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Token quickstart

Intermediate

Overview​

Custom tokens can be created and deployed on ICP using the ICRC-1 token standard. This standard defines a set of general functionalities that all ledgers must adhere to. ICRC-1 is designed to create a universally accepted standard for creating and recording tokens and their transactions on ICP. Any tokens and their corresponding ledgers must fulfill all requirements of the standard.

There are several extensions of the ICRC-1 standard that extend functionality, however, not all ICRC standards must be an extension of the ICRC-1 standard.

This guide will provide a quickstart on how you can create and deploy your own custom token on ICP using the ICRC-1 standard.

Create a new project​

First, download dfx and start the local replica:

sh -ci "$(curl -fsSL https://internetcomputer.org/install.sh)" // Download and install `dfx`.
dfx start --clean --background // Start the local replica.

Then create a new project:

dfx new new_token

Setup the ledger canister​

Download and install the latest Wasm for the ICRC-1 ledger canister:

curl -o download_latest_icrc1_ledger.sh "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dfinity/ic/326df23607fc8280a047daba2d8462f1dfc57466/rs/rosetta-api/scripts/download_latest_icrc1_ledger.sh"
chmod +x download_latest_icrc1_ledger.sh
./download_latest_icrc1_ledger.sh

Edit dfx.json​

Next, edit the project's dfx.json to define the Candid and Wasm files for the ICRC-1 ledger canister:

  "canisters": {
    "icrc1_ledger_canister": {
      "type": "custom",
        "candid": "icrc1_ledger.did",
        "wasm" : "icrc1_ledger.wasm.gz",
    }
  },

Create a minter identity​

Create a developer identity to mint tokens:

dfx identity new minter
dfx identity use minter
export MINTER=$(dfx identity get-principal)

Transfers from the minting account will create Mint transactions. Transfers to the minting account will create Burn transactions.

Export token settings​

To create a token, you will need to export several environmental variables. The full list can be found below:

-   The `PRE_MINTED_TOKENS` is amount of tokens that are minted during deployment for a specific account (In this tutorial it will be the `DEFAULT` account).
-   The `TRANSFER_FEE` is the transfer fee that users of the ledger will have to pay anytime they want to make a transfer.
-   The `ARCHIVE_CONTROLLER` is the [controller principal](/docs/current/developer-docs/getting-started/cycles/cycles-wallet#controller-and-custodian-roles) of the archive canisters.
-   The `TRIGGER_THRESHOLD` is the number of blocks to archive when the trigger threshold is exceeded.
-   The `CYCLE_FOR_ARCHIVE_CREATION` is the amount of cycles that will be sent to the archive canister when it is created.
-   The `NUM_OF_BLOCK_TO_ARCHIVE` is the number of blocks that will be archived.
-   The `TOKEN_SYMBOL` is the ticker symbol of your new token.
-   The `MINTER` is the account of the Principal responsible for minting and burning tokens (see the [icrc-1 ledger documentation](https://github.com/dfinity/ICRC-1)).
-   The `FEATURE_FLAGS` is a flag for enabling or disabling certain extension standards to the ICRC-1 standard. In this case the reference implementation also can support ICRC-2 transactions.
-   Minting 100 tokens to the `DEFAULT` (1 token is by default equal to 10^8 e8s, hence the name).
-   Setting the transfer fee to 0.0001 tokens.

Deploy the ledger​

Deploy the ICRC-1 ledger canister locally and pass in the arguments to create your token:

dfx deploy icrc1_ledger_canister --specified-id mxzaz-hqaaa-aaaar-qaada-cai --argument "(variant {Init =
record {
     token_symbol = \"${TOKEN_SYMBOL}\";
     token_name = \"${TOKEN_NAME}\";
     minting_account = record { owner = principal \"${MINTER}\" };
     transfer_fee = ${TRANSFER_FEE};
     metadata = vec {};
     feature_flags = opt record{icrc2 = ${FEATURE_FLAGS}};
     initial_balances = vec { record { record { owner = principal \"${DEFAULT}\"; }; ${PRE_MINTED_TOKENS}; }; };
     archive_options = record {
         num_blocks_to_archive = ${NUM_OF_BLOCK_TO_ARCHIVE};
         trigger_threshold = ${TRIGGER_THRESHOLD};
         controller_id = principal \"${ARCHIVE_CONTROLLER}\";
         cycles_for_archive_creation = opt ${CYCLE_FOR_ARCHIVE_CREATION};
     };
 }
})"

For additional details, you can learn more in the ICRC-1 ledger documentation.

Your token has been created locally. To interact with your token, learn how to interact with the ICRC-1 ledger.