Why you can't copy an ERC-20 or ERC-721 contract directly onto Solana: the chains use different architectural patterns and metadata responsibilities, and that changes how you design minting, transfers, and tests.
What you'll learn
In this lesson you'll get a clear conceptual map between common ERC token standards and their Solana equivalents. We'll explain how ERC-20 and ERC-721 concepts translate to Solana's fungible and non-fungible models, describe the role of a reusable token program (e.g., the SPL Token Program) and the Mint vs token account split, and highlight why Associated Token Accounts matter for client-side flows. You'll also learn practical tradeoffs when moving from per-contract logic to program-controlled mints, and how those choices affect deployment, account layout, and testing with tools like Anchor.
Who this is for
This lesson is aimed at intermediate Web3 developers who have experience with Ethereum token contracts and deployment pipelines and are migrating implementations and tests to Solana.
Key topics covered
- Conceptual mapping: ERC-20 → fungible token model on Solana, ERC-721 → non-fungible object model
- SPL Token Program, Mint accounts, and token (associated) accounts
- How metadata responsibilities differ between Ethereum contracts and Solana programs
- Associated Token Accounts: what they represent and how to manage them
- Tradeoffs of per-contract tokens vs reusable program-based tokens