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A Guide to Ethereum Standards: ERC, EIP, and More

The Ethereum blockchain keeps welcoming more developers every day, but just how many of them are closely familiar with ERC and EIP standards? Let’s explore Ethereum standards and find out their individual use-cases.

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The world of crypto is still highly influenced by the largest ecosystems — Bitcoin and Ethereum — despite the highly emergent growth of new Layer-1 chains that solve the most pressing issues in blockchain.

Although Bitcoin is still the most dominant cryptocurrency, the development infrastructure of Ethereum is more robust and effective for both beginners and advanced programmers. The most popular of Ethereum standards, ERC-20, covers a whopping 50% of the entire ETH blockchain.

Ethereum standards make it possible for developers to interact with blockchains through mutual agreements between the creator and computer programs that surround them.

In general computing, a protocol or standard is regarded as a Request For Comment that has a number associated with it; In the world of blockchain, specifically the Ethereum chain, development and token standards are called ERCEthereum Request for Comments.

ERCs are rules that apply to Ethereum chain-powered tokens, which can have different types and applications, thus numbered differently.

Another standard that helps developers stay on the same page is the Ethereum Improvement Proposal, EIP, which only applies to the decentralized Ethereum community which governs itself by having its users submit and vote on proposals.

DAOs other than the Ethereum community also have the option to work with a number of EIP standards that achieve different goals. ERC and EIP standards are closely related, and the following list will demonstrate why.

How ERC Standards are Created

  1. Improvement-seeking developers within the Ethereum ecosystem submit their suggestions — new ERC policies — in the form of Ethereum Improvement Proposals (EIPs)
  2. Both other developers and blockchain experts review the documents submitted by the aforementioned parties
  3. If the submission is missing something according to the reviewers, the submitter may be asked for a revision or comment
  4. If the ERC policy submission is accepted by the ETH community, open-source developers can proceed with its implementation

Now that we have covered the creation and improvement process of ERC standards, it is time to explore specific examples and discuss what they were designed for.

ERC-20

ERC-20 is the most popular Ethereum-based token standard because it is likely the easiest to interact with, and has top-notch compatibility for smart contract creation.

With ERC-20, there is no need for customization when developing or writing boilerplate code. As mentioned earlier, around 50% of the Ethereum blockchain is made up of ERC-20 tokens, which makes this standard very influential.

ERC-165

ERC-165 is often misunderstood by the newcomers because it isn’t designed for a general purpose. This standard makes it possible for standards other than ERC-20 to interact with each other, as there is no built-in way for them to work together.

Without ERC-165, the working of other standards like ERC-721 would be very limited as a result of compatibility issues.

ERC-721

Just like ERC-20 is the most popular solution for fungible tokens, ERC-721 is the standard for NFTs. Some of the most popular NFT platforms like Axiom Zen have implemented ERC-721 for their rules to be made transparent, and tokens — unique.

ERC-621

ERC-621 is quite a simple standard within the Ethereum blockchain. It makes it possible to increase or decrease the supply of tokens using built-in functions.

ERC-777

This standard is quite an essential one that helps reduce friction in on-chain transactions. The ERC-20 standard is relatively slow compared to what other layer-1 chains offer today, and this has a reason.

The criteria of a complete blockchain transaction must be met in 2 steps — one for the main transaction, the other one for verification. ERC-777 reduces the number of operations to complete a transaction, which reduces said friction.

ERC-827

ERC-827 makes it possible for users to approve third parties to spend tokens in dynamic amounts. This way, tokens can be reused after the conditions are agreed by the transactors.

Other, less common ERC standards include:

  • ERC-223. This standard helps protect users from token loss that comes with ERC-20 tokens by not burning lost tokens.
  • ERC-884. A standard that helps tokenize stocks according to recent US State of Delaware legislation. ERC-884 also verified identities, record share transfers, lists shareholders upon request, and more.
  • ERC-865. This standard assists crypto beginners in finding out how much they have to pay in gas or miner fees.
  • ERC-1155. A standard powering the most advanced NFTs that can be used for real-world applications like supply chain management, tracking of items, and much more.

EIP Standards

After the concept of EIPs was created and published by the leader of the Ethereum Foundation, Vitalik Buterin, it has changed the landscape of cryptocurrencies and decentralization forever.

Crypto communities became empowered to submit their proposals and vote on others’ proposals to create the most optimal solutions for the entire user-base. We will now cover the most popular EIP standards that help communities thrive and remain decentralized.

EIP-20

EIP-20 acts as the fundamental framework for developing smart contracts, similar to how ERC-20 is the most popular token standard that appears in most ICOs.

The rise of stablecoins like USDT and USDC has accelerated the adoption of the EIP-20 standard, and made it one of essential paradigms in blockchain development.

EIP-721

As you may have already recognized, EIP-721 has the same number as ERC-721. The reason for this is that EIP-721 is also the NFT standard within the ETH ecosystem, just on the side of the community.

This standard provided the basic ways of transacting with non-fungible tokens, and helped NFTs reach mass adoption in the cryptosphere.

EIP-1559

This standard is closely associated with network fees. EIP-1559 assists in reducing the supply of ETH by burning base network fees instead of paying them to miners. Over 200k ETH was burned in the first month of the EIP-1559 release.

This standard has helped the ETH ecosystem become more deflationary, dramatically increasing the demand for ETH.

EIP-3675

EIP-3675 is not a general standard used commonly because the implementation is still subject to change. However, it is as crucial as other standards because it has introduced the grand transition from proof-of-work to proof-of-stake on the Ethereum blockchain.

More significant changes are coming with EIP-3675, which will make ETH more scalable, efficient, and eco-friendly.

Conclusion

It is easy to get distracted or lost between the numerous different Ethereum standards, and we hope this post has helped you recognize the most common standards at least a little bit better.

Reading ERC standards, just like RFC in general computing, can be an uncomfortable task, but the more familiar you become with them, the more chances you have to orchestrate this blockchain like no one has before.

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