By Abdullah Al-Janoubi. Published 29 October 2026.
Open almost any Solana token scanner and the first two lines are about "mint authority" and "freeze authority". They sound technical, but they answer two very simple questions: can someone print more of this coin, and can someone stop you from selling it. If the answer to either is yes, you are trusting a stranger with your money.
This guide explains both settings using the official Solana documentation, shows how scammers abuse them, and finishes with a short checklist you can run on any token in a couple of minutes.
Not financial advice. A token that passes every check below can still lose all its value. These checks remove some risks; they do not make anything safe.
Where these settings live
Every token on Solana has a mint account. The Solana docs describe it as the global record for that token, storing the supply, the decimals, and two optional roles:
- Mint authority: "the account authorized to create new units of the token, increasing the supply."
- Freeze authority: "the account authorized to freeze tokens in a Token Account, preventing them from being transferred or burned."
Both are optional. If a role is empty (None), nobody holds that power. The Solana docs also explain that setting an authority to None with the SetAuthority instruction permanently removes it. There is no undo and no admin override. That permanence is exactly why buyers care.
Mint authority: the supply question
What it does
Whoever holds the mint authority can create new tokens whenever they like. The Solana Mint structure even says it directly: if no mint authority is present, the mint has a fixed supply and no further tokens may be minted.
How it is abused
The classic "infinite mint" rug works like this:
- A creator launches a coin and adds liquidity. People buy.
- The creator keeps the mint authority.
- Later, they mint a huge number of new tokens to themselves.
- They sell those tokens into the pool, draining the SOL that buyers put in.
Holders are left with a token whose supply exploded and whose pool is empty. Nothing about this needs hacking; it is a feature the creator never gave up.
What "good" looks like
For a meme coin, the mint authority should be None. Legitimate exceptions exist (stablecoins, for example, need to mint as dollars come in), but those projects are run by known companies with audits and published policies. An anonymous meme coin has no reason to keep it.
Freeze authority: the exit question
What it does
According to the Solana docs, freezing a token account keeps the owner and balance the same but prevents the account from receiving, transferring, or burning the token until it is thawed. Only a mint that still has a freeze authority can do this. If the freeze authority is revoked, accounts for that mint can no longer be frozen.
How it is abused
The "honeypot" rug uses freeze authority:
- The coin launches and looks normal.
- Buyers purchase tokens.
- The creator freezes buyers' token accounts.
- Buyers can see their balance but cannot sell. Only the creator's wallets can trade, and they sell into the pool.
Some honeypots freeze everyone straight away; others wait until the pool is large. Either way, the warning sign was visible on day one.
What "good" looks like
For a meme coin, freeze authority should be None, ideally from the moment the mint was created. Regulated stablecoins keep it for legal reasons, which is why some scanners show it as a "warning" on assets like USDC; context matters.
Mint vs freeze at a glance
| Mint authority | Freeze authority | |
|---|---|---|
| Question it answers | Can more coins be created? | Can my coins be locked? |
| Risk if active | Supply inflation, pool drained | You cannot sell |
| Typical scam | Infinite mint and dump | Honeypot |
| Clean meme coin | None | None |
| Can be removed? | Yes, permanently | Yes, permanently |
Other settings that matter
Authorities are the first check, not the only one.
Metadata mutability. The Metaplex Token Metadata program has an Is Mutable flag. If metadata is still mutable, the update authority can change the name, ticker, image or links later. Not always malicious, but a mutable meme coin can be renamed to impersonate something else. Immutable is cleaner.
Liquidity control. Liquidity pool (LP) tokens represent the liquidity in a pool. Whoever holds them can withdraw it. A creator holding the LP tokens can pull the pool at any time, the most common rug of all. Look for LP tokens that are burned or locked.
Holder concentration. If a handful of wallets hold most of the supply, they can crash the price by selling. Check the top 10 holders, and remember that the pool itself often appears among them.
Copycat names. Scammers reuse famous tickers. Always confirm the mint address from an official source, never just the ticker.
A two-minute checklist
- Copy the mint address from an official source, not from a reply or DM.
- Mint authority: should be None.
- Freeze authority: should be None.
- Metadata: immutable is better.
- Liquidity: is there a pool, how big is it, and are the LP tokens burned or locked?
- Holders: how much do the top 10 wallets hold?
- Age and activity: a coin that is a few minutes old with huge volume deserves extra caution.
- Promises: anyone guaranteeing returns is giving you a reason to leave.
You can run checks 2 to 6 in one place with the free WorldScope crypto token analyzer. Paste a contract address or a ticker; it reads public market data for tokens that have a trading pair and turns the authority, liquidity and holder data into plain-language warnings.
If you are the creator
The best way to avoid looking like a rug is to remove the powers that make rugs possible, in the same transaction that creates the coin:
- create the mint without a freeze authority,
- mint the full supply,
- revoke the mint authority,
- lock the metadata.
The free WorldScope Solana meme coin launcher does exactly this with one wallet signature, then reads the mint back from the chain to confirm both authorities are empty. It is non-custodial, shows every cost before you sign, and is free to try on devnet. If you later add liquidity, burning or locking your LP tokens is the next trust signal buyers look for.
Limits of these checks
Revoked authorities do not stop a creator from selling their own tokens, do not create demand, and do not protect against a team simply walking away. They only remove two specific powers. Treat a clean scan as "fewer ways to be cheated", never as "safe" or "will go up".
Sources
- Solana Docs, Tokens on Solana (Mint account fields): https://solana.com/docs/tokens
- Solana Docs, Set authority: https://solana.com/docs/tokens/basics/set-authority
- Solana Docs, Freeze account: https://solana.com/docs/tokens/basics/freeze-account
- Metaplex Docs, Token Metadata overview (Is Mutable): https://www.metaplex.com/docs/smart-contracts/token-metadata
Educational content, not financial advice. Facts checked on 29 October 2026.
#Solana #RugPull #CryptoSafety #DYOR #MintAuthority #FreezeAuthority #MemeCoins #OnChain
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