Stellar news delivered weekly:

How to Issue a Token or ICO on Stellar

Issuing is easier than you think. Creating a token on Stellar is relatively easy, as the network was built as a sort of digital IOU system.

Issuing Account

Visit the Stellar Account Viewer and generate a new account. This will be the Issuing Account for your token and is important to keep separate for the purposes of proving to the world that you have limited the supply of your token. Activate the Issuing Account by sending it at least 2 lumens.

Issuing Account

Distribution Account

In the Stellar Account Viewer, generate another account. This will be the Distribution Account for your token - the account that will receive the tokens from your Issuing Account. Activate the Distribution Account by sending it at least 3 lumens.

Distribution Account

Trust the Issuer

Use the Stellar Laboratory to have the Distribution Account trust the Issuing Account. In the Laboratory, make sure you are on the live net. Enter your Distribution Account public key in the “Source Account” text field. A blue button will appear after you type in your public key that says “Fetch next sequence number for account starting with…”. Click it to populate the text field with your next transaction number.

Trust the Issuer

Change Trust

In the Laboratory, skip down to the “Operation Type” section and select "Change Trust". For “Asset”, select “Alphanumeric 4”. Input the desired code of your token in the “Asset Code” textbox.For “Issuer Account ID”, input your Issuing Account’s public key.For “Trust Limit”, input the number of tokens you want to distribute.

Change Trust

Complete Transaction

Skip the rest of the inputs and click the button at the bottom left of the page that says “Sign in Transaction Signer”. On the next page, scroll to the bottom and either paste in the Distribution Account secret key in the text area next to “Add Signer” or sign in with your Ledger Wallet. If you are using your Ledger Wallet, you will need to confirm the transaction on your hardware device. After signing the transaction, scroll down and click the 'Submit to Post Transaction endpoint'. After submitting your operation to the transaction endpoint, you will be taken to a new page that summarizes your transaction. Press the "Submit" button.

Complete Transaction

Generate Tokens

With a trustline established from the Distribution Account to the Issuing Account, your tokens can be created in the Laboratory. Set up the Laboratory Transaction Builder for your Issuing Account.Skip down to the “Operation Type” section and select “Payment". For “Destination”, input your Destination Account public key. For “Asset”, select “Alphanumeric 4”. Input the desired code of your token in the “Asset Code” textbox. For "Issuer Account ID", input your Issuing Account public key. For “Amount”, input the amount you chose above.Sign the transaction, but this time with the Issuing Account secret key.

Generate Tokens

Why Limit the Supply

To prove to your future token holders that you will not flood the market with more tokens, you’ll need to prove to the world that you do not have access to the Issuing Account anymore. To do so, you’ll need to adjust the Issuing Account’s weight and thresholds using the Laboratory.

Why Limit the Supply

Limit Transaction

Set up the Laboratory Transaction Builder for your Issuing Account. Skip down to the “Operation Type” section and select "Set Options".For Master Weight, input “0”.For “Low Threshold”, input “1”.For “Medium Threshold”, input “1”.For “High Threshold”, input “1”.Sign the transaction with the Issuing Account secret key.

Limit Transaction

Submit an Offer

Now that your token has been created, you can create a sell offer to allow others to buy your token. Set up the Laboratory Transaction Builder for your Distributing Account. Skip down to the “Operation Type” section and select "Manage offer". For “Selling”, select “Alphanumeric 4”.Input the desired code of your token in the “Asset Code” textbox. For “Buying”, select “Native”. For “Amount you are selling”, input the number of tokens you are willing to part with. For “Price of 1 unit of asset for sale”, input how many lumens you are willing to sell one of your tokens for. For “Offer ID”, input “0”. Sign the transaction with the Distributing Account secret key.

Submit an Offer

Issuing Complete!

You have successfully issued a token on the Stellar network. This is much easier to do than on Ethereum, not to mention your token's transactions will be faster and cheaper.

Issuing Complete!