With the rise of web3, the ERC 721 standard has become increasingly popular and shown increasing importance with NFTs becoming increasingly popular in various industries. So what’s special about ERC 721? Let’s find out with the Weakhand team in this article.
What is ERC 721?
Introducing ERC 721
ERC 721 is a standard that the Ethereum community determined to create a non-fungible token (NFT). In other words, ERC 721 is a kind of standard – a template or format that developers agree on to be able to create smart contracts (Smart Contracts) for NFT assets easily and affordably. can be reused.
So what is Non-Fungible Token (NFT)?
NFT stands for Non – fungible token which is a type of token that represents a unique and non-fungible asset. In other words, we cannot interchange 2 NFTs with each other like the usual way with tokens (for example, 2 Ethereum tokens can be interchanged because they have the same value but 2 Azuki NFTs cannot be interchanged. because they have different attributes and rarities). Each NFT is distinguished from each other by an identifier called TokenID. I have a detailed article about what NFT is in the NFT Panorama series, everyone can read more here.
History of formation of ERC 721
ERC 721 was originally proposed by Dieter Shirley as Ethereum Improvement Proposal EIP 721 in January 2018. Anyone can submit a proposal to improve the EIP, but it must go through a review and revision process before being accepted by the community as an ERC standard. ERC 721 has contributed to becoming an important step for the development of NFT applications on the Ethereum platform.
How Does the ERC 721 Standard Work?
The ERC 721 standard includes eight mandatory functions and two optional functions that developers can implement in their smart contracts to create and manage digital assets, ensuring uniqueness. of them and allows assets to be traded by transferring ownership from one person to another.
Smart Contract ERC 721
These functions written in the Solidity programming language help users decide details about the information on which the NFT is created such as: Owner, name of token, symbol, etc.
Benefits of ERC 721 for NFTs
The ERC 721 standard brings many benefits to digital assets, including:
- Ownership: ERC 721 allows users to securely and transparently own, transfer, and manage digital assets, increasing the security and transparency of their assets.
- Interactive abillity: ERC 721 ensures seamless interoperability of NFTs with various marketplaces, wallets and dApps on the Ethereum network, providing widespread accessibility and utility to users.
- Rarity and uniqueness: ERC 721 NFTs represent digital assets that demonstrate uniqueness and are difficult to replace, making them valuable to collectors and creators.
- Programming capabilities: The ERC 721 standard provides creators with many additional programmable capabilities for their NFTs, including royalties, in-development properties, and in-game widgets.
- Intellectual property rights: ERC 721 can help users protect their intellectual property rights by providing artists and creators with the means to track the use and sale of NFTs.
With so many of the above benefits, the ERC 721 token standard offers wide and diverse uses for NFTs in many fields such as art, games and others.
Use Cases for ERC 721 NFT
ERC 721 NFT opens a new door with a variety of use cases below are some popular use cases:
Use cases of the ERC 721 standard
- Gaming: ERC 721 is widely used in games on the Ethereum blockchain. Each game includes NFTs as in-game assets that players can trade, buy or sell.
- Digital art and collectibles: ERC 721 NFT has revolutionized the digital industry by providing artists with a way to monetize their work.
- Domain: Domain name projects such as: Ethereum Name Service (ENS), SpaceID,… use ERC 721 NFT tokens to represent user identities on the blockchain.
- Tickets, certificates: ERC 721 NFT can be used to create tickets for events such as concerts, conferences or used for educational certificates,… allowing for safe storage and Avoid tampering with important information on the blockchain.
- Applications in Defi: Today, users can use ERC 721 NFT in Defi protocols such as: Lending, Yield Farming,…
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Popular ERC 721 NFT Projects
The majority of NFTs currently on Ethereum are built according to the ERC 721 standard. Below are some popular projects:
- CryptoPunks: is a collection of 10,000 NFTs in the form of 24 x 24 pixel, 8-bit style art images of misfits and eccentrics. CryptoPunks is considered one of the oldest collections to appear on Ethereum.
- Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC): is a collection of 10,000 NFTs launched in April 2021 featuring images of bored apes randomly generated from over 170 different characteristics.
- Axie Infinity (AXS): Is a game that opens the Play To Earn movement, giving users the ability to make money when participating in gaming.
- The Sandbox Game: Is a decentralized virtual reality platform developed on the Ethereum platform. NFTs are used to represent assets such as plots of land, buildings, and other assets. Users can buy, sell and trade these assets on the open market.
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As the popularity of NFTs continues to grow, the ERC-721 standard plays an important role in the development and deployment of new applications and use cases. With the expansion of the Web3 ecosystem, we can see more and more projects leveraging the unique properties of ERC-721 tokens to bring innovative solutions to various industries.
