Easiest Tutorial to Make a Cryptocurrency

It is super easy to create an Ethereum token cryptocurrency. Well first, what is an Ethereum Token? Ethereum is a blockchain, and it was constructed so that anything can be published to it, not just a single cryptocurrency like most other blockchains like Bitcoin. With the Ethereum blockchain, we are able to create our own cryptocurrency.

Step 1: Download the Ethereum wallet. Scroll down the page until you see the download button, and select it. Okay, so this download will take a very long time since the wallet must download the entire history of Ethereum, so you will need to be patient, for it can take multiple days. Also, it frequently crashes and you will need to restart the application once in a while.

Step 2: Transfer money to your wallet. In order to do this, you will need to make a new wallet, put in your password, and then copy the address it gives you. Or if you would like to use fake Ether, in the upper left hand corner, click on "Develop" and then "Networks" and then "Ropsten." If you use this method, you will need to get some test Ether from http://faucet.ropsten.be:3001/.

Step 3: Click "Contract" in the upper right-hand corner. Then click "Deploy New Contract" Leave the first two fields to default, and then for the large box copy this code:

pragma solidity ^0.4.18;
contract owned {
    address public owner;

    function owned() public {
        owner = msg.sender;
    }

    modifier onlyOwner {
        require(msg.sender == owner);
        _;
    }

    function transferOwnership(address newOwner) onlyOwner public {
        owner = newOwner;
    }
}

interface tokenRecipient { function receiveApproval(address _from, uint256 _value, address _token, bytes _extraData) public; }

contract TokenERC20 {
    // Public variables of the token
    string public name;
    string public symbol;
    uint8 public decimals = 18;
    // 18 decimals is the strongly suggested default, avoid changing it
    uint256 public totalSupply;

    // This creates an array with all balances
    mapping (address => uint256) public balanceOf;
    mapping (address => mapping (address => uint256)) public allowance;

    // This generates a public event on the blockchain that will notify clients
    event Transfer(address indexed from, address indexed to, uint256 value);

    // This notifies clients about the amount burnt
    event Burn(address indexed from, uint256 value);

    /**
     * Constrctor function
     *
     * Initializes contract with initial supply tokens to the creator of the contract
     */
    function TokenERC20(
        uint256 initialSupply,
        string tokenName,
        string tokenSymbol
    ) public {
        totalSupply = initialSupply * 10 ** uint256(decimals);  // Update total supply with the decimal amount
        balanceOf[msg.sender] = totalSupply;                // Give the creator all initial tokens
        name = tokenName;                                   // Set the name for display purposes
        symbol = tokenSymbol;                               // Set the symbol for display purposes
    }

    /**
     * Internal transfer, only can be called by this contract
     */
    function _transfer(address _from, address _to, uint _value) internal {
        // Prevent transfer to 0x0 address. Use burn() instead
        require(_to != 0x0);
        // Check if the sender has enough
        require(balanceOf[_from] >= _value);
        // Check for overflows
        require(balanceOf[_to] + _value > balanceOf[_to]);
        // Save this for an assertion in the future
        uint previousBalances = balanceOf[_from] + balanceOf[_to];
        // Subtract from the sender
        balanceOf[_from] -= _value;
        // Add the same to the recipient
        balanceOf[_to] += _value;
        Transfer(_from, _to, _value);
        // Asserts are used to use static analysis to find bugs in your code. They should never fail
        assert(balanceOf[_from] + balanceOf[_to] == previousBalances);
    }

    /**
     * Transfer tokens
     *
     * Send `_value` tokens to `_to` from your account
     *
     * @param _to The address of the recipient
     * @param _value the amount to send
     */
    function transfer(address _to, uint256 _value) public {
        _transfer(msg.sender, _to, _value);
    }

    /**
     * Transfer tokens from other address
     *
     * Send `_value` tokens to `_to` in behalf of `_from`
     *
     * @param _from The address of the sender
     * @param _to The address of the recipient
     * @param _value the amount to send
     */
    function transferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint256 _value) public returns (bool success) {
        require(_value <= allowance[_from][msg.sender]);     // Check allowance
        allowance[_from][msg.sender] -= _value;
        _transfer(_from, _to, _value);
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Set allowance for other address
     *
     * Allows `_spender` to spend no more than `_value` tokens in your behalf
     *
     * @param _spender The address authorized to spend
     * @param _value the max amount they can spend
     */
    function approve(address _spender, uint256 _value) public
        returns (bool success) {
        allowance[msg.sender][_spender] = _value;
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Set allowance for other address and notify
     *
     * Allows `_spender` to spend no more than `_value` tokens in your behalf, and then ping the contract about it
     *
     * @param _spender The address authorized to spend
     * @param _value the max amount they can spend
     * @param _extraData some extra information to send to the approved contract
     */
    function approveAndCall(address _spender, uint256 _value, bytes _extraData)
        public
        returns (bool success) {
        tokenRecipient spender = tokenRecipient(_spender);
        if (approve(_spender, _value)) {
            spender.receiveApproval(msg.sender, _value, this, _extraData);
            return true;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Destroy tokens
     *
     * Remove `_value` tokens from the system irreversibly
     *
     * @param _value the amount of money to burn
     */
    function burn(uint256 _value) public returns (bool success) {
        require(balanceOf[msg.sender] >= _value);   // Check if the sender has enough
        balanceOf[msg.sender] -= _value;            // Subtract from the sender
        totalSupply -= _value;                      // Updates totalSupply
        Burn(msg.sender, _value);
        return true;
    }

    /**
     * Destroy tokens from other account
     *
     * Remove `_value` tokens from the system irreversibly on behalf of `_from`.
     *
     * @param _from the address of the sender
     * @param _value the amount of money to burn
     */
    function burnFrom(address _from, uint256 _value) public returns (bool success) {
        require(balanceOf[_from] >= _value);                // Check if the targeted balance is enough
        require(_value <= allowance[_from][msg.sender]);    // Check allowance
        balanceOf[_from] -= _value;                         // Subtract from the targeted balance
        allowance[_from][msg.sender] -= _value;             // Subtract from the sender's allowance
        totalSupply -= _value;                              // Update totalSupply
        Burn(_from, _value);
        return true;
    }
}

/******************************************/
/*       ADVANCED TOKEN STARTS HERE       */
/******************************************/

contract MyAdvancedToken is owned, TokenERC20 {

    uint256 public sellPrice;
    uint256 public buyPrice;

    mapping (address => bool) public frozenAccount;

    /* This generates a public event on the blockchain that will notify clients */
    event FrozenFunds(address target, bool frozen);

    /* Initializes contract with initial supply tokens to the creator of the contract */
    function MyAdvancedToken(
        uint256 initialSupply,
        string tokenName,
        string tokenSymbol
    ) TokenERC20(initialSupply, tokenName, tokenSymbol) public {}

    /* Internal transfer, only can be called by this contract */
    function _transfer(address _from, address _to, uint _value) internal {
        require (_to != 0x0);                               // Prevent transfer to 0x0 address. Use burn() instead
        require (balanceOf[_from] >= _value);               // Check if the sender has enough
        require (balanceOf[_to] + _value > balanceOf[_to]); // Check for overflows
        require(!frozenAccount[_from]);                     // Check if sender is frozen
        require(!frozenAccount[_to]);                       // Check if recipient is frozen
        balanceOf[_from] -= _value;                         // Subtract from the sender
        balanceOf[_to] += _value;                           // Add the same to the recipient
        Transfer(_from, _to, _value);
    }

    /// @notice Create `mintedAmount` tokens and send it to `target`
    /// @param target Address to receive the tokens
    /// @param mintedAmount the amount of tokens it will receive
    function mintToken(address target, uint256 mintedAmount) onlyOwner public {
        balanceOf[target] += mintedAmount;
        totalSupply += mintedAmount;
        Transfer(0, this, mintedAmount);
        Transfer(this, target, mintedAmount);
    }

    /// @notice `freeze? Prevent | Allow` `target` from sending & receiving tokens
    /// @param target Address to be frozen
    /// @param freeze either to freeze it or not
    function freezeAccount(address target, bool freeze) onlyOwner public {
        frozenAccount[target] = freeze;
        FrozenFunds(target, freeze);
    }

    /// @notice Allow users to buy tokens for `newBuyPrice` eth and sell tokens for `newSellPrice` eth
    /// @param newSellPrice Price the users can sell to the contract
    /// @param newBuyPrice Price users can buy from the contract
    function setPrices(uint256 newSellPrice, uint256 newBuyPrice) onlyOwner public {
        sellPrice = newSellPrice;
        buyPrice = newBuyPrice;
    }

    /// @notice Buy tokens from contract by sending ether
    function buy() payable public {
        uint amount = msg.value / buyPrice;               // calculates the amount
        _transfer(this, msg.sender, amount);              // makes the transfers
    }

    /// @notice Sell `amount` tokens to contract
    /// @param amount amount of tokens to be sold
    function sell(uint256 amount) public {
        require(this.balance >= amount * sellPrice);      // checks if the contract has enough ether to buy
        _transfer(msg.sender, this, amount);              // makes the transfers
        msg.sender.transfer(amount * sellPrice);          // sends ether to the seller. It's important to do this last to avoid recursion attacks
    }
}

Step 4: Change the code. I took this code straight off of the Ethereum.org website, and if you want to change it you can. The most useful change is where it says, "uint8 public decimals = 18;" This statement determines how many decimal places your coin will have, so for this coin somebody could have as little as 0.000000000000000001 coins. If you want people to have a minimum of 1 coin, put 0 here.

Step 5: Deploy your code. On the right where it says "Pick a Contract" click on My Advanced Token and fill in the necessary information.
Then all you need to do is set your blockchain fee and click deploy and you created your very first cryptocurrency!

To then trade the currency all you have to go to is "Send" at the top and change the sending currency from ether to whatever you named your currency, and send it to any Ethereum wallet that supports tokens, such as Metamask, the Ethereum Wallet you downloaded, or MyEtherWallet. For somebody to be able to see the token you sent them, they will have to add a token to their wallet, and to do this they must have your token contract address which you can get by going back to the contracts page, clicking on your token all the way at the bottom of the page and copying the token contract address.

Happy Cryptocurrency Making! If you follow this guide, feel free to comment your token contract address, and tell me how I can get some of your token, or you can send it to my wallet at: 0xFe8f7d2CFf35e6188E2adD0C954b5741Aef5D595.