What is an EIP?
An EIPAn EIP is a public proposal to improve Ethereum, written in a standard format and discussed openly before adoption.See it in the glossaryRead the explainer is a numbered, public proposal that describes one change or convention for Ethereum in enough detail that others can build it. The text covers what the proposal does, why, and how it should work. EIP-1 defines the process.
Anyone can submit one. Ethereum has no company that decides, so changes start as a public document that people read, argue about and either adopt or ignore.
EIPs come in a few types. Core EIPs change how the network itself works and need a coordinated network upgrade, which is how EIP-1559 reached everyone. Others are process documents or general guidance. One category covers everyday apps, and its EIPs are called ERCs.
What is an ERC?
An ERCAn ERC is an application-level Ethereum standard, such as the rules for how tokens behave, so apps can work with them.See it in the glossaryRead the explainer is an EIP in the category for application-level standards and conventions, such as token standards. EIP-1 uses ERC as the name of that category and does not spell out the letters. It is commonly read as “Ethereum Request for Comments”.
The difference is who has to act. A Core change requires every node operator to upgrade. An ERC requires nothing from the network. It is an agreement between contract authors and the apps that talk to them: build a token this way, and everyone’s software will understand it.
So every ERC is an EIP, but only EIPs in the application category are called ERCs. The number is the same either way, and “ERC-20” means the standard written up as EIP-20 in that category.
How an EIP becomes a standard
A proposal moves through the fixed statuses defined in EIP-1.
- Idea. A rough concept, usually discussed on a forum. It is not tracked in the EIP repository yet.
- Draft. The first formally tracked stage. An editor accepts it once it is properly formatted.
- Review. The author says it is ready for other people to examine closely.
- Last Call. A final review window, usually about 14 days, once the text is stable.
- Final. The finished standard. A few documents that are never finished, such as EIP-1 itself, are Living.
A proposal that goes quiet for six months or more in Draft, Review or Last Call becomes Stagnant, and it can be revived. A proposal the author pulls is Withdrawn, and its number is never reused.
Final does not mean popular. Plenty of Final ERCs are used by almost nobody, and some widely used conventions took off before they were final. Look at what real contracts do, not only at the status.
Why standards matter
Standards let different software agree on the same shape without ever talking to each other. A token contract that follows ERC-20 offers the same functions with the same names: you can ask for a balance, send tokens or approve someone else to spend.
When a WalletA wallet is the app or device that holds your keys and lets you sign transactions and view your assets.See it in the glossary meets a new TokenA token is a digital asset tracked by a smart contract, such as a stablecoin, a game item or a membership pass.See it in the glossaryRead the explainer, it already knows how to read the name, show the balance and send it. The same holds for exchanges, block explorers and accounting tools. Without a standard, every token would need custom support in every app.
The cost is that a standard also fixes its own weak points in place. ERC-20’s approval model is the clearest example, and it is why token approvals are worth checking now and then.
A map of the standards that matter
Two basics sit underneath all of them: what a smart contract is and what the EVM is. You do not need every standard. These are the ones a user, a founder or an ops team runs into, grouped by the job they do.
ERC-20: money-like tokens. The standard behind stablecoins and most tokens you hold. Every holder has a balance in a shared ledger, and you can let an app spend up to a set amount for you. Start with What is ERC-20. Wrapped versions of ETH and BTC are covered in wrapped tokens explained.
ERC-721 and ERC-1155: collectibles and tickets. ERC-721 makes each item unique, and ERC-1155 lets one contract hold many kinds of items, including ones that come in batches. See ERC-721 vs ERC-1155. Human-readable wallet names are covered in What is ENS.
EIP-1559: fees. It changed how Ethereum charges for transactions, with a base fee that is burned and an optional tip. Gas prices are quoted in GweiA gwei is one billionth of an ETH, the everyday unit for quoting gas prices.See it in the glossaryRead the explainer, a tiny fraction of an ETH. See what gwei is and how gas fees work.
EIP-712 and permits: signatures. Some approvals are made by signing a message instead of sending a transaction. See what you are signing with EIP-712 and permits.
Oracles: outside data. A contract cannot see prices on its own, so oracles bring them in. See blockchain oracles and price feeds explained.
Multisig wallets: shared keys. A MultisigA multisig is a wallet that needs approval from several people before it can move funds.See it in the glossaryRead the explainer is a wallet that needs several people to approve a transaction. It is a contract pattern popularised by Safe, not one standard. See What is a multisig wallet.
ERC-4337 and EIP-7702: smarter accounts. Both let an account follow rules, such as paying fees in another token or batching actions, instead of being a single key. ERC-4337 does this without changing the network. EIP-7702, part of the Pectra network upgrade, lets an ordinary wallet address borrow contract behaviour. See account abstraction and smart accounts.
EIP-1967: upgradeable contracts. A convention for where a ProxyA proxy is a contract at a fixed address that forwards calls to another contract, which lets the logic be upgraded.See it in the glossaryRead the explainer contract stores the address of its current logic. A team can then fix bugs without moving everyone to a new address. See upgradeable proxy contracts explained.
Three more have their own deep dives here:
- ERC-4626 standardises yield vaults, so a share price reads the same way across protocols.
- Permit2 is a Uniswap contract rather than an ERC, but it behaves like a shared convention for approvals.
- ERC-8004 is a registry for AI agent identity and reputation.
See it on a real contract
The card below reads the name and symbol of the Bored Ape Yacht Club contract, an NFT collection that follows ERC-721.
Name and symbol of the Bored Ape Yacht Club contract
Reading live from Ethereum
Inspect Bored Ape Yacht Club in the Contract Inspector
Show the query
bayc.name() + " (" + bayc.symbol() + ")"Every collection that follows the standard answers name() and symbol() the same way, which is why wallets and marketplaces can show any of them. Paste 0xBC4CA0EdA7647A8aB7C2061c2E118A18a936f13D into the Contract Inspector on Ethereum to see the full ERC-721 function list. The tools index has an inspector per standard.
Common mix-ups
- “An ERC is a different thing from an EIP.” Every ERC is an EIP. ERC is the name of the application category.
- “Final means everyone uses it.” Final only means the text is settled. Adoption is a separate question.
- “A standard makes a token safe.” A standard fixes function names, not the behaviour behind them. A fake token can follow ERC-20 perfectly.
- “Every new standard needs a network upgrade.” Only Core EIPs do. An ERC is a convention that contract authors choose to follow.
Summary
- An EIP is a public proposal for Ethereum, and an ERC is an EIP in the application category, such as a token standard.
- A standard fixes the names and behaviour of a contract’s functions, so any wallet can show any token that follows it.
- ERCs need no network upgrade, and Final means the text is settled, not that the standard is widely used.
For developers
Any ERC-20 answers totalSupply() and decimals() the same way, so one expression works across every token. For the function lists behind the standards, see the ABI JSON reference for ERC-20, ERC-721 and ERC-1155.