What is ERC-20?

Question

What is ERC-20?

Accepted Answer

The **ERC-20** (Ethereum Request for Comments 20) is the foundational technical standard used for creating and issuing **fungible tokens** on the Ethereum blockchain, providing a common set of rules that ensure interoperability across the entire Ethereum ecosystem, including wallets, exchanges, and decentralized applications (dApps). Proposed by Fabian Vogelsteller in 2015, this standard defines a mandatory set of six functions and two events that a token smart contract must implement, which has since enabled the creation of thousands of digital assets, including stablecoins like USDC and utility tokens for Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols.

ERC-20

What is ERC-20?

What are the mandatory functions and events of the ERC-20 standard, and how do they ensure token interoperability?

How did the ERC-20 standard become the primary catalyst for the rise of the Initial Coin Offering (ICO) boom and the subsequent growth of Decentralized Finance (DeFi)?

What are the key limitations and known issues of the ERC-20 standard, and how have newer standards like ERC-223 and ERC-777 attempted to address them?

When considering the broader crypto infrastructure, what are the primary use cases for ERC-20 tokens beyond simple currency, such as in stablecoins and governance?

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