On The Other Side ep 72 - Token bound accounts + ERC-6551 w/ Benny Giang
Primer: What are ERCs? What are EIPs? Are they related? What are tokenbound accounts and how can we turn them into NPCs? Let’s find out from Benny Giang in this episode of On The Other Side.
Background
7 years ago, he was an intern at a venture studio called Axiom Zen
Found out about the blockchain and Ethereum while at the studio
At that time, he was very turned off by crypto
Axiom Zen had ice-boxed a blockchain project previously
He and his friend were asked to revive that project and it became the alpha version of CryptoKitties
After CryptoKitties blew up, they spun off to form Dapper Labs
For the past 6 years, he has worked on Cheeze Wizards and NBA Top Shot
In 2021, he co-founded Future Primitive with Steve Jang
The Rise Of CryptoKitties
Between 2016 and early 2018, the ERC-20 token standard launched
People were able to raise capital and launch tokens without going to VCs
CryptoKitties was launched at ETHWaterLoo
People were excited and they had a huge lineup at their hackathon table
The ERC-721 Standard
The 721 refers to the 721st Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)
As Ethereum is decentralized, people have to submit a proposal first before it can affect the ecosystem
With ERC-20s, every token was the same/fungible
They wanted their tokens to have genetics and a breeding mechanism. Hence, they created the ERC-721 standard and named the tokens NFTs
“The definition of a new standard is super powerful, because it's an open source commitment to leveling up the entire ecosystem, which NFTs did.”
- Benny Giang
ERCs vs EIPs
When you submit a proposal, it starts off as an EIP
The EIP goes through many phases (e.g. draft, review, mainnet)
They get merged in with a huge protocol update and makes it on mainnet
ERC refers to Ethereum Request for Comments
The EIP changes into an ERC once the proposal’s written
There’s an Ethereum Magicians forum where everyone is supposed to comment and provide their feedback on the EIP
Once it has gathered momentum, it could be submitted for review by the Ethereum Cat Herders committee
The committee has their rubric system. Once it’s good, the committee will stamp it and turn it into an ERC
What Does It Mean To Get Merged?
It is a stamp of approval that states that it has achieved enough consensus
It becomes an official standard, but that does not mean that it will get used
ERCs Not Happening At The Protocol Level?
Some standards do get merged on a protocol level
The surface area of proposals is wide. Some of them like ERC-6551 and ERC-4337 do not affect the protocol while others do
It takes a long period before they get merged into the protocol
The Thinking Behind ERC-6551
Have been working with Jeff Staple on his Stapleverse project
Jeff has been in the streetwear fashion space for the last 25 years
They launched a bunch of NFTs
The latest collection is called Sapienz
Their collection will enable people to change their PFP’s outfits as many times as they like without paying gas, but also on-chain
Had a lightbulb moment — What if NFTs had their own wallets and are able to communicate with one another without MetaMask
If NFTs have their own wallets, they could own their digital t-shirt and hoodies
Searched through many ERC proposals and projects to see whether has this been done
With ERC-6551, every NFT can have its own smart contract account
Token-Bound Accounts
Token-bound accounts are what that is linked to the NFTs
Token-bound accounts are the exact inverse of a soul-bound token
Soul-bound tokens in a wallet cannot be transferred out
Token-bound means that the token is bound to an account
There’s another ERC called 4337, which is about account abstraction
The whole idea of ERC-4337 is to reimagine onboarding:
Right now, people have to download MetaMask, save their private keys, etc.
Vitalik and a bunch of people from the Ethereum Foundation think that seed phrases/private keys are never going to work
What Benny is doing is to prescribe a 4337 wallet, or an account that is linked to every NFT
When there are no events going on, the Metaverses are just empty worlds
Life can be given to Metaverses through the use of AI and a token-bound account
There are 2 important properties:
NFTs have the ability to hold assets
Token-bound accounts give NFTs the power of social governance (e.g. it could be on a multi-sig, have its own ENS subdomain, participate in voting, etc.)
NFTs could operate as an agent/NPC
Reshaping Our Concept Of Identity
Humans have different facets of personalities/identities
When NFTs have their own account, you can actually login to all sorts of DApps like Uniswap, OpenSea, etc.
In the future, entire NFT collections will have sub-ENS domain names
With this feature, you can message someone on-chain without going through their wallet address
Tracing the NFT Back To Your Core Address/Identity
You still need a wallet to own the NFT
There’s a concept called stealth addresses that Vitalik has written about
You need an EOA wallet to initiate different stealth addresses that can own the NFT
The only challenge is how the token-bound account is going to acquire ETH to make transactions/pay gas
Creating Worlds That We Identify With
Fascinated with Dunbar’s number — A human can have 150 meaningful relationships throughout their life
Wonders whether is there an equivalent for a Dunbar’s number for the number of objects that have meaning to you:
Some objects mean a lot to you
Some objects you don’t really care about
This could apply to NFTs/digital objects as well
For objects that you do not care about, it is interesting to ponder whether would people like to prescribe some sort of AI to it and allow it to run freely in the Metaverse
Will NPCs Become Businesses?
Have to see how the future pans out
A more grounded example involves renting out your Tesla (i.e. your car drives itself out of the garage and then other people could borrow it)
This same concept could be prescribed to NFTs
For example, NFTs could become a MEV researcher and do on-chain transactions by itself, talk on Twitter, make its own money, etc.
Hoping to organize an NPC day where he will gather ERC-6551 and ERC-4337 with AI to let it run wild on the blockchain and communicate on Twitter
Biggest Source Of Uncertainty
Things could go out of hand and the NPCs have a riot and take over a digital world
His Vision For Token-Bound Accounts
There’s so much creative play space
What excites him are builders with new and creative ideas that will unleash a new wave of NFTs
People can contribute and comment on ERC-6551
Tokenbound.org is the website for people to plug in their NFTs and see what their addresses are
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