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Presentation

  • Why a new token program?
  • What are extensions?
  • How can I get you excited with an FAQ?

Why​

  • SPL Token works and is battle-tested
  • ...but it needs more protocol-level functionality, without impacting existing tokens
  • Let's deploy a new and separate token program
  • ...even though it's no longer 2022!

Wait, are you sure about this?​

  • Adopting a separate token program is tricky
  • ...but extremely valuable to the ecosystem
  • Going from 1 to 2 is hard, but 2 to N is easy

Are you aware that it's 2023?​

Yes.

Ok... how does it work?​

  • Token-2022 is a superset of Token: structures and instructions have the same ABI
  • Opt-in to extensions on mints and accounts
  • New data is written after the 165th byte

Cool, but can I even use this?​

  • Yes! Out on all networks for testing
  • solana tools version >= 1.14.17
  • @solana/spl-token version >= 0.3
  • spl-token-cli version >= 2.2

Who supports it?​

The base is mostly there.

  • RPC indexes Token-2022
  • Anchor
  • Wallets
  • DeFi Protocols
  • Token Metadata

That's great! Is it safe?​

  • 4 audits
  • 1 more after WIP features
  • Currently upgradeable
  • Officially recommended after 1.17 on mainnet (~January 2024)
  • More ZK features in 1.18 (~May 2024)
  • May be frozen ~6 months after that

I'll bite: what are the extensions for accounts?​

  • Confidential transfers
  • CPI guard
  • Memo required on transfer
  • Immutable ownership

Not bad, what are the extensions for mints?​

  • Confidential transfers
  • Transfer fees
  • Closing mint
  • Interest-bearing tokens
  • Non-transferable tokens
  • Default account state
  • Permanent delegate
  • Transfer-hook
  • Metadata pointer + metadata
  • Group pointer + group

Wow that's a lot!​

Yeah.

I don't get what they're for.​

Let's learn with a game!

  • Describe a token design
  • Think about how to do it with Token-2022
  • I give the answer

Hint: the answers are in the CLI docs at https://spl.solana.com/token-2022/extensions

Question 1​

I heard about compressed NFTs, so how can I make a token that can be compressed, decompressed, and recompressed with an off-chain merkle tree?

Answer 1​

Create a mint with the close mint authority extension, so you can close and re-open the mint account when the supply is 0.

Question 2​

I want to send my token without anyone knowing how much I have or how much I transferred.

Answer 2​

Add the confidential transfer extension to your mint!

Although the first deposit is public, transfer amounts are encrypted and validated through zero-knowledge proofs.

  • Used to require larger transaction sizes, but instead we're splitting up the proofs!

Question 3​

I run a stake pool / lending protocol, and I want the pool token amount to go up over time to approximate the value of the token.

Answer 3​

Create a mint with the interest-bearing extension, and have the protocol update the interest rate every epoch.

Question 4​

I'm creating a bank-like payments system, and I want to create legible monthly statements for my clients.

And I don't want them to get rugged by sketchy protocols.

Answer 4​

Enforce that all client token accounts require memos on incoming transfers. Clients can figure out the motive for all funds coming into their account.

Also add the CPI guard extension, to force dapp transfers to go through a delegate.

Question 5​

For my game, I only want players to hold my token, and I don't want them to dump it on an exchange.

Answer 5​

Create the mint with the default account state extension, set to frozen. Players must go through your program or service to unfreeze their account.

Question 6​

My DAO needs a privileged token for council members.

I don't want them to sell or move the tokens, and the DAO must be able to revoke the token if they behave poorly.

Answer 6​

Create a mint with:

  • permanent delegation to the DAO, so it can burn any token
  • non-transferable, so members can't move them
  • Bonus: non-transferable forces immutable ownership

Question 7​

There's definitely a lot of new features, but I just want to program my own token.

Answer 7​

This isn't possible currently. We need to develop a suite of interfaces and move everyone to using them.

In the meantime, you can configure your token-2022 mint to call into a program that implements the "transfer hook" interface.

More info at https://github.com/solana-labs/solana-program-library/tree/master/token/transfer-hook-interface

Question 8​

You mentioned something about metadata. Does this mean there's going to be more than one metadata program? That sounds like chaos.

Answer 8​

It could be! That's why the "metadata pointer" extension in token-2022 lets you specify which account holds the metadata for your mint.

For safety, you must make sure that the mint and metadata point at each other.

Question 9​

Can't we just put the metadata in the mint?

Answer 9​

Yes! With the WIP "metadata" extension, you just put everything in the mint.

Question 10​

These features sound awesome, but I already have lots of token holders, so how can I migrate them to Token-2022?

Answer 10​

Create a new mint with Token-2022, and have them use the spl-token-upgrade program to convert.

  • Stateless protocol with an escrow account
  • Mint new tokens to the escrow
  • Protocol burns old tokens and gives new tokens

Fun fact: you can use this between any two mints!

Question 11​

Yeah, hi, same as number 10, but I don't want to burn tokens.

Answer 11​

That's fine! The WIP token-wrap program allows you to wrap between any two mints.

Note: the default wrapping program does not add extensions, but can be forked into a new program if you want to wrap your token with extensions.

Question 12​

I have an on-chain program (smart contract), how can I add support for Token-2022?

Answer 12​

That's awesome! If you only process one token in an instruction, it's easy.

If you use multiple token programs at once (e.g. trading), it's trickier since you need both programs in your instruction.

Extensive docs and examples at https://spl.solana.com/token-2022/onchain

Question 13​

I work on a wallet, so how can I show and transfer Token-2022 tokens?

Answer 13​

Nice! It's pretty easy to add support.

Docs and examples at https://spl.solana.com/token-2022/wallet

Question 14​

Why did you add metadata?

Answer 14​

  • On-chain programming should become more open
  • People kept bothering us about it

Question 15​

What if I don't want to use your metadata?

Answer 15​

  • No problem, bring your own!
  • The "metadata pointer" extension lets you point to any account
  • You can also implement the "SPL Token Metadata Interface" in your program

Security bonus: check that the mint and metadata point to each other!

Question 16​

Can I just use my own token program?

Answer 16​

  • That's the future! In the meantime, we have Transfer Hooks
  • With a Transfer Hook, Token-2022 calls a program of your choice during all transfers for your mint
  • The program must implement spl-transfer-hook-interface
  • Feel free to fork spl-transfer-hook-example

I'm a bit overwhelmed​

No problem, we're done, here are your links:

Thanks for listening!