All terms
The person who deployed a token. Used as both a job title and an accusation.
In a meme coin context, the dev is whoever deployed the contract, regardless of whether they wrote any code. Dev sold and dev rugged are among the most common phrases in the category, and dev based is the opposite.
What matters is not the label but what the deploying address can still do and still holds. Whether mint authority was revoked, whether the deployer retains supply, and whether their wallet has been selling are all public.
A deployer with no remaining privileges and no large holding cannot hurt you much. One with either can, whatever the group chat says about them.
A deployer address that revoked mint and freeze authority at launch and holds nothing, versus one still holding a quarter of supply.
That the dev is a team. On most small tokens it is one anonymous person who deployed a contract in a few minutes, holds a large share of the supply, and can stop answering at any time. The word makes it sound more substantial than it is.
Common questions
What does "dev" mean in a token community?
What does "dev sold" mean?
Where to go next
More culture terms
Want this explained out loud?
Some of these land faster in conversation than in writing. Sessions are one to one and you can ask anything, including the things that feel too obvious to ask.