Token Creation Issue on DevNet

Question

I am trying to create a token after setting my wallet using the following command.

solana-keygen grind --starts-with ott:1

The wallet creation is successful. I have also configured the connection to the devnet.

solana config set --url https://api.devnet.solana.com --keypair my-keypair.json

I have also added sufficient SOL to the wallet. Now I am trying to create a token and add it to this wallet using the following command.

spl-token create-token --decimals 18 my-keypair.json

It is displaying the following error.

Creating token ottKBxXuJjtQoLXD21AM5aVFTAHJvZMuZfuUyEdL37J under program TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA Error: Client(Error { request: Some(SendTransaction), kind: RpcError(RpcResponseError { code: -32002, message: "Transaction simulation failed: Error processing Instruction 0: custom program error: 0x0", data: SendTransactionPreflightFailure(RpcSimulateTransactionResult { err: Some(InstructionError(0, Custom(0))), logs: Some(["Program 11111111111111111111111111111111 invoke [1]", "Create Account: account Address { address: ottKBxXuJjtQoLXD21AM5aVFTAHJvZMuZfuUyEdL37J, base: None } already in use", "Program 11111111111111111111111111111111 failed: custom program error: 0x0"]), accounts: None, units_consumed: Some(150), return_data: None }) }) })

Request your help to resolve this error.

Answer 1

The error says:

Create Account: account Address { address: ottKBxXuJjtQoLXD21AM5aVFTAHJvZMuZfuUyEdL37J, base: None } already in use",

This means that you've already created an account on address ottKBxXuJjtQoLXD21AM5aVFTAHJvZMuZfuUyEdL37J and you're trying to create it again.

Looking at the explorer, however, shows that this is a normal wallet account: https://explorer.solana.com/address/ottKBxXuJjtQoLXD21AM5aVFTAHJvZMuZfuUyEdL37J?cluster=devnet, so the error might be a bit misleading.

By providing my-keypair.json as an argument to create-token, you're trying to create a new spl token mint at the address of your wallet, which would essentially make your wallet unusable.

Instead, you can grind a new private key for your mint and use that as the argument:

spl-token create-token --decimals 18 my-other-keypair.json

Or if you provide no argument, a new random keypair will be used:

spl-token create-token --decimals 18

Side note: since SPL Tokens use a u64 to store the total supply of tokens, using 18 decimals will only give you a maximum of 18.44 tokens, so be sure to use --decimals 9!

$ spl-token create-token --decimals 18
Creating token GSsxAddWf1UbWWvSr8Dn2zgBaGzRv154dC1tpH9acE25 under program TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA

Address:  GSsxAddWf1UbWWvSr8Dn2zgBaGzRv154dC1tpH9acE25
Decimals:  18

Signature: 2ANjvmy83uez3tf9ESern6FXhYndrdQgJtyf28PCGm4pWG8Gk63mruhu8589qaSQN42gc92g3LuAtD1qXqYxzbVs

$ spl-token create-account GSsxAddWf1UbWWvSr8Dn2zgBaGzRv154dC1tpH9acE25
Creating account 4WLXxPoHq1fEeHZYyH2QEd1Yy1mJde5r2nAxDjLdaNGg

Signature: hNKhgwPoxmzJLQvXv8fT2zWE9HnPq9F36rkiosy34s2FGD8TcJoXo4aAZZavG6TCFNFxGFmrCPYVgD3aEGgRjDR

$ spl-token mint GSsxAddWf1UbWWvSr8Dn2zgBaGzRv154dC1tpH9acE25 100 4WLXxPoHq1fEeHZYyH2QEd1Yy1mJde5r2nAxDjLdaNGg
Minting 100 tokens
  Token: GSsxAddWf1UbWWvSr8Dn2zgBaGzRv154dC1tpH9acE25
  Recipient: 4WLXxPoHq1fEeHZYyH2QEd1Yy1mJde5r2nAxDjLdaNGg

Signature: 26T1jU991Go1hWtAHnsmHLHJoUaY1jty9NC3VAbhMyy3d8fGjt6ntsv6ZsrWxcwm19G7siVHeLEyFGadVmhmUJCu

$ spl-token display 4WLXxPoHq1fEeHZYyH2QEd1Yy1mJde5r2nAxDjLdaNGg

SPL Token Account
  Address: 4WLXxPoHq1fEeHZYyH2QEd1Yy1mJde5r2nAxDjLdaNGg
  Program: TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA
  Balance: 18.446744073709551615
  Decimals: 18