# What is a sharded token? ### Current Standards Current token standards like [DIP-20](https://github.com/rocklabs-io/ic-token) has all user balances on a single canister (with a possible scaling solution for data storage). All transactions have to go through one canister in a synchronous fashion. While this keeps the model simple, it also limits the scalability of the token to the throughput capacity of a single subnet in the Internet Computer. ### Shards A solution to this scalability problem is to split user accounts into separate shards. To send a transaction, a user sends a transaction to their shard, which then communicates with the recipient's shard to update balances. While this requires 1-3 canister calls per transaction, it allows multiple transactions to be processed asynchronously in parallel. You can read more about this horizontal sharding [here](https://www.techtarget.com/searchoracle/definition/sharding). --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://docs.enoki.ooo/fundamentals/what-is-a-sharded-token.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.