CASE A: Have you ever been in a situation where a particular token was sent to you but you couldn’t see it in your wallet?

CASE B: Ever been in a situation where an Airdrop which you accurately and fully participated in was distributed but you never received? Really?

Ok, this thread is specially made for you, sit tight an enjoy the ride. There’s no big deal in the former, as the problem can easily be fixed. The latter on the other hand, is kind of a major problem, because that particular chance has been missed, unless perhaps, the project decide to have a second round. Don’t worry the fix will be treated later on in this thread and you’ll fully understand how to position yourself. The concept of CUSTOM TOKENS brings about an interaction between a wallet/wallet address and a server node built on a particular blockchain network. These are not native to the blockchain so, it requires some actions from the user-end. In as much as native-chain wallets and multi-chain wallets are integrating these server-nodes into their wallets to enhance automatic interaction between the wallet and the server, some just require manual inputs from the user. Adding of Custom Tokens is done using CONTRACT ADDRESSES(CAs) (this is like a general term, but we’d be speaking on some specifics later on….). This contract address refers to the address location of the actual token contract that manages the logic for the tokens. It is like a key-pass into linking to the node of the particular blockchain your wallet is trying to associate with.

!!!..FIXES TO THE ABOVE CASES..!!!

FIXING CASE A: The FIX for CASE A is quite easy, the token has already been sent to you, it is already in your wallet but just not visible. What to do? Get the contract address of the token, then manually add it to your wallet….BOOM, your token is now visible...this is mostly done for the ETH, BSC, FTM, ICP blockchains, where gas fees are not required for adding of CAs.

FIXING CASE B: This is actually a case of missed opportunity. Here, CA needs to be added before hand, it needs to be added before the token is sent, otherwise, the token will not be received (unless the particular projects decides to pay for you and do it for you). Adding of CA in this case is like creating a pathway for the token to flow into your wallet, without that channel, the token will not enter your wallet. Gas fee is required to carry out this action. This is mostly seen in XRP, ALGO, SOL, HEDERA blockchains etc.

SPECIFIC NAMES FOR CA IN VARIOUS BLOCKCHAINS:

ETH/BSC ==> CONTRACT ADDRESS

ALGO ==> ASA ID

XRP ==> TRUSTLINE

ICP ==> CANISTER ID

HEDERA ==> TOKEN ID

SOL ==> MINT DETAILS (contains CA, name and symbol)...etc

Watch out for my next article on how to get CONTRACT ADDRESSES