Solana Token Program

A core Solana onchain program with the program ID TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA, enabling the creation, transfer, minting, and freezing of fungible and non-fungible digital assets.

What is Solana Token Program?

The Solana Token Program, part of the Solana Program Library (SPL), is a pre-built onchain program with the program ID TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA, designed to manage the lifecycle of digital assets on the Solana blockchain. It provides standardized functionality for creating, transferring, minting, burning, and freezing both fungible tokens (e.g., USDC, SRM) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), similar to Ethereum’s ERC-20 and ERC-721 standards. Written in Rust and compiled to BPF bytecode, the program processes instructions within Solana’s high-throughput environment (up to 65,000 TPS), with transactions costing 5,000 Lamports ($0.00025 at 2025 prices) for simple operations like transfers, per Solana’s fee structure.

The Token Program manages token accounts, which are distinct from main Solana accounts and store balances of specific tokens. Creating a token account requires 0.002 SOL ($0.01) for rent-exempt storage, holding 165 bytes of data. Key instructions include mint (issuing new tokens, restricted to a mint authority), transfer (moving tokens between accounts), burn (destroying tokens), and freeze (locking accounts, used in regulatory compliance or NFT staking), with authority delegated via public keys. As of September 2025, over 1.5 million SPL tokens, including $2.5 billion in USDC and millions of NFTs on platforms like Magic Eden, rely on this program, per Solana Explorer data.

Security is critical, as vulnerabilities in token-related programs can lead to exploits, like the 2022 Slope wallet hack impacting 8,000 accounts. Developers using the Token Program, often via frameworks like Anchor, must ensure proper authority checks to prevent unauthorized minting or transfers. The program’s efficiency, leveraging Solana’s Proof-of-History, supports high-volume applications, such as Visa’s USDC settlements and Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund, but requires careful CU management (e.g., ~10,000 CUs for a transfer) to avoid transaction failures during network congestion.