How to issue assets on the Stellar Network

One of the most powerful features of the Stellar network is the ability to issue custom assets — tokens that represent anything from fiat currencies and commodities to loyalty points and digital collectibles. In this guide, we walk through the process step by step.

Prerequisites

To issue an asset on Stellar, you need: a funded Stellar account (the issuing account), a distribution account, and access to the Stellar SDK or Stellar Laboratory. You will also need to set up a trustline from the distribution account to the issuing account.

Step 1: Create the Issuing Account

The issuing account is the source of your asset. Every unit of your asset that exists on the network was created by this account. It is best practice to keep the issuing account's secret key offline and only use it to issue new tokens.

Step 2: Set Up a Trustline

Before an account can hold your asset, it must establish a trustline. A trustline is an explicit opt-in that says "I trust this issuer and am willing to hold their asset." This is done using the Change Trust operation.

Step 3: Issue the Asset

Once the trustline is established, the issuing account can send the asset to the distribution account using a Payment operation. From there, the distribution account can send the asset to any account that has established a trustline.

Resources

[1] How to Issue an Asset — Stellar Developers

[2] Stellar Laboratory — Test your transactions