Launch a crypto token

Having a custom token or "crypto coin" for your project makes it possible to foster a community around your own ticker (such as $PROJECT). From there, you can build more incentives for participation, such as a DAO for governance, reward points for user engagement, or just a fun social banner (a "meme coin").

As such, a custom coin can help your project grow, without intermediaries.

Prerequisites

As always when working on a Web3 project, you first need a Web3 wallet:

About Wallets

The most well-known one is MetaMask:

How to use MetaMask

Make sure that it is connected to Chiliz Chain!

This wallet should have $CHZ tokens on it, which you can buy on any Web3 exchange (Coinbase, Kraken, Binance, Bitpanda, etc.).

Creating the token's smart contract

Chiliz Chain being an EVM-compatible blockchain, you can rely on contracts such as ERC-20 for your token contract needs. We recommend the community-vetted OpenZeppelin contract, which you can customize in their online wizard.

From that page, you can configure the contract for your own token:

• Give it a name and a symbol/ticker,

• Set an amount of token using the "Premint" field,

• Click on the "Mintable" feature to make your token mintable and ownable (and therefore, transferable).

• Uncheck the "Permit" feature for now.

As an example, here is a standard ERC-20 token contract that:

1. Is meant for an hypothetical $PROJECT token,

2. Mints a fixed supply of 1000 tokens to a recipient wallet (either your wallet, or a vault) upon deployment, owned by an initialOwner wallet (yours).

3. Includes standard ERC-20 functions like transfer, approve, and balanceOf,

4. Includes a restriction on who can mint it (=you, the owner) through the OpenZeppelin Ownable contract module.

// SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
// Compatible with OpenZeppelin Contracts ^5.5.0
pragma solidity ^0.8.24;

import {ERC20} from "@openzeppelin/contracts/token/ERC20/ERC20.sol";
import {Ownable} from "@openzeppelin/contracts/access/Ownable.sol";

contract MyOwnProjectToken is ERC20, Ownable {
    constructor(address recipient, address initialOwner)
        ERC20("My Own Project Token", "PROJECT")
        Ownable(initialOwner)
    {
        _mint(recipient, 1000 * 10 ** decimals());
    }

    function mint(address to, uint256 amount) public onlyOwner {
        _mint(to, amount);
    }
}

Chiliz Chain currently supports Solidity up to version 0.8.24, with the Shangai EVM.

Compiling, deploying & verifying

Now it's time to compile and deploy your contract. The OpenZeppelin wizard allows you to either open your custom contract right in Remix IDE, to download the file (as a single file or as a sample Hardhat or Foundry project), or to just copy it in the clipboard, ready for you to paste it in your development environment.

If you're new to this, we advise you to rely on Remix, for which we have steps here:

Deploy with Remix

Make sure to configure Remix to use the 0.8.24 version of the compiler, with the "shangai" EVM version.

Of note: Before you can deploy your contract, Remix will ask you for the recipient and initialOwner addresses. This is where you indicate the Web3 address of the wallet that will receive the initial supply, and your own address as owner of the token. A single address can be used for both, or a different addresses for each.

Once you have deployed the contract, you must verify it. Follow our guides, depending on your development environment:

Verify a Smart Contract

Importing the new token address in your wallet

Note that even if your contract is correctly deployed and verified, your wallet will not automatically display your new token. You must manually tell the wallet to track this specific asset.

This is a copy-paste job:

1. In Remix, go to the "Deployed Contracts" section, find your newly deployed contract, and click the "Copy to Clipboard" icon next to the contract name/address. It will start with 0x....

2. Now open your Web3 wallet, make sure you are connected to Chiliz Chain (or Spicy Testnet), click the "Tokens" tab, and from the "..." menu click the "Import tokens" option.

Then follow the steps:

1. Paste the token contract address in the importer text field.

2. Check that the wallet does detect the token's symbol and decimals (should be 18).

3. Click "Add Custom Token" then "Import Tokens".

Success! You should now see your token balance in your wallet list.

You are now ready to move funds or create a liquidity pool.

Giving Your Token a Personality

By default, your token will appear on DEXs and explorers as a generic placeholder icon with no social links.

Getting Whitelisted on DEXs

(coming soon)

Putting Your Infos on Explorers

(coming soon)

Creating the Liquidity Pool

Now that your token exists in your wallet, it is time to make it tradable. This is done through a liquidity pool (LP).

A liquidity pool is required to make your token tradable and to give it a price.

It works by holding a supply of your new token and a supply of $CHZ in a smart contract.

When users want to buy your token, they send $CHZ to the pool and receive your token in exchange. This allows trading to happen instantly without you having to act as a middleman.

As the wallet-owner who funded the pool, you earn a small fee from every trade. In effect, this turns your pool into a passive income stream, and ensures market stability for your community.

We will use FanX (also known as Kayen), the leading decentralized exchange (DEX) on Chiliz Chain.

They provide a complete set of instructions:

New Pool Creation | FanXfanx.gitbook.io

New Pool Creation | KAYEN Protocolkayen-protocol.gitbook.io

Once you have created the pool, it is time to add liquidity to it. Follow these guides:

Add liquidity | FanXfanx.gitbook.io

Add liquidity | KAYEN Protocolkayen-protocol.gitbook.io

Setting the initial price for your token

This is a critical step.

As the first liquidity provider, you decide the starting price of your token. The price is determined purely by the ratio of the two assets you deposit.

We advise you to follow this formula: Price of Your Token = Amount of CHZ / Amount of Your Token

For example, if you want 1 $PROJECT token to be worth 0.1 $CHZ, here is how to fill the Add Liquidity field in the FanX/Kayen interface:

• "Token A": Input 10,000 $PROJECT.

• "Token B": Input 1,000 $CHZ.

Result: The initial price is set to 0.1 $CHZ per $PROJECT token.

Sanity Checks

Is everything safe and secure? Are you sure? Time to kick the tires and make sure your token and pool are functioning correctly.

Perform a "Smoke Test" Swap

You should never assume the pool works just because the transaction didn't fail. You need to simulate a real user experience.

Smoke testing is meant to reveal simple failures that are severe enough to, for example, reject a project release.

To run a smoke test on your token, you must act as if you were a real user:

1. Create a second wallet (or use a friend's wallet) that has never interacted with your token (or it's smart contract). That wallet should have $CHZ already — if not, send some over.

2. From this wallet, try to buy your token (through FanX/Kayen, for instance), then check for errors:

   1. Does the swap fail?

   2. Is the "Price Impact" unreasonably high?

3. Now, attempt to sell the token you just bought: Swap 50% of the tokens back to $CHZ. Again, check for errors.

Some malicious tokens disable selling; you want to prove that yours doesn't.

Confirm Pricing & Arbitrage

When you first initialize a pool, you set the price manually. If you made a slight error in your calculation, FanX's arbitrage bots may have immediately bought tokens to correct the price to market value.

For instance, if you intended the price to be 0.1 $CHZ but it is now 0.0001 $CHZ, bots likely "sniped" your cheap liquidity.

Check the current price of your token on the DEX interface (FanX/Kayen). If the price is drastically wrong and you haven't locked liquidity yet, you can still Remove Liquidity (Pull LP), re-calculate your ratios, and re-create the pool.

Remove Liquidity | FanXfanx.gitbook.io

Do this now! You cannot fix this after you lock your liquidity.

Launch time!

Technically, your token is "launched" the moment the Liquidity Pool is active on FanX/Kayen.

However, in the crypto industry, a token launch is a coordinated event that combines technical details with social promotion.

A successful launch implies three phases:

• Community building,

• The launch itself,

• Post-launch momentum.

Community Building

The most successful projects build a community before the contract is deployed.

Establish you tokens online presence:

• Create a dedicated Telegram account: Telegram is the industry standard for real-time chat and "hype." Setup bots (like Rose or Combot) immediately to prevent spam.

• Create a dedicated Discord server: Discord is better for organized discussions, governance voting, and support tickets.

• X (Twitter): This is the public face of your project. This is where discovery happens.

Then, run an "Alpha" Phase, with the goal of gather real users in your Telegram who are waiting for the contract address:

• Tease the project concept 1–2 weeks before deployment.

• Release your "Whitepaper" or "Litepaper" (a simple document explaining the token's utility or meme value).

Crypto Whitepaper – How To Write It | BitbondBitbond

The launch itself

This is the most critical 30-minute window of your project's life. It is called a TGE, for Token Generation Event.

First, you need to coordinate the timing, and inform your community. Announce a specific date and time for the launch (e.g., "Trading starts Tuesday at 14:00 UTC"). Alternatively, you can do a "Stealth Launch": no timer, sudden announcement. This prevents bots from preparing, but generates less initial volume.

Is everyone ready and waiting? Time to release the token! The moment you add liquidity on Kayen/FanX, post the smart contract address and a Direct Buy Link in your official channels.

Security Warning

Scammers will instantly post fake contracts in your comments. You must explicitly pin the real address and mute the chat for 5 minutes so only your message is visible.

As part of the launch event, you can host a voice chat with your community, using Telegram or Discord. Hearing the developer's voice builds immense trust and calms nerves during initial volatility.

Post-Launch Momentum

Once the token is live and your community starts interacting, your role shifts from "Hype" to "Sustainment".

Here are some ideas:

• Have a trading competition: Partner with the DEX (Kayen/FanX) to host a volume competition, such as "The top 10 traders by volume this week win 100 $CHZ." This incentivizes volume, which ranks your token higher on trending lists.

• Engage with SportsFi communities and reach out to "Key Opinion Leaders" (KOLs) or influencers who specialize in Chiliz or Sports tokens.

• If you promised a feature tied to your token (e.g., a prediction game, a voting app, or NFT access), deliver the first version (MVP) within 1–2 weeks of launch to prove that you are not a vaporware project.

Next steps

Lock Your Liquidity (LP Tokens)

When you provide liquidity to the token's pool, you receive what is called "LP Tokens" (Liquidity Provider Tokens). Holding 100% of these tokens in your personal wallet signals a risk to investors, as it allows you to withdraw all trading liquidity at any time (a "rug pull").

To build community trust, you should lock your LP tokens in a smart contract for a fixed duration (e.g., 6 months or 1 year). This proves that the liquidity cannot be removed.

Since Chiliz Chain is EVM-compatible, you can:

• Check major locker platforms for Chiliz Chain support.

• Deploy a simple TokenTimelock contract (using OpenZeppelin standards), transfer your LP tokens to it, and verify the contract on Chiliscan. Share the contract link with your community as proof of safety.