What is the ERC-20 token standard?

ERC-20 is Ethereum's fungible token standard. It defines six required functions — totalSupply, balanceOf, transfer, approve, transferFrom, allowance — that every wallet and DEX knows how to call. SHIB, PEPE, FLOKI, and nearly every Ethereum meme coin are ERC-20 tokens.

How much are Ethereum gas fees for launching a token?

It depends on congestion. A contract deployment can run $50-300+; a Uniswap swap often sits in the $10-50 range when the chain is busy, and sub-$5 during quiet windows. Check Etherscan Gas Tracker before you sign anything. If your token doesn't need mainnet credibility, an L2 (Base, Arbitrum, Optimism) is 10-100x cheaper.

How can I avoid smart contract vulnerabilities?

Don't write the contract from scratch. Start from OpenZeppelin templates — they're the most audited ERC-20 code on the planet. Before mainnet: test on Sepolia, get an audit if you're raising real money, verify source on Etherscan, renounce ownership, and lock LP. The classic bugs are reentrancy, hidden mint functions, and honeypot transfer restrictions.

Should I launch on Ethereum mainnet or a Layer 2?

Mainnet buys you the deepest liquidity, the most credibility, and institutional access — at the cost of gas. L2s (Base, Arbitrum, Optimism) inherit Ethereum's security but run 10-100x cheaper thanks to post-Dencun blob fees. For meme coins specifically, Base has been the winner because of the direct line to Coinbase.

Chain Deep Dive

Ethereum Meme Coin Guide

Shipping a meme coin on Ethereum — ERC-20, what the gas actually costs, how to list on Uniswap, and when you should just use an L2.

Why Ethereum for Meme Coins?

Ethereum is the original smart contract platform, and the one institutions actually touch. Gas is the price of admission. If you're paying it, you're buying credibility, depth, and the largest holder base in crypto.

Most-Audited Chain

Ten years of adversarial pressure on the same base layer. No chain-level exploit has landed. Your contract is the weak point — not Ethereum.

Deepest Liquidity

Billions of dollars in Uniswap and Curve pools. SHIB, PEPE, MOG, SPX — the big ERC-20 meme coins all launched here and still trade here.

The trade-off: A Uniswap swap runs $10-50 during busy periods and rarely dips below $2-5. If you're trading $100 positions, that math kills you. Size up or move to an L2.

ERC-20 Token Standard

ERC-20 is the interface every Ethereum wallet, DEX, and explorer agrees on. Six function signatures, nothing exotic. Your meme coin is an ERC-20 token — which is why it works in MetaMask out of the box.

Required ERC-20 Functions

totalSupply() → uint256

balanceOf(address) → uint256

transfer(address, uint256) → bool

approve(address, uint256) → bool

transferFrom(address, address, uint256) → bool

allowance(address, address) → uint256

Popular ERC-20 Meme Coins

• Shiba Inu (SHIB) - The second-biggest meme coin after DOGE. Launched 2020 as a self-styled "Dogecoin killer." Built out its own L2 (Shibarium) and DeFi stack.
• Pepe (PEPE) - Quiet April 2023 launch, 7,000% in its first month, multi-billion market cap. Still one of the largest ERC-20 meme coins.
• Mog Coin (MOG) - Joy cat meme with pit viper sunglasses. Culture-heavy community, Ethereum-native.
• SPX6900 (SPX) - Parody of the S&P 500, with a cult community that behaves like one. Bridged to Solana, but mostly trades on Ethereum.
• FLOKI - Named after Elon Musk's Shiba Inu. Built out its own ecosystem (CEX listings, metaverse, the works).
• HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu - HarryPotterObamaSonic10Inu. The name is the joke.
• Non-Playable Coin (NPC) - Token for the NPC meme. Deliberately unserious.
• Rekt (REKT) - Meme token about getting rekt. Self-aware.

Gas Optimization Strategies

Gas is the only real cost on Ethereum. Three ways to pay less:

1. Deploy in quiet windows

Saturday and Sunday UTC mornings are usually the cheapest. Gas tracker is at etherscan.io/gastracker — wait for a dip under 10-15 gwei before you sign.

2. Keep the contract boring

Every extra modifier, hook, and storage slot costs gas at deploy. Use OpenZeppelin ERC-20 as-is, skip the reflection/tax meta, and you'll deploy for a fraction of what a custom contract costs.

3. Use an L2

Base, Arbitrum, and Optimism settle to Ethereum and inherit its security. Post-Dencun blob fees pushed L2 costs down to single-digit cents per swap. Base in particular dominates meme coin activity.

Listing on Uniswap

Uniswap is where Ethereum meme coins go to trade. Any serious launch seeds liquidity here first.

Uniswap Listing Steps

Deploy ERC-20 Contract

Deploy the contract, then verify the source on Etherscan so holders can read the code.

Add Liquidity on Uniswap

Pair against ETH or USDC. Plan for $5-10k minimum — thinner pools get sandwiched.

Lock Liquidity

Send LP tokens to Unicrypt or Team Finance. A public lock is the difference between "trustworthy launch" and "obvious rug."

Live on Uniswap

Token is tradable. Share the Etherscan + Uniswap links — not a Telegram invite.

Smart Contract Security

Smart contract bugs don't refund you. If you're launching real money through a contract, every item below is non-negotiable. Broader investor-side risk playbook lives in our risk management guide.

Critical Security Checklist

✓ Audit from a known firm if you're touching >$100k — CertiK, Trail of Bits, OpenZeppelin audits.
✓ Start from OpenZeppelin ERC-20 contracts. Don't hand-roll token math.
✓ Renounce ownership on-chain after launch. No takesies-backsies.
✓ Lock LP for 1+ year with Unicrypt or Team Finance. Unlocked LP is a red flag.
✓ Verify source on Etherscan. Unverified contracts don't get trust.
✓ Full dry run on Sepolia before mainnet. Gas previews lie about logic bugs.

Common Smart Contract Vulnerabilities

Reentrancy Attacks: Another contract calls back into yours before state finishes updating, and drains the pool. The DAO hack in 2016 was this. Use checks-effects-interactions and wrap with OpenZeppelin's ReentrancyGuard.

Honeypot Contracts: You can buy. You can't sell. Hidden restrictions in the transfer function block exits to everyone except the deployer. If the contract isn't verified on Etherscan, assume honeypot until proven otherwise.

Hidden Mint Functions: Owner mints unlimited tokens and dumps on the pool. Read the contract — if `mint()` still exists and ownership isn't renounced, the supply is whatever the dev wants it to be.

Proxy Contract Risks: Upgradeable proxy patterns let the owner swap the contract logic later. Useful for DeFi. Terrible for meme coins — it means the code you audited today might not be the code running tomorrow. Ship immutable, renounce ownership, and you remove the attack surface entirely.