Many know the token standard of the Ethereum Blockchain “ERC20”. But few people know the new, improved and more powerful ERC777 standard. ERC is the abbreviation for Ethereum Request for Comments and describes a set of standards that have been created for implementation in the Ethereum Blockchain.

The ERC20 standard is known from many Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). Because of this standard, a large number of ICOs have been successfully completed, but it has its limitations. For example, some contracts do not support the ERC20 standard, so tokens could be lost forever.

By contrast, the ERC777 standard is fully compliant with the ERC20 standard, which means that any application that uses ERC20 can also be used with ERC777. ERC777 takes advantage of the strengths of the ERC20 standard and offers some improvements.

For ERC20 tokens, it is often necessary for users to “complete” two transactions in order to interact with the smart contract. First, the status is queried at ERC20 and only then can you use the functions of the contract. That’s not very effective.

For ERC777, a transaction is completely sufficient to use all features of the contract. This reduces the effort required for the Ethereum Blockchain, allowing users to transfer tokens faster and cheaper, and in turn, Ethereum benefits.

Another significant advantage of ERC777 over ERC20 is that millions of losses could be prevented by hacker attacks . For an address compatible with ERC777 (and ERC820) can reject or block certain incoming transactions, such as those coming from an address that is blacklisted. This makes it easier for exchanges to comply with legal regulations, such as Know-Your-Customer (KYC) and the Anti Money Laundering Law (AML), which may favor the Ethereum Blockchain.

In addition, as already mentioned, ERC777 is downwards compatible. This allows all users of the ERC20 standard relatively easy and convenient change. With all the customization and enhancements, ERC777 may allow companies to tailor Ethereum technology to their own needs.

Jaycen Horton is convinced. He works as a CTO at KryptoPal and has been in blockchain business since 2010. With KryptoPal he wants to continue to advance ERC777 and allow people to develop blockchain applications without too much effort.