Difference between Coin and Token

[Sunrise360]

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.

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[1714165606]

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[tranthidung]

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

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

[Rruchi man]

Main difference between them are

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

[mk4]

• In other words, tokens are like parasites on other blockchains

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.

[pooya87]

Whatever its blockchain is, whatever its algorithm is: either Proof of Work, Proof of Stake, DAG, etc. It has an own blokchain.

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".

[tranthidung]

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 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.

Consensus

There is no PoW, no PoS, and no mining.  Instead, we have the DAG, which already establishes partial order between transactions, plus we add the main chain within the DAG

[NeuroticFish]

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.

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...

[NeuroticFish]

So you mean the token are not relevant in blockchains

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).

[xSkylarx]

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.

A coin is native to its Blockchain. It uses its own Blockchain and keeps track of the data, store value, validates transactions and keeps the Blockchain secure. They are used for governance, transactional fees and other related use cases.  

Example:

ETH is the cryptocurrency native to the Ethereum Blockchain, there are many other different tokens that also utilise the Ethereum Blockchain. Crypto tokens built on top of Ethereum include MATIC, LINK, andUSDT.

What tranthidung 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.

[cryptoaddictchie]

So you mean the token are not relevant in blockchains

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.

[Cantsay]

• if that blockchain die, stop working, that token stop working too.

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.

[cryptoaddictchie]

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.

[Sunrise360]

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

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

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.

[GreatArkansas]

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

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

(....)

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.

[tranthidung]

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.

[Luffygroove]

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.

[touseefahmad1999]

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

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

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

[aysg76]

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.

[FirmWars]

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.

[touseefahmad1999]

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.

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