Adrian Hetman

What the EIP/ERC!?

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In Ethereum world ERC-XXX or EIP-XXXX phrases comes up quite often but for people new to the Ethereum world, this looks quite cryptic.

What is EIP?

EIP stands for Ethereum Improvement Proposal and it is a common way of requesting changes to the Ethereum Network inspired by Bitcoin Improvement Proposals (BIPs). An EIP is a design document covering technical specifications of the proposed change and rationale behind it.

Most often important and ground-breaking technical EIPs are included in the hard-forks that are planned in Ethereum. One of such EIP is EIP-1559 which redesigned how gas fees are being paid to the miners and it will be included in the London hard-fork. This types of EIPs are often discussed only within ethereum developers, but EIP-1559 is different. To have a clue why, check my previous article.

What is ERC?

ERC stands for Ethereum request for comments. These are technical documents written by Ethereum developers for Ethereum community. Each such document contains a set of rules required to implement tokens for the Ethereum ecosystem. To create standards for the Ethereum platform, a developer submits an Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP). Each EIP contains protocol specification and smart contract standards. Once that EIP is approved by a committee and finalized, it becomes an ERC.

You can say ERC is a specific type of EIP. ERCs are application-level conventions and standards, and they may be of different types (token, URI schemes, library etc.)

An EIP may exist in four different states:

  • Draft — open for discussion
  • Accepted — planned for immediate adoption
  • Final — implemented EIP such as ERC-20 or ERC-721 token standard
  • Deferred — dismissed for now.

One of the examples of the ERCs are ERC20 token or NFT standard, ERC721.

Ethereum platform is still evolving, it’s a continuous process which lasts since its moment creation by Vitalik. Every new finalized ERC or EIP changes the way we perceive the Ethereum platform and what we can do with it. That's why it's important to update your knowledge from time to time on different ERCs/EIPs.

To be honest, this is repurposed article I wrote on medium in 2018. I had a quite a rough day. In the moment of writing this words I’m still working (it’s 10:30PM), my arm is sore from the vaccination, and I feel quite shitty personally. No matter of the day, an article needs to be written (or old one repurposed) so I won’t miss a day. Having something constant can make it a bit easier, helps you take your mind of things. Well, enough of my rambling!
Tomorrow I will write an update on the blogging journey and the challenge I took upon myself.

Have a good day and remember to take care of your self!