What Is a Frozen Token Account?

You might have come across the following error when swapping or selling a token: ‘Account is frozen’.

So, What Is a Frozen Token Account?

Token creator on the Solana blockchain has a security feature called ‘Freeze Authority’. This will let the creator freeze tokens from being transferred from token accounts.

Why Does the Token Creator Use the ‘Freeze Authority’?

This feature is particularly useful in various cases, for example:

• Security Breach: When there are suspicious activities or hacking incidents, the token creator can freeze tokens to prevent unauthorized transactions and minimize loss.
• Regulatory Compliance: When compliance with legal or regulatory requirements is necessary, the ability to freeze accounts ensures that token issuers can adhere to those.

How Scammers Exploit the ‘Freeze Authority’

Unfortunately, this feature is sometimes being abused and exploited by malicious actors. Basically, this is how they work:

Scammers often create meme tokens with freeze authority, a significant red flag. They then promote the token through airdrops, ICOs, or liquidity pools to attract buyers.

As the token's value increases, more users buy in. Scammers then freeze legitimate token holders' accounts, preventing them from selling or transferring their tokens. Once legitimate holders are stuck, scammers sell their own tokens at inflated prices, making a profit.

How to Protect Yourself

The ability to unfreeze your token account is exclusively dependent on the account with the designated freeze authority, which is usually the token creator. Solscan support cannot help you to unfreeze your tokens.

To protect yourself from such scams, consider the following recommendations:

• Do Some Research: Investigate the token and the team behind it. Teams that are anonymous or unverified should be avoided.
• Freeze Authority Check: Be cautious when acquiring meme tokens with freeze authority enabled.

How to Check if the ‘Freeze Authority’ of a Token Is Burnt on Solscan

You can simply check whether a token’s ‘Freeze Authority’ is still retained or not on Solscan by following the instructions:

1. Go to Solscan.io.
2. Copy and paste the token address in the search bar.
3. Select the correct token in the search result.
4. Click on the drop-down menu of the Authority section.

    - If it is “null”, the freeze authority has been burnt (aka revoked) by the token creator.

    - If it is not, the freeze authority is still enabled. The displayed address is the account that holds the authority to freeze the token.

Conclusion

One type of new go-to honeypot scam is frozen token accounts. Always do your research before investing in any meme tokens. Please note that since Solscan is only a block explorer, we do not have the authority to release or unfreeze any tokens.

If you have any other questions, feel free to reach out to our support team.