Some information about ERC token standards. Links added Manually.
There is some interesting stuff here, if for no other reason than keeping up with the standards and understanding what smart contracts are in use, development, or have been compromised.
Launching tokens may not be the 'next Bitcoin' but there are some fascinating use cases for programmable tokens. There are more than ERC-20 tokens in 2026! Which tokens do you find the most interesting? Does Ethereum still interest you? How has Ethereum changed since the switch to Proof of Stake, and is the Burn enough to create a deflationary environment? Is gas deflation a sustainable policy for an Altcoin? Can tokens be created with varying parameters and proof published so their value can be known? The surge pricing comes to mind, will prices change based on cost or demand? What kinds of interactions will we have on a daily basis in a decade because of programmable tokens? I noticed that some NFT tagged Stuffed Toys may be sold in some stores this Christmas. Will you be able to recognize the Smart Contracts in your life?
(There were 351,274 ERC-20 tokens on January 1, 2021, how many today?)
"Ethereum Request for Comments (ERC) standards are application-level specifications and smart contract blueprints that ensure interoperability across the Ethereum ecosystem. They allow different tokens, wallets, and decentralized applications (dApps) to interact seamlessly without requiring custom code for every integration. The comprehensive list of the most prominent, active, and historical ERC standards is categorized below by their primary functions:
Foundational Token Standards
• ERC-20 (Fungible Tokens): The most widely used framework for interchangeable digital assets where every unit is identical and carries equal value (e.g., stablecoins like USDC, utility tokens, and governance tokens).
• ERC-721 (Non-Fungible Tokens - NFTs): The core blueprint for unique, non-interchangeable digital collectibles, art, domain names, and virtual property ownership.
• ERC-1155 (Multi-Token Standard): A highly efficient "crypto-item" standard that allows a single deployed contract to manage combinations of fungible, semi-fungible, and non-fungible tokens simultaneously, drastically cutting gas costs.
🛡️ Next-Gen & Security-focused Variants
• ERC-223: Designed to prevent accidental token loss by rejecting transactions if ERC-20 tokens are sent directly to a smart contract that isn't built to handle them.
• ERC-777: An evolution of ERC-20 utilizing "Hooks" to allow smart contracts to react dynamically when receiving tokens, though it has largely been deprecated or approached cautiously due to reentrancy vulnerabilities. (Warning: ERC-777 is difficult to implement properly, due to its susceptibility to different forms of attack. It is recommended to use ERC-20 instead.)
• ERC-1363: An extension of ERC-20 that allows code execution immediately after a transfer or approval within a single transaction.
⚖️ Real-World Assets (RWA) & Security Tokens
• ERC-1400: A compliance-heavy library for security tokens consisting of sub-standards (like ERC-1410 and ERC-1594) to manage restricted transfers, legal compliance, and preferred/common share partitions. (Git)
• ERC-3525 (Semi-Fungible Tokens): Built primarily for complex financial instruments (like bonds, fractionalized real estate, or insurance policies) where tokens are fungible within their own sub-category but unique as a whole.
• ERC-3643 (Permissioned Tokens): Also known as the T-REX protocol, this standard leverages an automatic identity-validation system to ensure on-chain tokens strictly abide by traditional financial regulations and KYC compliance. (RWA standard)
• ERC-884: Tokenizes Delaware corporate stock with embedded shareholder verification and automated regulatory compliance registries. (Delaware General Corporations Law (DGCL) compatible share token.)
💳 Approvals, Gas, & Vault Utilities
• ERC-2612 (Permit): Extends ERC-20 by adding a permit function, allowing gasless token approvals through a cryptographic signature rather than an on-chain transaction.
• ERC-4337 (Account Abstraction): Revolutionizes user wallets by turning standard accounts into smart contract wallets, enabling features like social recovery, biometrics, and dApp-sponsored gas fees. (Related EIP-7766: Signature Aggregation for ERC-4337)
• ERC-4626 (Tokenized Vaults): Standardizes the API for yield-bearing DeFi vaults, facilitating much easier integration of yield-bearing shares across liquidity pools and protocols. (eip-4626)
• ERC-6551 (Token-Bound Accounts): Gives every ERC-721 NFT its own smart contract wallet address, allowing an NFT to own other tokens, assets, or execute transactions. ("Abstract: This proposal defines a system which assigns Ethereum accounts to all non-fungible tokens. These token bound accounts allow NFTs to own assets and interact with applications, without requiring changes to existing smart contracts or infrastructure.")
• ERC-2981 (NFT Royalties): A universal interface to signal royalty payment percentages to creators across secondary NFT marketplaces.
🌐 Cross-Chain Standards (Emerging 2024–2026)
• ERC-7683 (Cross-Chain Intents): Standardizes cross-chain filler networks so that users can express a multi-chain intent, ensuring seamless transaction fulfillment regardless of the origin chain.
• ERC-7802 (Cross-Chain Tokens): A unified blueprint specifying how tokens interact when being bridged or transferred between disparate layer-2 networks.
🔍 Utility & Framework Standards
• ERC-165 (Interface Detection): A core protocol standard that allows a smart contract to declare which specific interfaces it supports so other apps know how to interact with it.
Standard Statuses
"If you are developing a smart contract, remember to look up the status of the specific proposal in the Official Ethereum ERC Repository. Standards progress through the stages of Draft, Review, Last Call, and Final."
https://ethereum.org/developers/docs/standards/tokens/
https://web3.career/learn-web3/erc-token-standards
Read more ERC token standards and share what you discover.
Use caution and don't run any code you don't understand.
Smart contracts are being written every day now for the real world.
Can you think of a situation where a decentralized smart contract could help you in your life? What might the smart contract specify? What might execute? Can you imagine a world where a smart contract interacts with a robot you own? Or one where a robot you own uses a smart contract?
@Darkflame