Smart Contract Standard

Definition ∞ A smart contract standard is a set of agreed-upon rules and technical specifications that define how smart contracts should function, interact, and manage digital assets on a blockchain. These standards ensure interoperability and consistency across different decentralized applications and tokens. Examples include token standards like ERC-20 for fungible tokens or ERC-721 for non-fungible tokens on Ethereum. Adherence to a standard allows various applications to recognize and interact with tokens or contracts uniformly.
Context ∞ Smart contract standards are fundamental to the development of decentralized applications and are frequently discussed in news concerning blockchain ecosystem growth and innovation. The creation and adoption of new standards often address specific functionalities, security improvements, or efficiency gains. Debates sometimes arise regarding the governance and evolution of these standards within developer communities.