Editorial note: This is general educational information for overseas readers. It is not investment, tax, legal or custody advice. Rules, network conditions and service availability differ by country; verify current terms with an official source before acting.
What ERC-20 standardizes
ERC-20 defines a common set of functions and events for fungible tokens, including balances, transfers and allowances. It does not certify a token’s issuer, reserves, code quality or legal status. Two assets can use the same ticker while living at unrelated contract addresses, so the ticker alone is never an identification check.
Contract address is the identifier
Copy the token contract address from the project’s official documentation or a reputable block explorer. Compare the complete address, network and token name in the wallet before adding a custom asset. A look-alike address in a message or search result can point to a worthless or malicious token. Treat an unsolicited “claim” page that asks for an approval as a phishing attempt.
Decimals change the display
The decimals field controls how a wallet displays the integer stored by the contract. It does not change the underlying supply and does not make a token more valuable. When reconciling a statement, record the raw amount, decimals and contract address. This prevents a display mismatch from being mistaken for a missing transfer.
Transfers and allowances
- Confirm the destination network supports the token and the recipient’s service.
- Review the recipient address character by character and send a small test when practical.
- For approvals, inspect the spender, token and allowance amount; revoke permissions that are no longer needed.
- Save the transaction hash, receipt status and block explorer link.
Wallet interfaces can cache token symbols or prices. For accounting and tax records, use the contract address and on-chain receipt as the source of truth, then apply local professional advice.