Crypto glossary

Minting

Minting is the creation of new token units, either by a smart contract following set rules or by an issuer with permission to create them. For fiat-backed stablecoins, new units are usually minted after reserves are deposited with the issuer.

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How minting works

A token contract keeps a ledger of balances and a total supply. Minting adds new units to someone's balance and raises the total supply. Who may do this is written into the contract: it might be anyone who pays a fee, only a specific admin address, or only another contract, such as a lending protocol or a bridge.

Native coins are created differently. New bitcoins, for example, come from the block reward rather than from a mint function, though people sometimes use the word loosely for that too.

Minting in different contexts

NFTs: minting usually means creating a new NFT from a collection, often by paying a set price during a mint window. Stablecoins: an issuer such as Circle mints new USDC when a customer deposits dollars, and burns units when they are redeemed. Wrapped tokens: a bridge or custodian mints wrapped bitcoin on Ethereum when real BTC is locked. Liquid staking: a protocol mints a receipt token when you deposit coins to stake.

An example

Say a business deposits 1,000,000 US dollars with a stablecoin issuer. After checks, the issuer mints 1,000,000 stablecoin units to the business's address. If the reserves are real and redeemable, every unit stays backed; if minting ever runs ahead of reserves, the backing is weakened.

Why mint rights matter

Whoever can mint can dilute everyone else. An unrestricted mint function controlled by one key is a major risk: if the team or an attacker abuses it, new units flood the market and push the price down. Several DeFi hacks have involved attackers exploiting a flaw to mint tokens out of nothing. Before holding a token, it is worth checking whether supply can grow and who controls that.

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Frequently asked questions

What does it mean to mint an NFT?

It means creating a new token in an NFT collection and recording it to your address, usually by calling the collection's mint function and paying gas.

Is minting the same as mining?

No. Mining is how proof-of-work blockchains add blocks and issue native coins. Minting is creating token units through a contract or an authorized issuer.

Can anyone mint more of a token?

Only if the contract allows it. Many tokens restrict minting to an admin, a protocol, or no one at all after launch.

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All glossary terms · Educational reference only — not investment, legal, tax or financial advice.