Token Ecosystem

Freeze Authority

The pubkey authorized to freeze and thaw token accounts, preventing transfers. Set optionally at mint creation. When a token account is frozen, no transfers, burns, or closes can occur until thawed. Used for regulatory compliance (e.g., USDC) and security (freezing compromised accounts). Can be revoked by setting to None.

IDfreeze-authority

Plain meaning

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The pubkey authorized to freeze and thaw token accounts, preventing transfers. Set optionally at mint creation. When a token account is frozen, no transfers, burns, or closes can occur until thawed. Used for regulatory compliance (e.g., USDC) and security (freezing compromised accounts). Can be revoked by setting to None.

Mental model

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Technical context

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SPL assets, token standards, metadata, and NFT primitives.

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Freeze Authority (freeze-authority)
Category: Token Ecosystem
Definition: The pubkey authorized to freeze and thaw token accounts, preventing transfers. Set optionally at mint creation. When a token account is frozen, no transfers, burns, or closes can occur until thawed. Used for regulatory compliance (e.g., USDC) and security (freezing compromised accounts). Can be revoked by setting to None.
Related: Mint, Authority, Token-2022 (Token Extensions)
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Concept graph

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Branch

Mint

An on-chain account defining a token type. A mint specifies: supply (total minted), decimals (0 for NFTs, 6 for USDC, 9 for most tokens), mint authority (who can mint), and optional freeze authority. Each unique token (USDC, JitoSOL, etc.) has exactly one mint account. Mint address serves as the token's unique identifier.

Branch

Authority

A pubkey with administrative privileges over a resource—such as the mint authority (can mint tokens), freeze authority (can freeze accounts), upgrade authority (can upgrade a program), or the signer authorized to perform operations on a PDA-controlled account. Authority is a convention, not a runtime concept.

Branch

Token-2022 (Token Extensions)

The next-generation token program (TokenzQdBNbLqP5VEhdkAS6EPFLC1PHnBqCXEpPxuEb) that extends SPL Token with configurable extensions. Extensions include transfer fees, confidential transfers, transfer hooks, permanent delegate, non-transferable tokens, interest-bearing tokens, metadata, and more. Token-2022 is backwards-compatible with SPL Token for basic operations.

Next concepts to explore

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Token Ecosystem

Mint

An on-chain account defining a token type. A mint specifies: supply (total minted), decimals (0 for NFTs, 6 for USDC, 9 for most tokens), mint authority (who can mint), and optional freeze authority. Each unique token (USDC, JitoSOL, etc.) has exactly one mint account. Mint address serves as the token's unique identifier.

Programming Model

Authority

A pubkey with administrative privileges over a resource—such as the mint authority (can mint tokens), freeze authority (can freeze accounts), upgrade authority (can upgrade a program), or the signer authorized to perform operations on a PDA-controlled account. Authority is a convention, not a runtime concept.

Token Ecosystem

Token-2022 (Token Extensions)

The next-generation token program (TokenzQdBNbLqP5VEhdkAS6EPFLC1PHnBqCXEpPxuEb) that extends SPL Token with configurable extensions. Extensions include transfer fees, confidential transfers, transfer hooks, permanent delegate, non-transferable tokens, interest-bearing tokens, metadata, and more. Token-2022 is backwards-compatible with SPL Token for basic operations.

Token Ecosystem

Group / Member Pointer

A Token-2022 extension that enables token grouping by pointing a mint to a group account or member account. The Group Pointer marks a mint as a group, and Member Pointer marks a mint as belonging to a group. Useful for NFT collections and hierarchical token relationships without requiring Metaplex.

Commonly confused with

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Token Ecosystemmetadata-update-authority

Metadata Update Authority

The account authorized to modify an NFT's or token's on-chain metadata, including name, symbol, URI, and attributes. In Metaplex's token metadata standard, this authority can update mutable metadata fields. Revoking or transferring update authority is a trust signal — immutable metadata means the creator cannot alter the NFT's properties post-mint.

Token Ecosystemmint-authority

Mint Authority

The pubkey authorized to mint new tokens via the MintTo instruction. Set at mint creation and can be changed or revoked (set to None) by the current authority. Revoking mint authority makes the supply fixed—critical for trust in fungible tokens. For NFTs, mint authority is typically revoked after minting the single token.

Related terms

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Token Ecosystemmint

Mint

An on-chain account defining a token type. A mint specifies: supply (total minted), decimals (0 for NFTs, 6 for USDC, 9 for most tokens), mint authority (who can mint), and optional freeze authority. Each unique token (USDC, JitoSOL, etc.) has exactly one mint account. Mint address serves as the token's unique identifier.

Programming Modelauthority

Authority

A pubkey with administrative privileges over a resource—such as the mint authority (can mint tokens), freeze authority (can freeze accounts), upgrade authority (can upgrade a program), or the signer authorized to perform operations on a PDA-controlled account. Authority is a convention, not a runtime concept.

Token Ecosystemtoken-2022

Token-2022 (Token Extensions)

The next-generation token program (TokenzQdBNbLqP5VEhdkAS6EPFLC1PHnBqCXEpPxuEb) that extends SPL Token with configurable extensions. Extensions include transfer fees, confidential transfers, transfer hooks, permanent delegate, non-transferable tokens, interest-bearing tokens, metadata, and more. Token-2022 is backwards-compatible with SPL Token for basic operations.

More in category

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Token Ecosystem

SPL Token Program

The original Solana Program Library token program (TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA) that implements fungible and non-fungible token operations. It manages mints (token definitions) and token accounts (balances). Core instructions include InitializeMint, MintTo, Transfer, Burn, Approve (delegation), and Revoke. All SPL tokens on mainnet before Token-2022 use this program.

Token Ecosystem

Solana Program Library (SPL)

Solana Program Library—a collection of on-chain programs and client libraries maintained by Solana Labs. Key SPL programs include Token, Token-2022, Associated Token Account, Memo, Name Service, Stake Pool, and Account Compression. SPL programs are deployed to well-known addresses and serve as the standard building blocks for Solana applications.

Token Ecosystem

Token-2022 (Token Extensions)

The next-generation token program (TokenzQdBNbLqP5VEhdkAS6EPFLC1PHnBqCXEpPxuEb) that extends SPL Token with configurable extensions. Extensions include transfer fees, confidential transfers, transfer hooks, permanent delegate, non-transferable tokens, interest-bearing tokens, metadata, and more. Token-2022 is backwards-compatible with SPL Token for basic operations.

Token Ecosystem

Mint

An on-chain account defining a token type. A mint specifies: supply (total minted), decimals (0 for NFTs, 6 for USDC, 9 for most tokens), mint authority (who can mint), and optional freeze authority. Each unique token (USDC, JitoSOL, etc.) has exactly one mint account. Mint address serves as the token's unique identifier.