Discover everything about the different Ethereum standards like ERC20, ERC721, ERC1155 and more

According to DefiLlama, Ethereum leads in terms of Total Value Locked (TVL) around $24 billion with an ecosystem of over 800 decentralised applications (dApps) based on the blockchain. 

The data above signifies the popularity and robustness of Ethereum– the second-largest blockchain network in the world. With its genesis block created in July 2015 by Vitalik Buterin and Gavin Wood, the network has successfully managed to become the top choice for upcoming crypto projects. 

And the prime reason for the ever-growing usage and popularity of Ethereum is the development and maintenance of various crypto token standards by the ETH community. Some of the famous token standards include ERC20, ERC721, and ERC1155, which form the backbone of most of the stablecoins, NFTs and DeFi projects today. 

This article comprehensively explains ERC standards and their pros & cons. Moreover, it also lists down different types of ERC tokens and standards widely used today. 

What is meant by ERC Standards?

ERC stands for 'Ethereum Request for Comments.' It is essentially a set of technical documentation comprising guidelines and standards for creating and managing smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain. ERC standards  state certain rules and guidelines that developers need to follow to ensure compatibility between the applications and the network.

While Ethereum allows developers to create tokens that do not follow any crypto token standards, such tokens lack functionality and composability with other features of the network. Therefore, to enable features like transaction processing, fungibility/non-fungibility, security, and more, adhering to ERC standards is important. 

Pros & Cons of ERC Standards

 PROS

• Facilitates composability and interaction between applications and the network
• Enhances the functionality of the network
• Enables features like token transfer functions, ownership, security and much more
• Establishes a common language and set of guidelines for developers

CONS

•  Requires proper knowledge of blockchain and programming for one to understand 
•  Ethereum's core development team evaluates new token standards, causing uncertainty and delay in the deployment

The Ultimate List of All ERC Standards

Let us have a look at an ERC tokens list comprising of 10 most-used token standards nowadays –

ERC20 

ERC20 was one of the first Ethereum token protocols proposed in November 2015 by Fabian Vogelsteller that implements standards for fungible or interchangeable tokens. ERC20 Tokens show functionalities like balanceOf() for token balance checking, transfer() for token transfer, and approve() for transaction authorization. Due to their fungible nature, ERC20 tokens are suitable for stablecoins, utility and security tokens. Some famous ERC20 tokens are Ethereum(ETH), Chainlink(LINK), Tether(USDT) and Uniswap(UNI).

ERC165 

ERC165, earlier known as EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) 165 is a standard that allows smart contracts to run type introspection, an exercise of determining the properties of an object at runtime. Thus, ERC165 standard enables a smart contract to detect whether another contract implements certain features or not. 

ERC621

ERC621 standard plays a key role in increasing and decreasing the total supply of circulation. This standard enhances the functionality of ERC20 tokens allowing them to be burned or redeemed for another asset. 

ERC721 

Heard of NFTs? The ERC721 standard is the building block behind these Non-fungible Tokens. Unlike the ERC20, ERC721 tokens offer rarity and uniqueness. This means no ERC721 token is the same as another ERC721 token. Each NFT consists of a unique address and metadata (name or image) stored on the Ethereum network – making it easy to verify and transfer them.

ERC777 

ERC777 offers extra features over the ERC20 tokens such as an emergency recover function in case the private key gets lost and a mixer contract for enhanced transaction privacy.  

ERC827 

Proposed in 2018, ERC827 is an Ethereum token standard that increases the functionality of ERC20 tokens by allowing users to transfer both data and currency simultaneously. 

ERC865

ERC865 standard plans to reduce the transaction fee incurred by the users by introducing a function called 'transferPreSigned' – allowing a third party to pay the gas fees. This is helpful for dApps dealing with numerous token transfers. 

ERC884 

ERC884 is a proposed Ethereum standard that allows fractional ownership of assets across the blockchain. As fractional shares are economical, more users will adopt the network to buy the assets. 

ERC1155

Proposed in 2018 by Witek Radomski (Enjin's CTO), the ERC1155 standard enables the development of fungible, semi-fungible and non-fungible tokens on a single contract. This has led to a  significant reduction in the number of transactions required to manage multiple types of ERC tokens and hence significantly increased the efficiency of the network.

ERC4626

ERC4626 standard is specially designed for yield-bearing vaults as it provides guidelines to optimize and combine their technical parameters. It can be beneficial for aggregators, lenders, and users as well to find the best yield for their crypto tokens.  

Conclusion

ERC standards have been the driving force behind the growth and development of the Ethereum network. They provide a common set of guidelines for developers to build Native Tokens, DeFi projects, NFTs, etc. on the platform while ensuring the compatibility of these projects with other Ethereum-based applications as well. Therefore, following ERC standards is crucial for building functional, feature-rich, and seamless Ethereum-based applications.