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The ERC-721 standard is a technical specification used for the development of non-fungible tokens (NFT) on Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) compatible blockchains. This standard allows developers to create tokens with different features and different values based on EVM. Tokens based on ERC-721 are unique and cannot be exchanged with other tokens.
The main goal of this standard is to create unique tokens that have their intrinsic value from certain features such as rarity, and these tokens provide the possibility of recording the value and identity of their owner in the Ethereum blockchain. In fact, this standard provides for the creation of a new ecosystem of tokens that, using the concept of digital storage, records the value and identity of the owner of these assets.
Applications of this standard in the world of digital currencies include the following:
Use of ERC-721 tokens in digital or physical art auctions.
Buy and sell rare items in games using tokens made according to this standard.
Tokenization of assets and smart contracts based on ERC-721.
Converting various financial matters into tradable tokens.
Creating software licenses with a unique identity.
Ensuring that there is no fraud in the sale of tickets to concerts or sporting events.
Use as an authentication tool with unique and unrepeatable features.
In this section, it should be noted that the structure of the ERC-721 standard seems to be similar to the structure of ERC-20 based tokens. Also, these two standards and tokens based on them have differences in terms of smart contracts. Among the most important features of tokens based on the ERC-721 standard, the following can be mentioned:
ERC-721 tokens have a name that is used to communicate with external applications and determine identity.
This standard allows decentralized applications or dApps to access tokens with a short name.
Each token based on this standard has an address that is located in a specified field.
Each token has a defined field of owner functions, the main use of which is to determine the ownership of the token and its transfer method.
ERC-721 tokens have a field called “Owners” which can guarantee the immutability and identification of the token.
The most famous tokens based on the ERC-721 standard. The ERC-721 standard is considered one of the best blockchain standards. Among the decentralized games based on the Ethereum blockchain, the Cryptokitties game uses this standard and is known as one of the most famous games in this category. will be Using ERC-721, this game creates unique digital collectibles in the form of kittens. Each cat in this game has a unique price that is determined by users.
Many NFTs today use the ERC-721 standard. As an example, we introduce a series of the most famous NFTs based on this standard below:
This project, which uses ERC-721 to create image tokens of different people, has quickly become one of the most popular NFT projects.
This collection of digital tokens with 10,000 different characters is known as one of the first NFT projects of ERC-721.
Launched in 2022, this collection of adorable 3D animal tokens uses ERC-721 to create these tokens and has quickly gained a leading position.
The difference between ERC-20 standard and ERC-721 according to the issues discussed in this section revealed that these two standards are similar in some features such as the structure of tokens and the type of smart contract. However, despite these similarities, there are important differences between the two standards and the tokens built upon them:
ERC-721 tokens are non-transferable, or NFTs, while ERC-20 tokens are not.
ERC-721-based tokens are not divisible, meaning they cannot be divided into smaller fractions, whereas ERC-20 tokens can.
