ERC-20 token features chooser guide

Capability map

Feature by feature

Burnable destroys supply for deflationary stories — meaningful only with real demand. Mintable funds future issuance at the price of ongoing trust in mint holders. Pausable is an emergency switch for early life. Max transaction and max wallet slow concentration — see the limits guide. Blacklists react to abuse; whitelists gate access pre-launch — see the lists guide. Trading fees fund growth per trade — see the tax guide. Anti-bot blunts sniping in opening blocks; auto-liquidity builds depth from volume.

Minimal sets by goal

• Simple memecoin: fixed supply, nothing else — cheapest and clearest.
• Fair launch: max transaction + max wallet with a published loosening plan.
• Funded project: mintable treasury or modest trading fees with public wallets.
• Cautious team: pausable plus verification, renounce when stable.

Anti-patterns to avoid

• Everything-on builds: maximum attack surface, minimum clarity.
• Maximal taxes with vague destinations: extraction optics.
• Whitelist with no expiry plan: permanent gatekeeping.
• Mint rights on a hot key with no cap: infinite-dilution risk.
• Pausable with anonymous owner and no renouncement plan.

Feature mapping

Simple fixed-supply tokens need little beyond the base; growing projects add mint, pause and limits at 0.005 ETH each; fee-funded launches add trading apparatus at 0.01 ETH each. Map backward from required features to their total — never forward from budget to features, which produces underpowered launches. The builder shows the running total live as toggles change.

Publishing for verifiers

Format your published configuration for hostile review: every claim paired with its evidence link (address → explorer, supply → holders tab, fees → verified source lines, ownership → multisig address). Skeptics who can verify in clicks become advocates; skeptics met with adjectives stay skeptics. Publish for the hardest reader, not the friendliest.

Settings review cadence

Revisit configuration quarterly: are limits still appropriate for current distribution, are fees still justified by delivered value, can any powers now be renounced? Publish each review's outcome — continued, loosened, or renounced — with reasoning. Living governance documented regularly beats launch-and-forget settings defended never.

Evolving the configuration story

As launches mature, revisit early choices publicly: limits that can loosen, powers that can renounce, fees that can simplify. Each evolution announced with rationale demonstrates living governance rather than abandoned settings. The configuration story should grow more boring over time — excitement belongs in products and communities, never in contract powers.

Documenting your configuration

Screenshot the final summary and store it with the deployment receipt, verification link and rationale notes for each enabled feature. This pack serves future you (why was that limit 3%?), auditors, listing applications and curious holders. Ten minutes of documentation at launch saves hours of reconstruction later — memory fades, screenshots don't.

Review checklist before signing

1. Each enabled feature maps to a documented reason.
2. Taxes modest, fixed, routing to verified wallets.
3. Limits sized for real trades, with a loosening plan.
4. Ownership and mint rights held accountably.
5. Source will verify; settings are published day one.

Combinations that work — and their limits

Limits plus verification make the classic fair-launch stack: constrained distribution anyone can inspect. Fees plus auto-liquidity make the funded-growth stack: volume sustains depth. Minting plus pausing make the managed-treasury stack: flexibility with an emergency brake. Each stack's limit is the same — features shape mechanics, never demand, value or trust. Those come from execution and communication.

How features affect price

Your total is the 0.02 ETH starting fee plus per-feature rates, each shown on its card and itemized in the summary. Features also raise gas slightly (more bytecode). Minimal sets are cheaper twice — and safer once.

Common questions

Related guides

• All features
• Supply guide
• Tax guide