| operations |
| comment | | "parent_author":"",<br>"parent_permlink":"cryptocurrency",<br>"author":"cvolckaert",<br>"permlink":"ethereum-token-standards",<br>"title":"Ethereum Token Standards",<br>"body":"One of the primary use cases of the Ethereum blockchain is the ability to issue tokens on top of it. From initial coin offerings (ICO) to virtual real estate,<br> a variety of different tokens and token-backed assets are available for users to interact with on the Ethereum network. Here,<br> I\u2019d like to go through the variety of token standards that exists on Ethereum and explain both their usage and constraints. \n\nThese standards affect how the smart contracts(the code scripts that run on the Ethereum blockchain) can be constructed. When someone wants to issue a token,<br> they have to import the smart contract of the token standard they want to issue,<br> and are then constrained to that contract,<br> which will enforce the standards set by the Ethereum community. \n\nThe most popular of these standards is the ERC (Ethereum request for comment) 20 standard. ERC20 allows a programmer to set up a token,<br> limit it\u2019s supply and set functions which allow people to transfer the tokens between them. This is the common way that one can have an ICO,<br> and most of the Ethereum based tokens on the market are ERC20 tokens,<br> such as Augur,<br> Golem,<br> and Decentraland.\n\nHowever,<br> since then a variety of token standards have been proposed to expand the functionality of the ERC20 standard and to ensure greater security. ERC621 allows the smart contract to have increase and decrease supply functionality,<br> which can be called at some point in the future to change the supply,<br> as opposed to vanilla ERC20 tokens which can only have a single issuance event. ERC827 allows a third party to control the use and supply of a token balance,<br> allowing more complex economic relationships where a trusted party,<br> given proper permission,<br> is able to have access to the tokens. This could be useful for a variety of apps or financial holding situations such as wallets or allowing a trusted financial agent to act on behalf of the token holder. ERC223 is a security functionality that allows the party receiving tokens to disapprove or take other actions when receiving funds,<br> which can prevent lost money or help take other actions if receiving funds in that context is problematic. \n\nDifferent from the above are ERC721 tokens. These tokens are known as non-fungible tokens. Fungible means that any unit of the good is identical to another. hink dollar bills: one dollar bill is functionally indistinguishable from another,<br> and can be used just the same. Non-fungible means that each unit of the good is unique. This is desirable for creating collectible goods and creating digital scarcity and uniqueness. This token standard is used for the popular Cryptokitties game and for Decentraland real estate plots. It would be very problematic if your virtual real estate was not able to be unique! In addition ERC721 establishes that a token cannot be divided into units,<br> in other words one Cryptokitty will be one unit of kitty. (If you wanted,<br> you could create a ERC20 token to divide up ownership of that token!) This standard is guiding the burgeoning field of cryptocurrency collectibles and blockchain-based games.\n\nFinally,<br> the proposed ERC820 standard aims to create a smart contract registry to collect information on different addresses that can be queried to reveal what kind of interface each address uses. This would make it easy for developers and users to figure out what standards and interfaces the community is using,<br> and help them make design decisions about creating their own projects.\n\nAs Ethereum and the blockchain space develop,<br> the types of proposals and standards are bound to change. Understanding the motivations and functionality of previous token standards will help you navigate the dynamic world of decentralized computing and ownership!",<br>"json_metadata":" \"tags\":[\"cryptocurrency\",<br>\"ethereum\",<br>\"blockchain\",<br>\"crypto\",<br>\"bitcoin\" ,<br>\"app\":\"steemit\/0.1\",<br>\"format\":\"markdown\" " |
|