The ERC-20 token is technical standard for every fungible token used to issue and implement tokens on the Ethereum Blockchain. Being a fungible token means that it has a property that makes each token’s value and type exactly the same as another token.
For example, one ERC20 token will always be equal to other tokens. This kind of token are also called fungible tokens.
Blockchain veteran Fabin Vogelstellar proposed ERC-20 in the year 2015 as a solution to standardize tokens within Ethereum smart contracts. He used Ethereum’s GitHub page to propose his idea and it actually got noticed.
Since his comment was the 20th comment on the page, it was naturally assigned the designation, ERC-20. It wasn’t changed after that.
Functions a compliant ERC20 token must be able to implement ⛓
These functions are able to:
- Provide information about the total supply of a token
- Give an account balance of the owner’s account
- Transfer a specific number of tokens to a specific address
- Move a specific number of tokens from a specified address
- Allow users to withdraw tokens from specific accounts
- Provide information about a set number of tokens from a spender to the owner
This particular standard also allows an address to give allowance to another address to be able to retrieve tokens from it. For this, we require wallets.
👀 Related
Best ERC-20 compliant wallets 👛
An ERC-20 wallet is a wallet that lets you manage the token standard. Let’s look at some suitable ones you can use.
- Metamask (if you don’t know how, learn to create and set up your MetaMask account here)
- Coinbase
- Atomic Wallet
- Trezor
Overall, ERC-20 tokens provide a solid base for developing any fungible token on the Ethereum Blockchain which makes it awfully convenient for developers to build with.
