Every token on Solana has a mint account that holds its rules. Two of them matter to anyone buying: the mint authority and the freeze authority. Each is either an address that holds the power, or empty, which means nobody can ever use it.

Mint authority

The mint authority can create new tokens at any time. New tokens dilute everyone who already holds some, and a large batch sold into the pool can crash the price in one transaction. When the mint authority is empty, the supply is fixed for good.

A project token may keep a mint authority for planned emissions or rewards; a meme token has no reason to, and most launch platforms remove it at launch.

Freeze authority

The freeze authority can freeze any holder's token account. Frozen tokens cannot be moved or sold until they are unfrozen. Scam tokens use it to let people buy and then freeze them before they can sell.

Regulated stablecoins such as USDC keep a freeze authority so the issuer can comply with the law; for an unknown token it is a serious warning.

Token-2022 extensions

Tokens made with Solana's newer token program can carry extensions on top. Most are harmless, but a few deserve a look before you buy:

A transfer fee takes a share of every transfer, including your sale.
A permanent delegate can move or burn tokens from any wallet, yours included.
A transfer hook runs a program on every transfer, and that program can refuse it.
A pausable token can have all transfers stopped by its issuer.

How to check

Open the token's mint address in a Solana explorer: the token page lists the mint authority and freeze authority, and "none" or an empty field means the power is gone. Extensions are listed on the same page for Token-2022 tokens.

On Soheil you do not need to look it up: Soheil Guard reads the mint for every Solana token you are about to receive and shows what it found under the route, before you sign.

Do it

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Information, not financial advice. Soheil.fi is non-custodial; every transaction is signed in your own wallet.