What is a token, really? A technical explanation of what a DOGE Coin, Shiba Inu (SHIB) Coin, or FTT token is. First, there are two main types of tokens: native tokens and programmatic tokens. Bitcoin and Ether are native tokens – transfers and balances are built directly into the protocol. When you send an Ethereum transaction, you can optionally attach an amount – which can only be denominated in Ether. Balances aren't directly stored on the Blockchain; only transfers are recorded (in practice, most nodes keep track of balances as well).