The underlying technology behind ICO tokens is the blockchain. When a project team creates a new token, they can either build their coin on top of an existing, mature blockchain protocol standard or build a new lower-layer blockchain protocol.

Different tokens built on top of the same blockchain protocol standard can be stored in the same address and make management of those tokens easier for you.

What is an example?

Take the “Ethereum Protocol” as an example. Most tokens on the market are developed by the “ERC-20” protocol based on Ethereum’s public chain.

“ERC-20” establishes a common set of rules for tokens issued via Ethereum smart contracts, including the underlying technology code of deposit, withdrawal, and transfer between lower-layer accounts. This common set of rules means all the tokens developed based on "ERC-20" standards are compatible with Ethereum’s public chain, which improves the efficiency of communication between different applications (the use cases of ICO tokens).

In an extremely simplified analogy, the public chain is the mobile phone operating system, iOS is the Bitcoin protocol, and Android is the ETH-ERC20 protocol. Each operating system can have a lot of different applications (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc., are like the different ICO tokens). 

Because all tokens built on “ERC-20” standards share the same lower-layer protocol and are built on the same platform, they can be stored within the same wallet address.

Where can I find which platform a token was built on?

To further explore which blockchain protocol each coin uses, visit https://coinmarketcap.com/tokens/. The information under the “Platform” column header shows what platform the token uses. Each platform has its own unique protocol standards.