Three questions lead to the essence of Web3: ERC-3475 dialogue ERC-3525

Original title: "On Sword Web3: ERC-3475 Dialogue with ERC-3525"

Original author: Old Yuppie, FastDaily

October 2022 14th, D/Bond CPO, EIP-3475 The main author Liu Yu and Will, the co-founder of Solv Protocol and the main author of EIP-3525, jointly held a roundtable meeting on the theme of ERC-3475 dialogue ERC-3525. Based on the characteristics and design concepts of the two major standards, ERC-3475 and ERC-3525, the two conducted in-depth discussions on the essence of the Token protocol standard, the specific application of SBT, the importance of Metadata on the chain, and the essence of Web3. and a confrontation of opinions.

Both API standards, ERC-3475 and ERC-3525, have multi-layered data structures, so both claim that they can be used to build decentralized bonds, etc. Senior Financial Assets. And because of the coincidence of their use cases, the outside world is full of comparisons, discussions, and even doubts about these two standards.

A Discussion: The Essence of the Token Protocol Standard

According to Will, the main author of EIP-3525, Token is the carrier of digital assets, and its core mainly includes two components ——Ownership and Transfer, that is, ownership and transfer.

"The core of the so-called digital asset model, from the perspective of users, is actually two things, one is Ownership, that is, the relationship of the owner; the other is Transfer, that is, the relationship of transfer." 

——Will

In contrast, Liu Yu, the author of EIP-3475, believes that from a global perspective, the essence of Token is actually a format for data storage and reading and writing.

"The so-called Token protocol standard is essentially a data storage format. From this perspective, Transfer is essentially a Key => Value is reduced from 1 to 0, and at the same time, another Key => Value is changed from 0 to 1. The underlying logic is actually a data structure, and the entire Transfer is actually a complete The process of reading and writing.”

——Liu Yu

When we are discussing the Token ontology At that time, Token can be regarded as a carrier from the perspective of users like Will. The interaction between the user and the wallet actually involves the operation of this carrier, and the ownership relationship between the address and the Token is actually a proof of possession.

Compared to Will, the same problem is more abstract in Liu Yu's perspective. But in fact, as he said, if we draw our attention to the scope of the overall situation, we will realize that the ontology of Token is actually a smart contract, in which a set of standard data storage forms are used to record corresponding tokens. The number of tokens held by the address.

The host also put forward his own opinions on this topic. After the two sides summarized, the host introduced the topic of SBT (soul binding token), And introduced its concept in detail, and asked guests about it.

For SBT, the guests on both sides explained their views from their own perspectives. From it, we can also get a glimpse of the focus of the two protocols, ERC-3475 and ERC-3525.

The core of ERC-3525 is possession and transfer (Ownership and Transfer), which uses a two-tier structure to establish a two-tier asset model, so that the agreement can simultaneously It has the characteristics of ERC-20 and ERC-721. At the same time, the relatively open nature of ERC-3525 makes it compatible with protocols such as ERC-721 or ERC-5192.

ERC-3475 starts from the whole and emphasizes the format of data reading and writing. As a non-transferable Token, SBT's core is actually a standard data storage space. The definition of Token as an object should depend on the parameters in the data storage. Compared with ERC-3525 without explanation, these parameters will be stored on the chain in the form of Metadata in ERC-3475 and provide a complete solution.

Second Discussion: The Importance of Metadata on the Chain

In traditional ERC- 721 and ERC- In the 1155 scheme, Metadata is usually stored off-chain in the form of Url. This is because the virtual machine's reading of variables needs to be defined in advance. Therefore, a structure that can read and write data both on-chain and off-chain is extremely important for any protocol. On this point, Will and LiuYu also reached an agreement.

However, according to Will, the core idea of ERC-3525 is that less is more or that entities should not be added if unnecessary. Therefore, when designing the protocol, it did not integrate any on-chain data storage solutions.

At the same time, Will believes that we do not need to consider specific application scenarios for the design of the Token protocol. Instead, it should combine the characteristics of the protocol itself and bring it into a scenario suitable for the protocol. For example, the most notable feature of ERC-3525 is its two-tier asset model, so it can be reasonably applied in scenarios such as bonds or SBT.

Liu Yu first asked Will about how to store on-chain data in the specific bond or SBT product design in the EIP-3525 document. After receiving Will's answer of "Don't increase the entity if it is not necessary", Liu Yu explained the design idea of the ERC-3475 on-chain Metadata storage.

In Liu Yu's view, the Token standard is like a wheel, and there are usually two ideas for the invention of the wheel:

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1. People saw a problem that could not be solved or could not be properly solved by existing solutions, and then directedly invented a wheel to solve the problem.

2. People first invent the wheel, and then find suitable usage scenarios for it.

For these two ideas, Liu Yu agrees more with the first one. In his view, the result will determine the process, the method and the purpose of the beginning will also determine the outcome and direction of things, and this is where the differences between him and Will, or ERC-3475 and ERC-3525 lie.

Three Discussions: Web3’s What is the essence? Why do we need Web3?

Liu Yu at Will's During the communication, I asked:

“What is the reason for the appearance of the tool? If there is no problem to be solved, then the tool Can it still be called a tool?"

For this question, Will said:

“I’m really afraid that our own preaching will limit everyone’s imagination.” 

——Will

The concept of Web3 has not been clearly defined until now. There is even a saying in the industry that "there are a hundred Web3 in the eyes of a hundred people". In fact, this is understandable. The topics involved in Web3 from its birth to the present are indeed too broad, and it covers all kinds of things in the world.

Therefore, Will believes that Builder should not try to outline specific usage scenarios for a protocol, because this may greatly limit people's imagination of protocol applications. He believes that the solution may appear before the problem that needs to be solved, and we only need to bring a protocol with certain characteristics into the application scenario that is compatible with it.

However, Liuyu does not think so. He thinks that the essence of Web3 is actually to find a problem that Web2 cannot solve or cannot solve well, and then provide it with An efficient solution. At the same time, this solution should have a certain degree of versatility, so that when encountering similar problems, it can still be solved easily.

“If we were nomads, we might not need wheels. Because there are nomads who can ride horses.”

——LiuYu

Conclusion

At the end of the interview, Liu Yu quoted a metaphor in the brief history of mankind - He compares Web2 to a horse-drawn carriage and Web3 to an internal-combustion locomotive.

When everyone is used to driving a carriage, they will not think there is anything wrong with the carriage, nor will they think that it is necessary to replace the locomotive. But once it starts to use locomotives on a large scale, the time of horse-drawn carriages is destined to be gone forever, which is why we need Web3.

This roundtable discussion on ERC-3475 and ERC-3525 starts from the Token protocol itself, and gradually extends to on-chain Metadata and even Web3 as the topic deepens core topics such as nature. At the same time, while the two authors output their personal views, they also provide us with new ways of looking at the same issue from different angles. It is only in this kind of debate that expresses our views that we can get closer to the essence of things.

Appendix:

1, ERC-3475

ERC-3475 is a brand-new API standard proposed by the decentralized bond ecological platform D/Bond. It can represent a new configurable Token type and correspond to each category one by one, making it feasible to issue bonds with multiple redemption data.

ERC-3475 builds a system that can standardize complex financial products including bonds. In the design of the system, the nonce structure is included, and the main data can be stored on the structure in the form of class.

When it is applied to the bond level, according to the different issuance conditions of each bond, the interest will also fluctuate accordingly, and at the same time, the redemption time will also vary. Certain changes have occurred.

By binding the above data to the nonce structure, Metadata also has two major features:

1) ERC-3475 stores Metadata on the chain with two nodes or depths;

2) ERC-3475 is designed for all Metadata A new format that can be read uniformly by both on-chain smart contracts and off-chain front-ends.

2, ERC-3525

ERC -3525 is a new Ethereum Token standard proposed by Solv Protocol. It adopts a two-layer asset model composed of ID and value, and also defines a new asset class - semi-homogeneous Token (SFT). As the name suggests, SFT is a Token type between FT and NFT. It is characterized by being able to split calculations and being unique.

3. SBT (Soul Binding Token)

In May 2022, in the paper "Decentralized Society: Finding the Soul of Web3" jointly published by Ethereum core founder Vitalik Buterin, E. Glen Weyl and Puja Ohlhaver, they focused on the new Token SBT for the first time (Soulbound Token) concept, application and implementation technology.

Once the paper was released, it immediately aroused heated discussions in the entire encryption world. So what exactly is Soul Binding Token (SBT)? Before figuring this out, we need to know what Soulbond is.

The concept of Soulbond (soul binding) comes from the world-famous MMORPG game "World of Warcraft". It is an underlying game mechanism that prevents equipment from being traded or mailed by binding game equipment to player characters. The original intention of this design is to prevent low-level players from prematurely using powerful equipment that can only be accessed by high-level players, thereby destroying the gaming experience in the low-level game environment.

As the name suggests, SBT Soul Binding Token is a Token that is bound to a user account or wallet. Once this Token is generated, it cannot be traded. SBT can be used to represent commitments, qualifications, relationships, etc. Its function is similar to a personal resume, and it is issued by the user's corresponding related party account as a proof of the corresponding social relationship.

SBT can be understood as a permanent, non-transferable Token on the public blockchain. It can be issued in various forms; and it can be issued by anyone. The biggest purpose of SBT is to formalize the interaction between users on the public blockchain so that the whole world can witness and verify it. In this model, a person's digital identity could, in principle, be shaped according to social context, simply through constant public interaction.

In Will's view, SBT is a typical two-tier asset model, which emphasizes both ID and value, so it is compatible with the application of ERC-3525 The scene has a very high adaptability.

And LiuYu believes that SBT has essentially abandoned the characteristics of Transfer, if according to Will's view on the essence of Token (the essence of Token is composed of Ownership and Transfer carrier of digital assets), SBT cannot even be counted as a Token. This further supports his view that the essence of Token is actually a data storage and read-write format.

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