Where does the community agree on standards?

Developers
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Ethereum standards are generally discussed and agreed upon in this Github repo.

Right now, IC standards are debated in this forum, but there really isn’t a formal process to “approve” a standard like EIP in Ethereum.

For example, the current situation with token standards is pretty fragmented. There are at least 5 competing fungible token standards I know of in development:

  • Deland Labs
  • Departure Labs
  • ICPSwap
  • InfinitySwap
  • DFinance

They are all developing their own standard AFAIK. (Not to mention NFT standards.) There’s also ORIGYN’s token that recently launched… I have no idea what standard they used.

I kinda worry that without DFINITY’s input and guidance, this state of fragmentation will only get worse. It’s been nearly 6 months since the mainnet launched, and there still isn’t a generally agreed upon token standard. Maybe this actually isn’t a problem, and diversity is good? Or maybe we need a more formal process to debate and vote on a standard, e.g. a NNS proposal?

I’m hoping SNS will alleviate some of this… but if they just repackage the NNS ledger canister, then I don’t think that interface will be sufficient.

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Seems coming to consensus through NNS proposals might be the best way to do it.

But, I also think we’re in a grand stage of experimentation, so I’m not sure we can settle down yet. The IC is much more expressive than Ethereum, and I think much experimentation is warranted before deciding on a standard.

Though I would really love to have standards right now and I don’t like seeing so many as it makes developing tokens hard

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I’ve been told this is the way:

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Yeah, I get the feeling that development on the token standard is “siloed” right now.

Several projects are developing their own in private and without much collaboration. (There are a few exceptions like Deland Labs, who released an interface recently.) But the problems they are facing or will face are all similar… Seems like this is an area where open collaboration (with DFINITY input) can produce a better standard…

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I’m starting up some conversations internally about Dfinity’s role in managing standards. I’ll let you know how it goes!

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Any luck on this by any chance?

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Some movement! I’m taking on an invoice canister initiative that will possibly have some standardizing effect on how to implement a ledger for tokens on the IC while trying to improve the payments experience.

My team is also working on an NFT example, and we are trying to come up with a standard that matches the Stoic and Plug specs, as well as having compatibility with Dab

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