In this track: Tokens and digital ownership
intermediate · 3 MIN READ

Rebasing tokens explained

A balance can change through a supply-adjustment mechanism rather than an ordinary transfer.

LET’S PICTURE IT

A club can keep members’ shares fixed while changing how many displayed points each share represents.

SEE IT FOR YOURSELF
A valid counter call, step by stepStep 1 / 4
A valid counter call, step by stepFunction requestincrement()No argumentsBefore executionstored count0A local teaching example with a defined starting stateIncoming callCheck function dispatchCheck coded conditionsRules passConditions passContinue executionA failed check can revert insteadCalculation0 + 1Result: 1Storage writecount = 1Persists if call succeedsCalculating a local value and storing it are separate stepsPersistent statecount1Later readGetter reports 1No new incrementState, logs and browser display have different roles

This example begins with count zero and a request to call increment(). No real contract is deployed.

Animated local teaching model. No wallet, RPC or live blockchain data. Some labels and hashes are abbreviated for readability.

Balance and share count can differ

A rebasing implementation may represent holdings internally through shares and apply a changing conversion factor. The visible token balance can then change even if the holder did not initiate a transfer.

Do not assume one universal design

Positive, negative or other adjustments follow each implementation’s rules. The word rebasing does not specify who controls adjustments, how rounding works or what economic result follows.

Integrations need an explicit model

An application that assumes a balance changes only when it observes a transfer can become inconsistent. Deposits, accounting and redemption logic may need to compare actual state or use the representation the token defines.

Read the code and units together

The familiar ERC-20 interface can hide different internal accounting. Learn raw units and integer rounding before analyzing a particular implementation. An event-only history may not provide every balance-change explanation.

QUICK CHECK · NO PRESSURE

Can a rebasing token’s displayed balance change without that holder sending a transfer?

Your progress stays in this browser.
Keep exploring the original referenceethereum.org ↗

Original explanations by EtherTools. Examples are educational and source-linked; this site is independent of the Ethereum Foundation. Our approach.