In this guide, I will show you how to create your own ERC-20 token on the ZkSync Era testnet using Hardhat and the OpenZeppelin smart contract library.

We will have a full-fledged ERC-20 token. It can be added to Metamask and sent to other addresses like any other tokens.

All work will be done in Windows.

You must have a wallet with some ETH balance on the ZkSync Era testnet.

Fund your wallet in faucet https://goerli.portal.zksync.io/faucet or transfer ETH from the Goerli network.

Also, you must have a private key from the wallet, we will use it in the code.

Download and install Node.Js from here https://nodejs.org/en

Check that NodeJs is installed. To do this, open the Windows command prompt (in the Search menu, type cmd and select Command Prompt). At the command promt, enter:

node -v

If Node Js installed normally, the version will be output:

Now install Yarn. To do this, on the command line, enter

npm install --global yarn

Then to check, enter the command:

yarn -v

If Yarn installed normally, the version will be output:

We will take the necessary files from my repository ZkSync contracts examples

Download the archive with files https://github.com/Sr20dem/zksync-contracts-examples/archive/refs/heads/main.zip and unpack.

While in the zksync-contracts-examples-main folder, type cmd in the address bar and hit enter to open a terminal in that folder:

Terminal will open

Initialize:

yarn init -y

Add the required packages:

yarn add -D typescript ts-node @types/node ethers@^5.7.2 zksync-web3 @ethersproject/hash @ethersproject/web hardhat @matterlabs/hardhat-zksync-solc @matterlabs/hardhat-zksync-deploy

Add the OpenZeppelin library:

npm install @openzeppelin/contracts

Do not close the terminal and proceed to edit files.

The contracts folder contains the MyZkSincToken.sol file. This is a solidity file with token parameters. Open it with any text editor and change these 3 values to whatever you need:

• ticker MZT

• name MyZkSincToken

• quantity (1000000)

After that, save the file.

The deploy folder contains the deploy.ts file. This is a file with instructions on how Hardhat will deploy the smart contract. Open it with any text editor and change <WALLET-PRIVATE-KEY> to your wallet private key.

After that save the file.

Return to the terminal and type:

yarn hardhat compile

This command will compile and prepare the MyZkSyncToken.sol file for deployment. The artifacts-zk and cache-zk folders will be created in the main folder

Type in terminal:

yarn hardhat deploy-zksync

The process of deploying the token to the network will begin. Deployment transaction fee will be charged. The commission is usually small, but during a heavy load on the network it can reach 0.03 ETH. If the deployment is successful, a message will appear in the terminal about the successful creation of a smart contract and its address will be displayed:

You can view your token in the explorer by entering the address of the generated token.

You can copy the address of the contract and paste it into Metamask:

Good luck with smart contracts!