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I am curious if ERC20 token names are unique on the Ethereum block chain? For example, what is to stop someone from creating a new token called Golem (GNT) and publishing it to a smart contract?

I have a hunch they are not. Is there a reason for this?

It could end up being confusing to people if token names start repeating, imagine an ERC20 token called ETH

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There could be any number of ERC20 contracts deployed with the name string variable "Golem Network Token." However, each one of these contracts has a unique Ethereum contract address. The ERC20 contract address deployed by Golem is 0xa74476443119A942dE498590Fe1f2454d7D4aC0d. If someone else deployed a clone contract it would have a different address and could be easily identified as a clone. The Golem ERC20 contract can also be easily lookedup by its ENS domain, gnt.thetoken.eth, which is managed by ENS creator, Nick Johnson.

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  • Yes, you could confirm it. But it still presents a problem where tokens can be easily copied to confuse consumers
    – Vinnie James
    Commented Aug 19, 2017 at 23:41
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    Imagine the NASDAQ allowed multiple companies to use the same ticker, sure you could sort out who was who. But kindof a Charlie Foxtrot
    – Vinnie James
    Commented Aug 19, 2017 at 23:42
  • @VinnieJames, the ticker symbol in this case is the contract address, not the token name.
    – Nulik
    Commented May 30, 2018 at 10:53
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Blockchain doesn't care if there are hundreds of tokens with the same name and abbreviation. However, Nasdaq, in this case, is a crypto exchange and no exchange would list two tokens with the same name. So it is in the project's best interest to have a unique name that won't make confusion.

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  • Good point, but how to I know that someone else is not publishing their contract and planning to promote the same memecoin token name as myself? If we both published around the same time and starting promoting around the same time, it becomes a game of chicken?
    – SacWebDeveloper
    Commented Jul 7, 2021 at 20:31

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