# Tutorial: Launch Your First Token on Verus

Create your own cryptocurrency token on testnet — step by step, from scratch.

Estimated time: 30–45 minutes
Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
What you'll learn: What tokens are, why you'd create one, and exactly how to launch and mint your own.

A token on Verus is a custom currency that lives on the Verus blockchain. Unlike starting a whole new blockchain, a token runs on top of Verus — lightweight and instant.

Why would you create a token?

• 🎮 In-game currency for a project
• 🏢 Organization membership tokens
• 💰 Loyalty or reward points
• 🤖 Platform credits (like API usage tokens)
• 🧪 Experimentation and learning

On Verus, tokens are real DeFi primitives — they can be part of liquidity baskets, converted via on-chain AMMs, and bridged to other chains.

• Verus CLI installed and synced to testnet
• A registered VerusID (this becomes your token name) — see Your First VerusID tutorial
• ~200 VRSCTEST in your wallet (currency definition fee)
• The VerusID must NOT already have a currency defined on it

./verus -testnet getinfo

Confirm blocks ≈ headers and connections > 0.

./verus -testnet getidentity "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME@"

What you should see: Your identity details. If Identity not found, create one first.

./verus -testnet getcurrency "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME"

What you should see: Cannot find currency. If it returns data, this identity already has a currency — use a different one.

./verus -testnet getbalance

You need ~200 VRSCTEST for the definition fee.

Before defining, decide on two key settings:

For this tutorial, we'll use 2 (centralized) so you can mint tokens.

For this tutorial, we'll use 32 (simple token).

Here's the command. Replace YOUR_TOKEN_NAME with your VerusID name:

./verus -testnet definecurrency '{
  "name": "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME",
  "options": 32,
  "proofprotocol": 2,
  "idregistrationfees": 0.01,
  "idreferrallevels": 0,
  "preallocations": [{"YOUR_TOKEN_NAME@": 1000}]
}'

Let's say your VerusID is mytoken@:

./verus -testnet definecurrency '{
  "name": "mytoken",
  "options": 32,
  "proofprotocol": 2,
  "idregistrationfees": 0.01,
  "idreferrallevels": 0,
  "preallocations": [{"mytoken@": 1000}]
}'

What you should see:

{
  "txid": "abc123def456789...",
  "tx": {
    ...
  },
  "hex": "0400008085..."
}

📝 Save the txid — you'll use it to check confirmation.

./verus -testnet gettransaction "YOUR_DEFINITION_TXID"

Wait until "confirmations" is at least 1 (~1 minute) for the tx to be mined. Then wait a minimum of 20 blocks (~20 minutes) for the currency to become active. During this launch period, preconversions can occur for basket currencies.

💡 Note: In some versions, definecurrency may return a hex that needs to be broadcast separately via sendrawtransaction. If definecurrency returns a txid directly, it auto-broadcast. If it only returns hex, run: ./verus -testnet sendrawtransaction "THE_HEX"

./verus -testnet getcurrency "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME"

What you should see:

{
  "name": "mytoken",
  "version": 1,
  "options": 32,
  "proofprotocol": 2,
  "idregistrationfees": 0.01000000,
  "currencyid": "iABC123...",
  "supply": 1000.00000000,
  ...
}

🎉 Your token exists! Notice supply: 1000 from the preallocation.

./verus -testnet getcurrencybalance "*" "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME"

What you should see:

{
  "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME": 1000.00000000
}

You have 1000 of your tokens from the preallocation.

./verus -testnet sendcurrency "*" '[{
  "address": "RECIPIENT_ADDRESS_OR_ID",
  "amount": 10,
  "currency": "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME"
}]'

Example:

./verus -testnet sendcurrency "*" '[{
  "address": "<R-address>",
  "amount": 10,
  "currency": "mytoken"
}]'

What you should see:

opid-a1b2c3d4-e5f6-7890-...

That's an operation ID — the transaction is processing.

Since you used proofprotocol: 2, you can create new tokens anytime:

./verus -testnet sendcurrency "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME@" '[{
  "address": "YOUR_ADDRESS",
  "amount": 5000,
  "currency": "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME",
  "mintnew": true
}]'

Example:

./verus -testnet sendcurrency "mytoken@" '[{
  "address": "<R-address>",
  "amount": 5000,
  "currency": "mytoken",
  "mintnew": true
}]'

⚠️ Important: The fromaddress (first parameter) must be the token's controlling identity ("mytoken@"), not "*". Only the identity that owns the currency can mint.

Check the new supply:

./verus -testnet getcurrency "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME" | grep supply

What you should see:

"supply": 6000.00000000

(1000 preallocation + 5000 minted = 6000)

Remove tokens from circulation permanently:

./verus -testnet sendcurrency "*" '[{
  "address": "YOUR_ADDRESS",
  "amount": 100,
  "currency": "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME",
  "burn": true
}]'

Supply decreases by the burned amount.

You now have a fully functional cryptocurrency token that can:

• ✅ Be sent between any Verus addresses or VerusIDs
• ✅ Be minted (new supply) by you at any time
• ✅ Be burned (reducing supply)
• ✅ Act as a namespace for sub-identities
• ✅ Be used in DeFi baskets and conversions (advanced)

Want a token backed by reserves with automatic market-making? Change your definition:

./verus -testnet definecurrency '{
  "name": "YOUR_TOKEN_NAME",
  "options": 33,
  "currencies": ["VRSCTEST"],
  "weights": [1.0],
  "initialsupply": 100000,
  "initialcontributions": [1000],
  "idregistrationfees": 1,
  "idreferrallevels": 0
}'

This creates a token backed by VRSCTEST reserves with built-in conversion.

• Definition fee: ~200 VRSC (real money!)
• Test on testnet first — always
• Currency definitions are permanent — there's no undo
• Choose your name carefully — it represents your project forever

• Manage SubIDs under your token namespace
• Explore sendcurrency for conversions and cross-chain transfers
• Read about fractional basket currencies for DeFi

Last updated: 2026-02-07