<p>Ada is a digital token on the Cardano blockchain. Its currency symbol is the empty string - &quot;&quot;.</p>
<p>It is similar to any other token that can be minted on the Cardano blockchain. However, there is a key difference.</p>
<p>A token are represented by a currency symbol which is the hash of the minting policy that is used to create it.</p>
<p>A minting policy describes how a token can be minted and burned, and no policy can mint or burn Ada, hence the empty string, which no policy can hash to.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-06T02:12:04.157Z
"Ada is a digital token"

so, you're saying that ada is *not* an asset?
wolverine ks
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-06T05:16:14.023Z
I think the terms are not mutually exclusive @wolverineks. Ada is a digital token, the native currency of Cardano, and it is an asset specified by those two properties I just named.

Tokens can also represent off chain assets; this valuable property is part of what makes those tokens assets-- that is, a valuable thing to own (rough def. of 'asset').

I could be wrong if I'm unfamiliar with some specific technical meanings of the terms, but that is how it appears to me, prima facie.
Matthew Capps
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-09T16:12:46.730Z
* are all tokens digital? iow, are there non-digital tokens on cardano?
* are all tokens currencies on cardano?
* are there non-native currencies?
* tokens can represent an asset, but do they have to?
wolverine ks
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-16T00:33:59.497Z
I would probably go down the route of calling ADA a financial instrument. From a technical perspective, IT IS a token with no currency symbol. Thus, IT IS a native token, it just can't be minted or burnt (unless you take the PoB paper published by IOG and implement it - I have spent some time reading that paper and it seemed to me as though you could only accomplish PoB with P2PKH addresses - maybe if you flipped some bits in Byron addresses? - but you could just create an address and destroy/rm the private key and throw away the key derivation phrase, if you REALLY wanted to burn some ADA).
Dilworth
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-10-06T01:00:00.397Z
2021-10-06T01:00:00.397Z
Chrismo
<p>According to the docs, ADA is an asset <em>and</em> a token, but they also indicate that tokens are on-chain versions of some off-chain asset. They also compare ADA and tokens in ways to imply that they are not the same kind of thing.</p>
<p>So, what is it? what is it called?</p>

<ada><native-assets><token>
Is ada an asset, token, both, neither?
# Is ada an asset, token, both, neither?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-10-05)

According to the docs, ADA is an asset *and* a token, but they also indicate that tokens are on-chain versions of some off-chain asset. They also compare ADA and tokens in ways to imply that they are not the same kind of thing.

So, what is it? what is it called?

**Tags:** ada, native-assets, token

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2021-10-06. Score: 0

Ada is a digital token on the Cardano blockchain. Its currency symbol is the empty string - "".

It is similar to any other token that can be minted on the Cardano blockchain. However, there is a key difference.

A token are represented by a currency symbol which is the hash of the minting policy that is used to create it.

A minting policy describes how a token can be minted and burned, and no policy can mint or burn Ada, hence the empty string, which no policy can hash to.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: "Ada is a digital token"  so, you're saying that ada is *not* an asset?  
> **username_2**: I think the terms are not mutually exclusive @wolverineks. Ada is a digital token, the native currency of Cardano, and it is an asset specified by those two properties I just named.  Tokens can also represent off chain assets; this valuable property is part of what makes those tokens assets-- that is, a valuable thing to own (rough def. of 'asset').  I could be wrong if I'm unfamiliar with some specific technical meanings of the terms, but that is how it appears to me, prima facie.  
> **username_0**: * are all tokens digital? iow, are there non-digital tokens on cardano? * are all tokens currencies on cardano? * are there non-native currencies? * tokens can represent an asset, but do they have to?  
> **username_3**: I would probably go down the route of calling ADA a financial instrument. From a technical perspective, IT IS a token with no currency symbol. Thus, IT IS a native token, it just can't be minted or burnt (unless you take the PoB paper published by IOG and implement it - I have spent some time reading that paper and it seemed to me as though you could only accomplish PoB with P2PKH addresses - maybe if you flipped some bits in Byron addresses? - but you could just create an address and destroy/rm the private key and throw away the key derivation phrase, if you REALLY wanted to burn some ADA).  

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