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Deploy a new ICRC-1 token

Overview​

This guide will provide you a step-by-step walkthrough to deploy your own ICRC-1 token to the Internet Computer.

Deploy your ICRC-1 Ledger​

Step 1: First, you need to download the icrc-1 ledger image (.wasm file) and the icrc-1 ledger interface (.did file).​

export IC_VERSION=1612a202d030faa496e1694eed98be4179fca856
curl -o icrc1-ledger.wasm.gz "https://download.dfinity.systems/ic/$IC_VERSION/canisters/ic-icrc1-ledger.wasm.gz"
curl -o icrc1-ledger.did "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dfinity/ic/$IC_VERSION/rs/rosetta-api/icrc1/ledger/ledger.did"
gunzip icrc1-ledger.wasm.gz
info

The IC_VERSION variable is a commit hash from the http://github.com/dfinity/ic repository. To get the latest version, take the commit hash from the last blessed version from the releases dashboard. For newer releases, the deploy arguments for the ICRC1 ledger might change. To make sure that this guide works, please use the same IC_VERSION as specified in the above example.

Step 2: Make sure you use a recent version of the IC SDK.​

If you don’t have the IC SDK installed, follow instructions on the installing the IC SDK section to install it.

Step 3: Add the following canister definition to the dfx.json file in your project:​

{
  "canisters": {
    "icrc1-ledger": {
      "type": "custom",
      "wasm": "icrc1-ledger.wasm",
      "candid": "icrc1-ledger.did"
    }
  }
}

Step 4: Deploy the ledger canister to the IC:​

# Change the variable to "ic" to deploy the ledger on the mainnet.
export NETWORK=local

# Change the variable to the principal that can mint and burn tokens.
export MINTER_PRINCIPAL=$(dfx identity get-principal)

# Change the variable to the principal that controls archive canisters.
export ARCHIVE_CONTROLLER=$(dfx identity get-principal)

export TOKEN_NAME="My Token"
export TOKEN_SYMBOL=XMTK

dfx deploy --network ${NETWORK} icrc1-ledger --argument '(variant { Init = 
      record {
        token_name = "'${TOKEN_NAME}'";
        token_symbol = "'${TOKEN_SYMBOL}'";
        minting_account = record { owner = principal "'${MINTER_PRINCIPAL}'";};
        initial_balances = vec {};
        metadata = vec {};
        transfer_fee = 10;
        archive_options = record {
          trigger_threshold = 2000;
          num_blocks_to_archive = 1000;
          controller_id = principal "'${ARCHIVE_CONTROLLER}'";
        }
}})'

Replace these variables with the following values:

  • the NETWORK is the url or name of the replica where you want to deploy the ledger (e.g. use ic for the mainnet).

  • the TOKEN_NAME is the human-readable name of your new token.

  • the TOKEN_SYMBOL is the ticker symbol of your new token.

  • the MINTER_PRINCIPAL is the Principal responsible for minting and burning tokens.

  • the ARCHIVE_CONTROLLER is the controller principal of the archive canisters.

info

When you deploy on the mainnet:

  • Make sure that the ledger canister has plenty of cycles. The canister will need cycles to spawn new archives. The exact number of cycles attached to create_canister messages is controlled by the cycles_for_archive_creation option.

Step 5: Check that the Ledger canister is healthy. Execute the following command:​

dfx canister --network ${NETWORK} call icrc1-ledger icrc1_symbol

The output should look like the following:

(record { symbol = "XMTK" })

Your new token is deployed and ready to be used.