Enhancing the Identification and Design of Token Smart Contracts on the Ethereum Blockchain

Abstract

In the world of cryptocurrency, the word “token” simply refers to digital assets owned by individuals. Although, contextually, it can have different meanings, the term token usually refers to cryptocurrency denominations. Tokens utilise other blockchains, which are not native cryptocurrency. Consider ERC-20 as an example. ERC-20 utilises the Ethereum blockchains but it is not Ethereum’s native cryptocurrency. Tokens have multiple use-cases like in the form of governance tokens, in decentralised financial (DeFi) sector, as NFTs and many more. Ethereum, being the first programmable blockchain and the second largest cryptocurrency, has the most popular tokens used by millions everyday be it for DeFi, governance, or in the form of NFTs. Since the tokens are built upon the robust and decentralised infrastructure of blockchain, they are automatically secure and privacy-oriented. Through this paper, we present a detailed and structured study on classification of these standard Ethereum tokens.