- August 6, 2026
OpenZeppelin
OpenZeppelin
Ten years ago, OpenZeppelin Contracts began as an open source library for a handful of blockchain developers who needed one thing: smart contract code they could trust.
Today it is the most widely adopted smart contract library in the world, and the foundation of onchain finance.
From library to standard
When we released the first version of OpenZeppelin Contracts in 2016, secure smart contract development meant writing everything from scratch and hoping for the best. OpenZeppelin Contracts changed that. Battle-tested implementations of ERC-20, ERC-721, access control, and upgradeability patterns gave developers a foundation that had already survived adversarial review, so every protocol no longer had to relearn the same lessons at its own expense.
A decade later, the numbers tell the story:
- $36T+ in value transferred via OpenZeppelin Contracts
- $120B+ in total value locked in protocols that run on the library
- 9 of the top 10 stablecoins by market capitalization run on OpenZeppelin Contracts
- 10 of the top 10 tokenized money market funds by market capitalization run on OpenZeppelin Contracts
Open any leading protocol on a block explorer and the first lines are often the same: an import from OpenZeppelin. Uniswap's position manager inherits OpenZeppelin's ERC-721 implementation. The largest stablecoins and tokenized funds from the world's biggest issuers and asset managers rely on the same primitives available to any developer, for free, since day one.
Why institutions trust a public library
The pattern that made OpenZeppelin Contracts the default for developers is the same one that makes it credible for regulated finance: the code is public, reviewed continuously by the largest security community in the industry, and hardened by ten years of production use across every market condition.
For banks, asset managers, and payment networks moving onchain, that history matters. Security is not a feature added at the end. It starts with the primitives, and the primitives that secure the most value in this industry are open source.
The next ten years
Onchain finance is no longer an experiment. Stablecoins settle real payment volume, tokenized funds hold real treasuries, and the institutions entering the space inherit a security standard that took a decade to earn.
OpenZeppelin Contracts remains free, open source, and maintained by the same team that has secured this industry since 2015.
Here's to the next ten.
FAQ
What is OpenZeppelin Contracts?
OpenZeppelin Contracts is an open source library of secure, reusable smart contract components for Ethereum and EVM-compatible networks. First released in 2016, it provides audited implementations of token standards such as ERC-20 and ERC-721, along with access control, governance, upgradeability patterns, and more.
How widely used is OpenZeppelin Contracts?
More than $36T in value has been transferred via OpenZeppelin Contracts. 9 of the top 10 stablecoins and 10 of the top 10 tokenized money market funds by market capitalization run on the library, and protocols securing $120B+ in total value locked depend on it.
Is OpenZeppelin Contracts free to use?
Yes. OpenZeppelin Contracts is open source and free under the MIT license. It is available through npm as @openzeppelin/contracts and on GitHub, and is maintained by OpenZeppelin, the blockchain security company founded in 2015.