Building an ERC ‐20 Cryptocurrency
Alexandros Dolgov · 2025
This chapter introduces us to one of the fundamental building blocks of the Ethereum ecosystem: the ERC-20 token standard. Through practical examples using both OpenZeppelin and manual implementation approaches, we'll learn how to create our own cryptocurrency token that adheres to the widely adopted ERC-20 standard. The ERC-20 standard resolves these challenges by providing a standardized interface that enables interoperability across the Ethereum ecosystem. The chapter walks us through building both an OpenZeppelin-based implementation and a manual implementation to ensure we understand both the practical and theoretical aspects of token creation. It provides the skills needed to create and deploy our own ERC-20 tokens, understanding both the convenience of using established libraries like OpenZeppelin and the underlying mechanics of the standard. These skills form the foundation for building more complex token-based applications and participating in the DeFi ecosystem.