SPL (Solana Program Library)

A standardized set of protocols and tools on the Solana blockchain for creating and managing fungible and non-fungible digital assets, similar to Ethereum’s ERC standards.

What is SPL (Solana Program Library)?

The Solana Program Library (SPL) is a collection of on-chain programs and standards designed to facilitate the creation, management, and interaction with digital assets on the Solana blockchain. Introduced by Solana Labs, SPL provides developers with pre-built, audited smart contracts (called programs in Solana’s terminology) to handle tasks like token issuance, transfers, and governance. The most prominent component, the SPL Token program, enables the creation of fungible tokens (like USDC or Serum’s SRM) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), akin to Ethereum’s ERC-20 and ERC-721 standards. As of September 2025, over 1.5 million unique SPL tokens have been created, powering DeFi, NFTs, and gaming applications.

SPL tokens are stored in Solana accounts, specifically in “token accounts” associated with a user’s main account, which requires a small amount of SOL (approximately 0.002 SOL, or less than $0.01) for initialization. These tokens leverage Solana’s high throughput (up to 65,000 transactions per second) and low transaction fees ($0.00025 on average), making them cost-efficient for applications like decentralized exchanges (e.g., Orca, Raydium) and NFT marketplaces (e.g., Magic Eden). Other SPL programs include Associated Token Account (streamlining token storage), Token Swap (for AMM-based trading), and Stake Pool (for liquid staking), all written in Rust or C for compatibility with Solana’s runtime.

While SPL enhances developer efficiency, risks include smart contract vulnerabilities, as seen in past exploits like the 2022 Wormhole bridge hack, which affected SPL token transfers. Developers are encouraged to use audited SPL programs and follow best practices. The ecosystem’s growth is evident in integrations like Circle’s USDC on Solana, with $2.5 billion in circulation as of mid-2025, and major projects like Franklin Templeton’s BENJI fund leveraging SPL for tokenized assets.