of data accounts owned by one of these programs. The mint account is the token's global record of its supply, decimals and authorities. Token accounts hold balances, and each one tracks a single token for a single owner. A wallet holding five tokens therefore has five token accounts behind the scenes.

What does SPL token mean in your wallet?

When a wallet or exchange labels something an SPL token, it is telling you which network the asset lives on. An SPL token can only move between Solana addresses. USDC is a good example: Circle lists one address for USDC on Solana and a different one on Ethereum, and the two are separate tokens. The network chosen when sending matters as much as the address.

What is an SPL token address?

People use the phrase for two different things.

• Mint address. This identifies the token itself, like a contract address on Ethereum. USDC's mint address on Solana is the one Circle publishes. Names and tickers can be copied, so the mint address is how you confirm a token is genuine. See what is a token contract address.
• Token account address. This holds one owner's balance of one token. Most wallets use an associated token account, whose address is calculated from the owner's wallet address and the mint address.

In practice you usually send to someone's normal Solana wallet address. Phantom's developer docs show the sending wallet working out the recipient's associated token account and, if it does not exist yet, creating it in the same transaction. Creating an account requires a small refundable deposit for storage, which Solana's docs say the payer covers even when someone else owns the account. That is one reason a sender needs some SOL, not just the token.

How is an SPL token different from an ERC-20 token?

On Ethereum, each ERC-20 token is a separate smart contract that implements a shared set of functions, with its own address. On Solana, the logic lives in the shared Token Programs, and a new token is just a new mint account. More on the Ethereum model is in what is an ERC-20 token.