Native and ERC-20 FET tokens

The Fetch.ai (FET) token is the utility token and the key medium of exchange on the Fetch.ai network. FET can be used to pay for services in the Fetch ecosystem and network transaction fees. Users can also choose to stake FET to participate in securing the network via its Proof-of-Stake (PoS) consensus mechanism and earn rewards in return for contributing to validator nodes.

The Fetch.ai team initially developed the FET utility token on an ERC-20 contract (opens in a new tab) on the Ethereum network while finishing the work on the Fetch.ai native main network (Main-net). This helped developers across the world get their hands on the FET tokens earlier and kickstart the process of developing innovative solutions within the Fetch.ai ecosystem. FET, as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum contract has never been Fetch.ai's end game because the Ethereum chain does not offer the degree of scalability needed by the kinds of applications the Fetch.ai ecosystem aims for.

With the launch of the Fetch.ai Mainnet, the native FET became available. This meant that users operating on the Fetch.ai network no longer needed to hold any token (e.g. ETH or BTC) associated with any other network. It is only the native FET token that fuels the Fetch.ai ecosystem and its applications.

ERC-20 FET tokens are still in circulation and currently co-exist with native FET tokens and can be transferred from one to the other easily on the Fetch.ai network. All of the ERC-20 FET tokens will ultimately become native FET tokens, but in the foreseeable future both will live side by side. FET tokens can be purchased from different centralized or decentralized exchanges (opens in a new tab).

However, keep in mind that certain exchanges may buy or sell one type of FET or the other.