Token-2022 and the original Token program compared, from the side of the wallet that gets paid.

What is the difference between Token-2022 and the Token program?

The difference is extensions: Token-2022 accepts every instruction the Token program accepts and adds new features that a token can switch on. The Token-2022 documentation calls it "a superset of the functionality provided by the Token Program" and explains why it is a separate program: developers kept forking the original to add features, and a fork is hard to get adopted across the ecosystem. So Token-2022 was "deployed to a different address than the Token program", leaving existing tokens untouched.

Both programs are SPL token programs. If the term is new, what is an SPL token explains mints, token accounts and the program that owns them, and the crypto payment glossary defines the other terms in one place.

How do Token-2022 and the Token program compare?

The table sets the two programs side by side, from the solana-program.com and solana.com documentation as read on 15 October 2026.

Solana's token overview sums up the original as "Immutable and widely used". Token-2022's page lists eight completed audits by six firms as of 20 March 2025.

Which Token-2022 extensions matter when you get paid?

The extensions that matter to a merchant are the ones that change what arrives, who can move it afterwards, or whether it can move at all. Each is chosen by the token's creator, so two Token-2022 stablecoins can behave very differently. From the Token-2022 extension guide:

• Transfer fees. "On every transfer, some amount is withheld on the recipient account, untouchable by the recipient." A price of 100 tokens on a mint with a 1% fee leaves you 99 you can spend, or more if the mint's maximum fee caps it lower.
• Permanent delegate. The guide says this authority "has unlimited delegate privileges over any account for that mint, meaning that it can burn or transfer any amount of tokens", and gives a stablecoin issuer seizing assets from sanctioned entities as one use.
• Transfer hook. The mint names a program that Token-2022 calls on every transfer. The guide's example is royalties, which the original program cannot enforce because it has no way to stop a transfer at the protocol level.
• Pausable. While a mint is paused, the guide says, "it is not possible transfer, mint, or burn tokens."
• Memo required on incoming transfers. An account extension: the program "enforces that all incoming transfers must have an accompanying memo instruction right before the transfer instruction."

Configured is not the same as active. On 15 October 2026 we read the mint of PayPal USD (PYUSD) on Solana: it is owned by Token-2022 and carries a transfer fee configuration set to 0 basis points, a permanent delegate, a transfer hook with no program named, confidential transfers and on-chain metadata. Today a PYUSD transfer withholds nothing, but the fee authority set on the mint can change that. How the stablecoins on Solana differ is the subject of PYUSD, USDG and EURC on Solana.

Which token program does USDC on Solana use?

USDC on Solana uses the original Token program. Reading the mint EPjFWdd5AufqSSqeM2qN1xzybapC8G4wEGGkZwyTDt1v on mainnet on 15 October 2026 returned the owner TokenkegQfeZyiNwAJbNbGKPFXCWuBvf9Ss623VQ5DA and a size of 82 bytes, a plain mint with no extension data.

For a merchant, that rules things out. The extension guide says "In the Token program, it is impossible to assess a fee on every transfer", so 25 USDC sent is 25 USDC received. No permanent delegate exists that could let the issuer pull USDC out of your account, and no hook or pause switch sits on the mint. What USDC does have is a freeze authority, the same as any mint that sets one; can USDC be frozen covers what that means.

Fianto is built around that fact. Its backend accepts exactly one mint, USDC, paired with the original Token program's address, and both the one-off payment and every subscription charge are built for that program. A token on Token-2022 is never treated as a payment, whatever it is called; checking real USDC on Solana shows how to confirm the mint yourself.

Does the Solana Subscriptions program support Token-2022?

Yes. The Solana Foundation's Subscriptions program, which Fianto uses for recurring USDC payments, says in its README: "This works for both token programs: SPL Token and Token-2022." It also supports Token-2022 mints with a transfer hook, by passing the hook's accounts through to the transfer.

One limit is written down. The README says destination accounts with the memo-required extension are not supported: the program sends no memo, "so Token-2022 rejects the transfer atomically (no funds move)." Anyone building on the program with a Token-2022 token has to check the receiving account for it.

Fianto does not offer that choice. Its subscriptions run on the program with USDC on the original Token program only, so the extension questions above never come up for a Fianto merchant. How the program's capped approval works is in Solana token delegation explained, and the merchant view of renewals in Solana subscriptions.

Which token program should a merchant care about?

Which program matters depends on what you are doing with tokens, and for most merchants taking USDC the answer is neither: the issuer chose it already.