Bitcoin Forum

Hello everyone,
Please I would like to know the real difference between a coin and a token as it has to do with blockchain technology.

Thanks in advance for your kind response.

Main difference between them are

• A coin has its own blockchain. Whatever its blockchain is, whatever its algorithm is: either Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, DAG, etc. It has an own blokchain.
• A token does not has its own blockchain. It is built on another blockchain and if that blockchain die, stop working, that token stop working too.
• In other words, tokens are like parasites on other blockchains

Definition of tokens (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2251834.0)

Newbies can easily confuse the two, to simply understand you can say tokens are completely dependent on coins but coins are not dependent and can exist without tokens, and say a coin can accommodate many tokens, that is many tokens can be found under its blockchain but a token on the other hand cannot exist on multiple blockchains. A token becomes a coin when it has it's own Blockchain that other tokens can come under.

The blockchain is a key determinant of the status of a crypto as either a token or a coin. Both the tokens and coins cannot exist outside a Blockchain, this is a notable similarity between them both as well

I'd say it's more symbiotic. If a token project gets a lot of usage, the users of that project would need the blockchain's coin to be able to do transactions, hence increasing demand of the native coin.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think DAG is categorized as a blockchain, in fact I've seen them introduce it as the alternative to blockchain since it is more like a "graph" than a "chain".

DAG ~ Directed Acyclic Graph

Obyte (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1608859.0) is a project from which I learned about DAG for my first time. Know it from the forum.

They have main chain within DAG but perhaps you are right, we can not call DAG is a blockchain.

It may worth mentioning here also the fact that since they use another blockchain (or blockchains!), the transaction fees when sending away tokens are paid in the underlying blockchain's coins and not in tokens.
It may be obvious for us, but may not be for those who have to ask what is the difference...

It depends on what you count as relevant. Imho they are relevant, since they are "paying customers".
For example imho Ethereum is seen as a very successful blockchain exactly because it has so many tokens using its infrastructure (and paying for that).

According to this link https://www.outlookindia.com/business/demystified-the-difference-between-crypto-coins-and-crypto-tokens-read-here-for-details-news-197683#:~:text=The%20crypto%20industry%20has%20said,top%20of%20an%20existing%20Blockchain.


Example:

What tranthidung (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5406931.msg60596815#msg60596815) said was right. There are many blockchain network that we have now like BSC, ERC20, Terra network, etc. and each of them has tokens created under their network. If the coin that supports that particular blockchain collapse, then the token under it will lose its value unless they create their own blockchain or migrate to a different network.

Not really. They are using other's blockchain of course they will pay the fee on using their chain which comes up with the transaction fee.

Not all project really in need of own blockchain as they have a very simple use case wherein its quite practical to use a chain than having own chain which could be lot more complicated and pricey.

If this should happen will it be possible for the token to change the blockchain in which it uses? I'm just asking out of curiosity.

Yes thats possible. They just need to set up on a new chain like token swap for the tokens that are present on the old blockchain. Usually this is happening when the team decided to change their or expand their chain on others. I dont know which cases happened with this kind of scenario but if they are using main blockchain such as ethereum and bnb then its possible to die.

I so much appreciate this explanation. Straightforward and simple, with this response I think I can be able to differentiate between the two I'm asked by anyone. Thanks alot.

Nice, very brief, and simple explanation.

There are also some other tokens before like when they start their project one of their goals is to have its own blockchain.
Some of these tokens started with just a token or deployed to other blockchain like ERC20 on Ethereum network but later on, these projects starting to migrate or rebrand and that's the time some are moving into different blockchain or on their own blockchain network.

At start, their team build products and rely on available chains to launch their products. They would pick big and trusted chains to start but big chains have own issues like overloaded, issues with scalability and transaction fees. Later, these teams have to gradually build up their own native blockchains and move their tokens to third party chain to their own one.

It requires lot of resources to build it up, testing, audit etc. with lot of risk during a complicated progress.

The keyword will be blockchain. A coin basically has its own chain aka independent, while tokens are dependent and built upon a certain chain.
So, for example, Ethereum is a coin that has an Ethereum chain, with its feature called a smart contract, it is possible for other projects to build their tokens on the Ethereum chain like Uniswap token for example. So, tokens are basically dependent on a certain chain, if that chain is disrupted, it will affect the tokens too.

Yes s.r your right coin are enable to the user. To track transaction with the using own their Blockchain technology but other side token hsa no Blockchain technology it's already available on other Blockchain technology. All types of ERC 20 tokens are basis on Ethereum Blockchain technology they using chain to create a token

Yeah right the ERC-20 is the standard for tokens based on Ethereum blockchain and there are many native tokens and whenever you make a transaction you have to pay Gas as fees and you can also track the transactions as record is maintained on the blockchain.

Similarly the BEP-20 is the standard for Binance Smart Chain the native blockchain of Binance and there are some tokens listed on them as well.To answer the above can they change the blockchain then yes they can as BNB was officially launched as ERC-20 token but they updated the assets and moved to their own chain.

It's like having a huge titanic ship and letting people onboard, becoming the captain and taking them around the world, Coins are the engine of tokens, if they are smart contract active, Ethereum is a coin and it's smart contract active meaning it has spare rooms for other projects (tokens) to run on.

Ethereum are working own Blockchain technology there are alot tokens are existed on them . Some project are doing list token with the help ERC 20 basis Blockchain technology. And coins are own Blockchain technology where is the all transaction we will track and check the recent activity it's totally different from token base technology

At a fundamental level, both crypto coins and tokens are alike but they are two different things are all coins are tokens, but not all tokens are considered coins.
There are certain things that tokens allow the holder to do, whereas the coins do not give the same freedom to the holder. On the contrary, some platforms may accept coins but may refuse to entertain tokens. :-\ :-\ :-\ :-\

Absolutely agreed. Some users got confused about coin and token which is really early stages learning about Blockchain technology. So no one can fraud with other users because we can track all details in deeply so we can use also use ERC 20 Blockchain technology to create new one own token

I would advise you to improve English a little bit as I am guessing you are non native speaker of the language judging from your posting style if you want to post on these general boards to make yourself more clear.

So you can create your own token and list it on ETH blockchain and it will be termed as ERC-20 token and follow it's standard and you can track each transaction in the block explorer also.

Frauds and hack can still happen if the token creator decide to rug so don't believe in these things and you can create another token you want and it will be among other shit tokens that don't have any utility for the holders.

Yes iam fully trying to improve yourself but my point was cleared and  not going anywhere off topic or non native speaker I think you are better than me to understand about crypto industry because iam early stage and could try to understand other people as my potential so yes iam little bit bad to teach other haha

All cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, that have their own separate blockchain are referred to as coins. While Tokens are a special feature of larger smart contracts systems like Ethereum that let users develop, issue, and manage tokens that are variations of the main network.

Thank you so much for this simple and detailed explanation. I have been using cryptocurrencies for a while now and I know that both coins and tokens exist but have never given it any thought to know their difference. Also, I have never for once believe that there is one large difference between tokens and coins. You have revealed this quite well, no wonder when some coins with a fundamental blockchain are strongly buying or selling, their tokens often follow because they are always related.

Sometimes there are certain terms in the crypto world that are commonly used in the real world, but have a different form from physical objects, such as coins and tokens. The difference with these 2 options you can listen to below.

Coins: Coins are crypto assets that have their own blockchain. This asset is a crypto currency that is created using encryption techniques so that it can be stored for a long time.
Token: A token is an access of a decentralized application built on a blockchain system. Tokens also have a market value, but technically they are not a currency.

another opinion
ru.wikipedia  (https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A2%D0%BE%D0%BA%D0%B5%D0%BD_(%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BF%D1%82%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8E%D1%82%D0%B0))
 "A token is a non-cryptocurrency unit of account designed to represent a digital balance in some asset[1], in other words, acting as a “substitute for securities” in the digital world[2]. Tokens are a ledger entry distributed on the blockchain."
Many people call money tokens :)

When I was still confused, I was also confused about distinguishing Koins and Tokens, but after reading a few articles I already understood, and for the note that Majorits Market and Projects are currently using tokens because it is easier and of course using a tested blockchain network can make investors optimistic.

The thing that stands out between tokens and coins is that the coin has its own blockchain chain independent of the RPC chain or the chains available in various blockchain chain provider projects. whereas tokens have a blockchain chain that relies on an existing blockchain network such as ETH, BNB, or SOL.
it is the most simple difference.

Newbie is certainly natural if confused with Token and Koins, I have also felt confusion when I want to invest in ICO in 2017, many projects that use wallets from ETH so that I made a mistake that was using ETH from Coinbase and made me lose token.

Hello. That really is one of the most asked questions of people that are new to cryptocurrencies. As others in this thread have already said, the big and fundamental difference between those two is, that a coin is running on its own blockchain while a token is created on a already existing blockchain.
Therefore it is way easier to create a new token then creating a new coin. To create a new crypto token on Ethereum, BNB chain, Solana or others only takes a few minutes. That is also the reason why all meme coins are
actually tokens and not coins.

Hey
Let me provide some information ℹ️

Coin :
Brought
Sold
Exchanged
Traded
Have a Blockchain

Token :
Brought
Sold
Traded
Not exchanged
Does not have a Blockchain ( since they are built on existing Blockchain)

Can be used as : services, security, shares etc.
For example: a football token !

Read more :  https://crypto.com/university/crypto-tokens-vs-coins-difference#:~:text=While%20crypto%20coins%20mimic%20traditional,as%20a%20medium%20of%20exchange. (https://crypto.com/university/crypto-tokens-vs-coins-difference#:~:text=While%20crypto%20coins%20mimic%20traditional,as%20a%20medium%20of%20exchange.)

This is not the most simple but I give credit to your explanation. Including the RPC term will just make newbie confused on differentiating tokens and coin because not all user is knowledgeable on crypto jargons.

Coins
* Usually the native coin of a blockchain
* Can be mine through PoS or PoW
* Best example here are Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana and other blockchain native coin

Tokens
* Usually built for decentralized project utility on an existing blockchain
* Offers certain power or utility on a certain project product
* Best example here are Shib, Axs and other token that utility is not for the blockchain



Source: https://crypto.com/university/crypto-tokens-vs-coins-difference

it's very easy to distinguish tokens and coins in the world of cryptocurrencies, you can see them on their website,
if they have their own explorer website then the altcoin is a coin, but if the explorer website doesn't exist then the altcoin is a token,
and I don't think so it's a problem if you want to invest in tokens or coins, because what will make the price go up is their development, not the difference

The difference between coins and tokens is as follows.
Coin is a crypto asset that has its own blockchain, this asset is a crypto currency that is created using encryption techniques so that it can be stored for a long time.
The most famous examples of coins are Bitcoin and Litecoin.
these two crypto assets have their own blockchain, in the blockchain data is stored collectively and shared on their respective networks.

Unlike coins, tokens are a specific type of utility or asset, or sometimes both.
tokens are included in an access of decentralized applications built on blockchain systems.
tokens also have a market value, but technically, tokens are not a currency.

The difference between a coin and a token is that every cryptocurrency that has its own digital transaction record on its own blockchain is called a coin.And every cryptocurrency that stores its application data on another's digital record Storing their transaction data on another digital record is called a token.That is, every cryptocurrency that has its own blockchain is called a coin. And every cryptocurrency that has all its data on someone else's blockchain is called a token.

 there is a big different between coins and tokens. basically coins are run on their own blockchain while tokens have no their own blockchain. you may have seen erc20 , bep 20 tokens. that means those tokens run on Ethereum or Bsc blockchain. just look bitcoin, bitcoin has it own blockchain and everything runs on bitcoin blockchain. transaction fees are paid with bitcoin. but when you check tokens you   have to pay transaction fees by the native coin of the blockchain which they runs on. examples - ethereum or  Bnb. i just explained you simply.

Making Tokens is easier than creating Coins, that's why many people are creating so many tokens, compared to Coins, because it's very difficult to make them, and we can see many projects popping up to develop and sell their tokens to investors, but unfortunately it's easy to create tokens become the ground for fraudulent projects, that's why tokens are often misused...

Tokens belong to projects created inside other Blockchain networks.  However, it should not be forgotten that the fact that they were created on a network does not mean that they cannot have value on that network.  For example, the price of digital gold projects indexed to the gold price may be more expensive than the main coin prices of the projects that are currently used in the network (ETH or BNB). 

Here we need to evaluate the main difference between Coin and Token together with the Blockchain network.  For example, while Bitcoin, Ethereum or Solana is a Coin, they are tokens created on these networks (For example, Maker on the Eth network).

Those who understand will surely answer the same explanation, and the two most common blockchain-based digital assets are cryptocurrencies and tokens, and the biggest difference between the two is that cryptocurrencies have their own blockchain. And blockchain native assets, like bitcoin or ethereum.
whereas crypto tokens are built on top of an existing blockchain, and tokens can eventually become coins when projects develop their own blockchain and migrate their tokens to a new blockchain as coins.

Does that mean the concept of ERC20 and BEP20 is almost the same as that of bitcoin? I'm just asking that, sir.
Where these coins are the only ones that are listed in the exchanges that depend on what network they used but it doesn't have their smart contract that is called, is that right Sir?

So please correct me if these that I am going to mention like Ethereum, Binance, Polygon, Tron, Solana, and Dogecoin are tokens, not coins. For the knowledge of others here in the forum.

Coins and tokens are two different things. Not only in the name, but the difference between coins and tokens as well as in their function, origin, and benefits.
A crypto coin is a digital asset that is built, stands and runs on its own blockchain network issued directly by the developer of the blockchain protocol.
A crypto token is any digital asset that is created on a blockchain and can be built on another party's blockchain network.
Crypto tokens are created by a project which are then used as payment in order to enjoy the services that the project provides.

Coin - which have own blockchain . And that coin is used as a transaction fee when transferring it .
Example - Bitcoin , Ethereum , Binance Coin , TRON , Polygon (MATIC) , Waves , Solana , XLM , Doge Coin, ADA , Bitcoin Cash , Litecoin, PolkaDot Etc.....

Token - which is create based on another coin's blockchain . And here  if that blockchain dies. that token will die then also . So the security of tokens is much less than coins
Example - Shiba inu (it is Binance smart chain + Ethereum based token)
               TLM  (it is Binance smart chain + Ethereum based token)
               CAKE (it is Binance smart chain based token)
               DATA (it is Binance smart chain + Ethereum + Polygon based Token )

Note - Which token created by multi chain like ( Ethereum , Bsc , polygon ) Here if any one chain of token dies still the token will be active through other chain

Let me clear up a few things, ERC20 is a standard that is implemented within a smart contract and a smart contract exists within a chain/network.

The concept of smart contract standards (ERC20, ERC721, ERC1155, etc) is not the same as the Bitcoin standards in a whole aspect. I am not quite sure what you mean about the exchange question, but, each standard does have its own purpose, and so do platforms that utilize each type of standard. Generally, everything that runs in the network is a smart contract, so it is up to the user/client what they are going to do with it.

Ha Ha these two term also confuse me when i am new

COIN - It is all the blockchain coin that you know For Example BitCOIN ,ethCOIN,SolanaCOIN ,DogeCOIN the Coin token is also use to Pay fees when we Swap or buy anything in that particular blockchain example - if you wanted to buy cake token in BSC chain you must had some BNB and so on

TOKEN - A token is something that came in the Blockchain Like Cake is the token of BSC a Coin can Have a lot of Utility or It can be community based Shit Coin

A coin can be mined through a lot of Algorithm technique like POW,POS,POA

so the worst part is if their is any Exploit in Blockchain it will effect the token of that Chain example Remember what happened with Tera luna and their stable coin
To Avoid these Some toke use the Dual blockchain Ecosystem like BNB + MATIC...

Before make an blockchain their is alot of testnet we need to perform to Find Exploits so these process is little time taking and we also have a good amount of knowledge of coding

It is very simple dear,
Coin: Coin is the native asset of its own blockchain like Binance has its own blockchain so its coin is BNB, Ethereum for Ethereum Blovkchain and so on
Token: : Token is any asset that a user owns, or a project owns that runs on blockchain.

Coins have a centralized wallet that tokens don't have, if you want to know the difference between Coins and tokens, Examples like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance, Tron, Staller, and these coins have their own blockchain, when compared to tokens they can be under the auspices of Ethereum or Binance, you can also use XLM, TRX bases, that's the difference between Coins and Tokens..

Nothing is hard if you have money. You can just pay some devs to create a crypto for you but that isn't necessary anymore since we already have tons of them and most of them are just useless. Better if we don't contribute our own mess anymore but let us only make this crypto world more clean by supporting only quality projects.

Cryptos and tokens must have their own main use and they aren't specifically built for investing or as an asset but people are already used to this, knowing that their value can also grow over time. Cryptos and tokens shouldn't also be separated when you mentioned it because tokens are still under the cryptos but you can separate an altcoin from a token.

as far as I know coins are digital assets that have their own blockchain while tokens are digital assets that stand on the blockchain of other parties.
but sometimes most people think they are the same and i think this issue is just a minor issue that is not up for debate.

coins are usually stronger in terms of fundamentals, have more trust value than the community because in development coins are more difficult and have to be done from scratch. different from tokens where developments can be used by riding from existing networks such as ethereum and Solana.

Coin have working on own Blockchain technology and track all record with buy and sell coins on their Blockchain and all the users use Bitcoin and all the transaction has recordable on their Blockchain and token are available on others Blockchain and use them to make transaction smoothly they have not own Blockchain but works to help others Blockchain technology

In short Coins are based on their own Blockchain and they have own Blockchain technology but the tokens are based on the Other Blockchain. As an example we can say Ethereum is a coin and Hex is a token which is based on Ethereum Blockchain.

this is new knowledge for me. because before I did not know that they were two different things. means it's easier to make tokens than coins. because the token is created on the coin blockchain network. so you don't have to worry about creating a blockchain.

In my experience Coin has own Blockchain and also have own block explorer Those coins are Bitcoin, Ethereum,Tron, Solana, Matic, XLM etc and other hand Token are those cryptocurrency which are not based own their Blockchain and build on another Blockchain these cryptocurrency are Back, KUKU, Maxi etc

Crypto coins have their own blockchain and are built around a specific community that uses crypto coins for transactions, whereas tokens do not have their own blockchain. On the other hand, tokens don't have that.

Generally, all crypto coin transactions are handled by the blockchain. While tokens through smart contracts. Each blockchain has a number of smart contracts.

The token operates on the crypto coin blockchain. For example, many tokens run on Ethereum. Stablecoins, whose value is usually pegged to the US Dollar, are also part of this category. Tokens are easier to create with smart contracts on top of existing blockchains.

So, it is clear that tokens, and coins have differences in concept.

Your explanation will indeed be easily understood by people who already know basic knowledge about crypto. But for newbies who still lack
knowledge of the crypto world, it may be difficult to distinguish between coins and tokens. Therefore, for newbies, don't rush to invest in crypto
before learning the crypto world properly, especially first understand the basic terms like what blockchain is. After understanding the basics about
crypto, your explanation of the difference between coins and tokens will begin to be understood by newbies. It is true that coins have their own
blockchain, therefore making coins is usually more expensive than making tokens. But since tokens are not created within the blockchain itself
and hitch a ride on the blockchain of a particular coin, of course using tokens must incur a fee every time we make a transaction. That's why many
people are disappointed when Ethereum gas fee fees are so high, because when making transactions using tokens on the ETH network, a large fee
will be charged.

After studying for a long time I finally can distinguish coins and tokens, I used to invest in an ICO but used an ERC20 address, and when I received it turned out to be a token, the easy thing to know is that coin and token is if we want a transaction then the token must use the parent coin for fees transaction.

Most of the time they seem the same when you first hear them but they are completely different back then when I was doing some bounty task, I always get some rewards from coins, and as for the token rewards, they always epic fail because they always don't reach their desirable hard cap or even soft cap because of the high competition back then. Now we have the Binance blockchain which makes it harder to get paid when doing bounties that are paid with tokens. These are my 2 cents regarding those two and also this is my personal experience.

It's literally just a coin with its own blockchain, and a token that uses someone else's chain, it's that simple, you can't mix that up. Does the thing you are using have its own blockchain or does it use another network of another coin? That is how you could find the difference between them and it is super simple.

ETH is a coin, AXS is a token, BNB is a coin, Cake is a token, these are all simple to understand because one of them has its own chain, and the other one is listed under another coins chain network to exist. I personally invest in both of them if they are good, just like how I have both bnb and cake, but people could have different views of course and I respect that.