A

ABI

Application Binary Interface. A JSON description of a smart contract's functions, used by wallets and dapps to call the contract correctly. Etherscan generates the ABI automatically when source code is verified.

Address

A 42-character hexadecimal identifier starting with 0x that points to either a wallet (externally owned account) or a smart contract on Ethereum. Case-insensitive but a checksummed mixed-case version exists to prevent typos.

Airdrop

Distributing tokens to many wallets at once, usually for free as a marketing or community-building tactic. See our marketing guide for when airdrops work and when they backfire.

Allowance

The amount one address has authorised another address (typically a DEX router) to spend on its behalf. Set by the ERC-20 approve() function. Frequently a security issue when allowances are unlimited and forgotten.

Approve

The ERC-20 function used to grant an allowance to a spender. The pattern is approve -> transferFrom, used by every DEX swap.

B

Base fee

The portion of an Ethereum gas fee that is burned on every transaction since EIP-1559. The base fee adjusts automatically based on network congestion.

BEP-20

BNB Chain's equivalent of ERC-20. Uses the same Solidity interface but lives on a different blockchain. See ERC-20 vs BEP-20 vs SPL.

Block

A batch of transactions appended to the Ethereum chain roughly every 12 seconds. A token deployment becomes "confirmed" once it lands in a block.

Burn

Permanently removing tokens from circulation, usually by sending them to the zero address (0x000...000). Cannot be undone. Used to reduce supply or signal scarcity.

Bytecode

The compiled, on-chain form of a smart contract. Etherscan verification matches deployed bytecode against submitted source code to confirm the source is genuine.

C

Checksummed address

An Ethereum address with mixed-case letters used to encode a checksum. Helps wallets detect typos. Functionally identical to the all-lowercase version.

Circulating supply

The portion of total supply that is actively in wallets and tradeable, excluding tokens held in treasury, vesting contracts, or burned. See our tokenomics guide.

CoinGecko

A leading crypto price tracker. Listing on CoinGecko requires submitting an application with proof of liquidity, social profiles, and contract address. Boosts discoverability.

Contract address

The 0x address where an ERC-20 smart contract was deployed. This is the token's permanent identifier. Tokens are imported into wallets and DEXes using the contract address.

Contract verification

Submitting your Solidity source code to Etherscan so the green "verified" checkmark appears. Anyone can audit the code afterwards. See our verification guide.

D

Decimals

How divisible a token is. ERC-20 standard is 18 (matches ETH). Stablecoins like USDC use 6. Use 0 for indivisible tokens. Read our parameters guide.

Deploy

The act of broadcasting a smart contract's bytecode to Ethereum so it gets a permanent address. Costs gas. Token creators on ETHTokenLaunch deploy in one click.

DEX

Decentralised exchange. Trades happen against smart contract liquidity pools rather than an order book. Uniswap and SushiSwap are the largest Ethereum DEXes.

Dexscreener

A real-time DEX trade tracker. Tokens appear automatically once they have liquidity on Uniswap or SushiSwap. Many traders use Dexscreener as a primary discovery surface.

E

EIP

Ethereum Improvement Proposal. Numbered design documents that propose changes to Ethereum. EIP-20 became the ERC-20 token standard.

EIP-1559

The 2021 upgrade that introduced burned base fees and priority tips for gas. Makes gas pricing more predictable. See our gas fees guide.

EOA

Externally Owned Account. A regular user wallet controlled by a private key. Contrast with a contract account, which is controlled by code.

ERC-20

The Ethereum standard for fungible tokens. Defines six required functions: totalSupply, balanceOf, transfer, approve, transferFrom, allowance. See our beginner guide.

ERC-721

The Ethereum standard for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Each token is unique. See ERC-20 vs ERC-721.

ERC-1155

A multi-token standard that allows a single contract to hold both fungible and non-fungible tokens. Common in blockchain gaming.

Etherscan

The most-used Ethereum block explorer. Hosts contract source verification, token pages, holder lists, and on-chain analytics.

EVM

Ethereum Virtual Machine. The computation environment all smart contracts run inside. EVM-compatible chains (BNB Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Base) run the same bytecode.

F

Fair launch

A token launch with no presale, no allocation to insiders, and all supply available at the same time via liquidity. Builds community trust but harder to fund.

Faucet

A service that gives away small amounts of testnet ETH or tokens for development purposes. Sepolia and Holesky each have faucets.

Fungible

Interchangeable. Every unit of an ERC-20 token is identical and worth the same as every other unit. Contrast with non-fungible (NFT).

Function selector

The first 4 bytes of a function call, derived from the keccak256 hash of the signature. Wallets show selectors when they cannot identify a function.

G

Gas

The unit of computational work on Ethereum. Every action costs gas. ERC-20 deployment uses roughly 600,000 to 900,000 gas. See our gas fees guide.

Gas limit

The maximum gas a transaction is allowed to consume. If a transaction needs more, it reverts and the gas spent up to that point is still charged.

Gwei

A denomination of ETH. 1 gwei = 0.000000001 ETH. Gas prices are quoted in gwei.

H

Hardhat

A developer tool for building, testing, and deploying Solidity contracts. Common in professional smart contract development.

Honeypot

A malicious token that buyers can buy but cannot sell. Detected by tools like TokenSniffer and Honeypot.is. Often relies on hidden contract logic.

Hot wallet

A wallet connected to the internet (MetaMask, Phantom, mobile apps). Convenient but more exposed than cold storage.

I

Impermanent loss

The loss a liquidity provider experiences when the price ratio between the two pool assets changes. Only realised when removing liquidity.

IPFS

InterPlanetary File System. Decentralised file storage often used for token metadata images. Slower than HTTP but censorship-resistant.

L

Liquidity pool

A smart contract holding two paired assets (e.g. ETH and your token) against which traders swap. Created on Uniswap or SushiSwap. See our Uniswap guide.

LP token

A token representing a share of a liquidity pool. Held by liquidity providers. Burning LP tokens removes the corresponding liquidity.

Locked liquidity

LP tokens sent to a time-locked contract (Unicrypt, Team Finance) so they cannot be withdrawn until the unlock date. Strong rug-pull resistance signal.

M

Mainnet

The live, real-money Ethereum network. Contrast with testnets (Sepolia, Holesky) used for development.

Market cap

Circulating supply multiplied by current token price. The headline number on price trackers. See tokenomics.

Mempool

The queue of pending Ethereum transactions waiting to be included in a block. Visible to MEV bots and other sophisticated actors.

MetaMask

The most-used Ethereum browser wallet. Supports any EIP-1193 site connection. See our guide to importing tokens.

Mint

Creating new tokens. In ETHTokenLaunch's standard contract, the full supply is minted to the creator wallet at deployment and no further minting is possible.

Mint authority

The address allowed to call the mint function. ETHTokenLaunch's standard contract has no mint function, so there is no ongoing mint authority.

N

Nonce

A counter incremented per transaction per wallet. Prevents replay attacks. Visible in Etherscan transaction details.

O

Off-chain

Data or computation that does not live on the blockchain. Token metadata JSON files are often off-chain.

On-chain

Data that lives on the blockchain. Token balances and transfers are on-chain.

OpenZeppelin

A widely-trusted library of audited Solidity contracts. ETHTokenLaunch's ERC-20 implementation is based on OpenZeppelin.

Ownable

A common contract pattern that designates a single owner address with admin privileges. Can be renounced.

Ownership renounce

Setting a contract's owner to the zero address permanently. After renouncing, admin functions become uncallable. See token renouncing.

P

Priority fee

The tip a user pays validators to be included faster. Added on top of the base fee under EIP-1559.

Private key

The 256-bit secret that controls a wallet. Never share, never enter into any website, never store in plain text. Anyone with the private key controls all assets at that address.

R

Renounce

Calling renounceOwnership() on an Ownable contract. Sets the owner to the zero address. Irreversible.

Revert

When a smart contract call fails and undoes all its state changes. Gas spent is not refunded.

RugCheck

A token safety scanner that checks for common rug-pull patterns: unlocked liquidity, retained owner, top-holder concentration. See our security checklist.

Rug pull

When a token creator removes liquidity or exploits hidden contract powers to extract holder value. Avoided by locked liquidity and renounced ownership.

S

Solidity

The most-used language for writing Ethereum smart contracts. Compiles to EVM bytecode.

SPL

Solana Program Library token standard, the Solana equivalent of ERC-20.

Supply

The number of tokens that exist. See parameters guide for choosing a supply.

Symbol

The short ticker for a token (3 to 5 uppercase letters by convention). Shown on Etherscan, wallets, DEXes. ETH, USDT, LINK are all symbols.

T

Testnet

A free, fake-money Ethereum network used for development. Sepolia and Holesky are the current testnets.

TokenSniffer

A pre-trade safety scanner. Flags honeypots, owner-only mint functions, hidden fees, and other red flags.

Token symbol

See Symbol.

Total supply

The sum of all tokens in existence, including those held in treasuries and vesting contracts.

Transfer

The ERC-20 function that moves tokens from the caller's balance to another address.

U

Uniswap

The largest Ethereum DEX. Provides ETH-paired liquidity pools. V2 is simpler; V3 has concentrated liquidity. See our Uniswap guide.

USDC

A USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Circle. ERC-20 token with 6 decimals.

USDT

A USD-pegged stablecoin issued by Tether. ERC-20 token with 6 decimals.

V

Vesting

Time-locked release of allocated tokens to founders, advisors, or investors. Vesting contracts hold tokens until the unlock schedule releases them.

W

Wallet

Software or hardware that holds private keys and signs transactions. MetaMask, Coinbase Wallet, Rabby, Trust Wallet, Ledger are all wallets. See wallet compatibility.

WETH

Wrapped Ether. An ERC-20 token version of ETH used in DeFi protocols that expect the ERC-20 interface.

Wrapped token

An ERC-20 representation of an asset that natively lives elsewhere (Bitcoin -> WBTC, Ether -> WETH).

Z

Zero address

0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000. Tokens sent here are burned. Ownership renouncing sets the owner to this address.

Glossary FAQ