Algorand Standard Assets are built into the Algorand protocol at Layer 1. What this means is that creating an asset is simply a type of transaction on Algorand. There is no contract code required.

5 Ways to Get Started with Assets

1. Visit the docs and create a Hello World asset transaction…
2. Browse real examples of assets created on MainNet…
3. Follow a step-by-step tutorial…
4. See what others have built…
5. Search for what you need…

Visit the docs and create a Hello World asset transaction…

The Algorand docs are the most comprehensive source of technical information for developing with Algorand Standard Assets. There was a large revamp of the Developer Docs back in February that includes a section walking through Your First Transaction on Algorand.

You can turn this into creating an asset by replacing the Payment Transaction code snippet with this Asset Creation Transaction code snippet. The rest will be exactly the same. Authorize the transaction and submit it to the blockchain.

Browse real examples of assets created on MainNet…

There are many real assets that exist today on the Algorand MainNet. Use a block explorer to browse some of these assets and look at the underlying structure of their transactions.

One of my favorite assets is Tether USDt (ID: 312769) which launched on MainNet earlier this year. Tether USDt is a stablecoin backed by US Dollars. If you are a developer who is finding it challenging to make their blockchain application accessible to a broad consumer base, onboarding users with a familiar USDt may be a great way to get started. If you have a full archival node running or are using an API service, you can look at the creation transaction for USDt to see how it was configured (e.g. total supply, manager address).

Input (using Purestake API)

curl -i -X GET \
   -H "x-api-key:<your-api-key>" \
 'https://mainnet-algorand.api.purestake.io/ps1/v1/transaction/3H4UDDJQJZ6Q6TQ6GKCWDD6ZQIHKJXRUZXRLDDS4XF2VFK2W3UYQ'

Output

{
    "type": "acfg",
    "tx": "3H4UDDJQJZ6Q6TQ6GKCWDD6ZQIHKJXRUZXRLDDS4XF2VFK2W3UYQ",
    "from": "XIU7HGGAJ3QOTATPDSIIHPFVKMICXKHMOR2FJKHTVLII4FAOA3CYZQDLG4",
    "fee": 1000,
    "first-round": 4725548,
    "last-round": 4726548,
    "noteb64": "8v68Tq+SqWY=",
    "round": 4725793,
    "curcfg": {
        "id": 0,
        "params": {
            "creator": "",
            "total": 18446744073709551615,
            "decimals": 6,
            "defaultfrozen": false,
            "unitname": "USDt",
            "assetname": "Tether USDt",
            "url": "tether.to",
            "managerkey": "XIU7HGGAJ3QOTATPDSIIHPFVKMICXKHMOR2FJKHTVLII4FAOA3CYZQDLG4",
            "reserveaddr": "XIU7HGGAJ3QOTATPDSIIHPFVKMICXKHMOR2FJKHTVLII4FAOA3CYZQDLG4",
            "freezeaddr": "XIU7HGGAJ3QOTATPDSIIHPFVKMICXKHMOR2FJKHTVLII4FAOA3CYZQDLG4",
            "clawbackaddr": "XIU7HGGAJ3QOTATPDSIIHPFVKMICXKHMOR2FJKHTVLII4FAOA3CYZQDLG4"
        }
    },
    "fromrewards": 0,
    "genesisID": "",
    "genesishashb64": "wGHE2Pwdvd7S12BL5FaOP20EGYesN73ktiC1qzkkit8="
}

Follow a step-by-step tutorial…

There are a number of new tutorials that take you step-by-step through some of the layer 1 functions in each of the SDKs. Learn how to Create (JavaScript, Python, Java, Go), Opt-In (JavaScript, Python, Java, Go), or Transfer (JavaScript, Python, Java, Go) assets.

Or try some other fun, use case-driven tutorials, like this Dev Ambassador’s food-themed tutorial on creating non-fungible assets with goal or my dog-themed tutorial that shows you how to create, opt in and transfer your own coin using Python.

See what others have built…

Here is a simple application that uses the JavaScript SDK and the React framework to provide a graphical user interface allowing users to create and manage assets on Algorand. This application was demonstrated in the video shown at the start.

Some developers are finding creative ways to use assets that enable new decentralized use cases. For example, this community member used assets to create a proof-of-concept for decentralized two-factor authentication.

Search for what you need…

If you don’t know where to start, just try searching for what you need on the Algorand Dev Portal. You can search across all docs, articles, tutorials, and solutions. You can also filter on specific categories.

Search for assets across all categories	Search within a particular category or categories

Watch this video for a quick demonstration of how to use search to find information on assets…