Buy ERC-20 Tokens: The Complete Guide to Ethereum-Based Tokens

ERC-20 is the technical standard that powers most tokens on Ethereum — from dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT and USDC to governance tokens like LINK, plus a long tail of utility tokens, real-world asset projects, and community coins. If you have heard of an Ethereum-based token, there is a strong chance it follows the ERC-20 standard. This page covers which ERC-20 tokens you can buy on CEX.IO, what the standard actually does, how the buying flow works, and how ERC-20 tokens compare to other token standards across BNB Smart Chain, Tron, Solana, and beyond.

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What Are ERC-20 Tokens?

ERC-20 tokens are fungible digital assets built on the Ethereum blockchain that follow a specific technical interface. The name comes from “Ethereum Request for Comments, proposal 20” — the discussion thread where developers Fabian Vogelsteller and Vitalik Buterin formalized the standard back in late 2015, before it was ratified as Ethereum Improvement Proposal 20 (EIP-20) in 2017. The idea was simple: define a common set of rules that every Ethereum-based token must follow, so wallets, exchanges, and decentralized applications can support any token without writing custom code for each one.

The ERC-20 Token Standard

Technically, ERC-20 specifies a set of functions a smart contract must implement to qualify as a fungible token. Six functions are mandatory: total supply, balance lookup, transfer, transfer-from, approve, and allowance. Three more are optional but almost universally implemented: name, symbol, and decimals. The standard says nothing about what the token represents or how it should be priced — it only defines how the contract reports balances and processes transfers. That deliberate minimalism is why ERC-20 covers everything from stablecoins backed by US dollars to governance tokens that confer voting rights to meme coins with no fundamental purpose at all.

Every ERC-20 token has a unique smart contract address on Ethereum. When you receive a token, what actually moves is the balance recorded in that contract, not the token itself — the token never leaves the chain, only the ledger entry that shows who owns it. This is also why every ERC-20 transfer requires ETH for gas fees: the network charges the sender for computation, regardless of which token is being transferred. 

What ERC-20 Tokens Are Used For

ERC-20 tokens fall into roughly four functional categories. The largest by traded volume is stablecoins — dollar-pegged tokens like USDT and USDC where each token represents one dollar held by an issuer in reserve. These exist on multiple blockchains, but the Ethereum versions are still the deepest by liquidity and the most integrated with DeFi protocols. The second category is governance and DeFi tokens — UNI for Uniswap, AAVE for Aave, MKR for MakerDAO, COMP for Compound, CRV for Curve. These tokens let holders vote on protocol decisions and sometimes earn fees from the underlying protocol’s activity.

The third category is utility tokens that serve a specific in-protocol function: paying for compute on a decentralized service, accessing a feature, redeeming rewards. The fourth and most diverse category is community and meme tokens — SHIB, PEPE, and similar tokens that exist primarily because a community formed around them. Brand campaigns and real-world assets have started entering the ERC-20 space too, with tokenized treasuries, stablecoins from financial institutions, and pilot programs from major payment networks. The point of the standard is that all of these completely different use cases share one interoperable interface.

Fungible vs Non-Fungible: ERC-20 vs ERC-721

ERC-20 defines fungible tokens — each unit is interchangeable with every other unit, like dollar bills or shares of a stock. ERC-721 defines non-fungible tokens (NFTs), where each token is unique and has its own identifier. ERC-1155 is a newer hybrid that supports both in one contract. For most crypto activity — trading, payments, DeFi, holding stablecoins — ERC-20 is the relevant standard. NFTs use different infrastructure and live in marketplaces like OpenSea rather than trading on exchanges. CEX.IO supports ERC-20 trading on the exchange; NFTs are a separate product category that we do not currently handle.

ERC-20 Tokens You Can Buy on CEX.IO

Below is a curated set of ERC-20 tokens currently available on CEX.IO, grouped by category. This is not the complete asset list — CEX.IO supports over 300 markets in total.

How to Buy ERC-20 Tokens on CEX.IO

The buying flow is the same across the ERC-20 tokens listed above. The main practical decision is which payment method works in your region and how soon you want the funds to settle. Card payments and Apple Pay / Google Pay credit instantly; bank transfers like SEPA and SWIFT take longer but carry lower fees, which usually fits larger purchases better.

Step-by-step:

1. Sign up for CEX.IO and complete identity verification. The process happens once per account; you need a government-issued ID and proof of address. Verification typically completes within a few minutes if your documents are ready. This step is required by financial regulation, not a CEX.IO preference.
2. Pick a payment method that fits your region. Visa and Mastercard, Apple Pay, and Google Pay settle instantly. SEPA transfers work for EEA and UK accounts in EUR. Faster Payments works for UK accounts in GBP. Domestic Wire is for US accounts in USD. SWIFT covers international transfers in major fiat currencies. Skrill and PayPal are available in specific regions.
3. Choose the ERC-20 token. Browse the asset list, select the token you want — USDT, USDC, or any other supported ERC-20 — review the live conversion rate, and check the full fee breakdown on the preview screen. The fee shown is what you pay; no separate charges appear at confirmation.
4. Confirm the purchase. Card transactions credit your CEX.IO balance immediately. Bank transfers post once the underlying payment clears with your bank — usually one to two business days for SEPA, within minutes for Faster Payments, same-day for Domestic Wire.
5. Decide whether to hold or withdraw. You can keep ERC-20 tokens on CEX.IO for spot trading against other assets, or withdraw to an external Ethereum wallet for self-custody or DeFi use. To withdraw: open the asset balance, click Withdraw, select Ethereum as the network, paste a 0x address that your destination wallet supports, enter the amount, and confirm with two-factor authentication.

Important: When you withdraw ERC-20 tokens, always select the Ethereum network. The 0x address format is shared across Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, Arbitrum, Avalanche, and other EVM chains — the network selector is what actually routes the transaction. Sending ERC-20 tokens to a non-Ethereum wallet (Bitcoin, Solana, Tron) results in lost funds with no recourse, since virtual currency transactions are irrevocable.

Available Payment Methods

CEX.IO supports a broad set of fiat funding rails so users can match payment to region and purchase size. The table below covers the main options. 

Method availability varies by jurisdiction and verification status. Full details on the Limits & Commissions page.

ERC-20 vs Other Token Standards

ERC-20 is the original major token standard but no longer the only one. As Ethereum gas fees rose during 2020-2022, other blockchains developed their own equivalents — BNB Smart Chain’s BEP-20, Tron’s TRC-20, Solana’s SPL, Avalanche’s C-Chain implementation. For dollar-pegged stablecoins like USDT and USDC, the same asset now exists across multiple networks, each with its own fee profile and ecosystem. The comparison below covers the main differences.

Which standard to use comes down to where you actually need the token. For institutional treasury operations and the deepest DeFi liquidity, ERC-20 on Ethereum is still the standard despite higher fees. For low-fee transfers between exchanges and wallets, TRC-20 is the dominant choice. For BNB Chain ecosystem participation, BEP-20 is what protocols expect. For Solana DeFi and high-frequency activity, the SPL version is the right rail. The same dollar of USDT or USDC can be bought on any of these networks at CEX.IO; the choice depends on what you plan to do with it afterward.

Fees and Limits

Two fees apply when you withdraw ERC-20 tokens. The CEX.IO platform fee depends on your verification tier and the asset; it appears in full on the preview screen before you confirm. The Ethereum network fee — paid in ETH — covers the gas cost of the on-chain transfer, which varies with network congestion. ERC-20 transactions are generally more expensive than transfers on BSC, Tron, or Solana, which is part of why those alternative networks exist and grew. For amounts small enough that gas fees become a meaningful percentage of the transfer, one of the alternative networks usually makes more sense than ERC-20.

Fee schedules and minimums update as conditions change, so the live Limits & Commissions page is always the authoritative source. We link rather than publish static percentages because gas fees in particular shift week to week. View current fees and limits at cex.io/limits-commissions.