NFT
ERC-6551 introduces a standard for NFTs by unlocking their ability to be a smart wallet that can interact with various decentralized apps in the Ethereum ecosystem.
When we think of NFTs these days, we often envision collectibles, creative artwork, and profile photos.
ERC-6551, or Ethereum Request for Comment 6551, introduces the ability for any NFT – even the ones users already have in their wallets – to become a smart contract wallet, meaning any NFT can own tokens.
Speaking to Blockworks, Jayden Windle, co-author of ERC-6551, said he believed NFTs could be much more than a static asset sitting in a wallet.
“I’ve been working on Future Primitive for the past year and a half, and ERC-6551 grew out of a lot of the experimental projects we were building,” Windle said.
With ERC-6551, when you transfer an NFT, the wallet and tokens that contain the NFT also go with it.
On the chain, actions today can be broken down into two very simple actions, Windle explains. You can own and hold assets or use them to participate in the wider ecosystem activities.
“When you give an NFT a wallet, you let NFTs participate equally in everything that happens in the chain,” Windle said.
Inventory management via NFTs
Giving each NFT a wallet creates a flexible inventory system.
“You can find the address of your NFT, copy and paste it into Metamask and start sending assets in your wallet to the NFT wallet. You could go to OpenSea and look at all the assets in your NFT wallet,” Windle said. “Everything in Ethereum works with wallets, and wallets are the universal layer of ownership and action on Ethereum.”
A specific NFT project related to ERC-6551 that Windle has been working on is Sapienz.
With Sapienz, each item of clothing owned by an avatar is a separate token, meaning each item of clothing is its own separate NFT that can exist in its own token-bound account.
“If your NFT owns those tokens, it has the right to equip and equip them with the artwork, that changes the artwork of the NFT everywhere you can see the NFT,” explains Windle. “We use the mechanics [of ERC-6551] in a limited capacity, but you see the potential for gaming applications and character-based applications where an NFT can have its own identity.
In addition to gaming, ERC-6551 can also be used for organizing trips and travel. UltimStudio’s Andrei Ponivesc explained in a Twitter thread.
“An interesting use case is a marketplace where tour leaders can offer experiences where users have a specific itinerary,” Ponivesc wrote.
Tour guides could sell an NFT with already planned experiences within the NFT. More importantly, Ponivesc notes, “within that NFT, the guide can add more NFTs, in the form of instructions or even tickets to present at each part of the experience.”
ERC-6551 tokens will be compatible with all existing ERC-721 tokens, meaning no new smart contracts need to be deployed on existing NFTs.
Marketplaces that choose to support ERC-6551 tokens must individually ensure that fraud prevention practices are in place to prevent malicious behavior.
