Today we bring to you the light-token standard. A token standard with mint and token accounts equivalent to SPL, but without rent-exemption.
From now on, you can create mints and tokens:
- at a fraction of the cost,
- with improved performance, and
- with similar developer experience.
Over 20k mint accounts are created daily. Many are rarely accessed, yet still lock up SOL due to rent-exemption. To truly scale Solana to 1 billion+ users, the cost to store data must be near zero.
Mints and Tokens without Rent-Exemption
| Creation Cost | SPL | Light |
|---|---|---|
| Mint Account | ~1,500,000 lamports | 15,000 lamports |
| Token Account | ~2,000,000 lamports | ~17,000 lamports |
Interoperability with Existing SPL Tokens
Light-token accounts can hold tokens from light, SPL, or Token 2022 mints. Convert existing SPL tokens to light-tokens and back.
This is implemented by the light-token-sdk, following similar patterns to SPL.
Light-Token Program Features
Mint Accounts with Token Metadata
- Light-token mint accounts are compressed accounts and rent-free.
- Tokens created from light-token mints are light-tokens.
Token Accounts with Pay-as-you-go Rent
Light-token accounts don't require the creator to pay rent-exemption. Instead, rent is paid over time when accounts are accessed.
Extensions
Coming soon: MetadataPointer, TokenMetadata, TransferFeeConfig, TransferHook, and more.
Integrate with Your Application
We have toolkits for Payments, Wallets, DEXs, and Launchpads.
What's Next?
Light-token is live on Devnet. Mainnet anticipated Q1 2026.
Get started and send us your feedback!