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WTF Solidity 31. ERC20

Recently, I have been revisiting Solidity, consolidating the finer details, and writing "WTF Solidity" tutorials for newbies.

Twitter: @0xAA_Science | @WTFAcademy_

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Codes and tutorials are open source on GitHub: github.com/AmazingAng/WTFSolidity

In this lecture, we will introduce the ERC20 token standard on Ethereum and issue our own test tokens.

ERC20​

ERC20 is a token standard on Ethereum, which originated from the EIP20 proposed by Vitalik Buterin in November 2015. It implements the basic logic of token transfer:

  • Account balance
  • Transfer
  • Approve transfer
  • Total token supply
  • Token Information (optional): name, symbol, decimal

IERC20​

IERC20 is the interface contract of the ERC20 token standard, which specifies the functions and events that ERC20 tokens need to implement. The reason for defining an interface is that with the standard, there are universal function names, input and output parameters for all ERC20 tokens. In the interface functions, only the function name, input parameters, and output parameters need to be defined, and it does not matter how the function is implemented internally. Therefore, the functions are divided into two contents: internal implementation and external interface, focusing on implementation and agreement of shared data between interfaces. This is why we need two files ERC20.sol and IERC20.sol to implement a contract.

Event​

The IERC20 defines 2 events: the Transfer event and the Approval event, which are emitted during token transfers and approvals, respectively.

    /**
     * @dev Triggered when `value` tokens are transferred from `from` to `to`.
     */
    event Transfer(address indexed from, address indexed to, uint256 value);

    /**
     * @dev Triggered whenever `value` tokens are approved by `owner` to be spent by `spender`.
     */
    event Approval(address indexed owner, address indexed spender, uint256 value);

Functions​

IERC20 defines 6 functions, providing basic functionalities for transferring tokens, and allowing tokens to be approved for use by other third parties on the chain.

  • totalSupply() returns the total token supply.
    /**
     * @dev Returns the total amount of tokens.
     */
    function totalSupply() external view returns (uint256);

balanceOf() returns the account balance.

    /**
     * @dev Returns the amount of tokens owned by `account`.
     */
    function balanceOf(address account) external view returns (uint256);
  • transfer() means transfer of funds.
    /**
     * @dev Transfers `amount` tokens from the caller's account to the recipient `to`.
     *
     * Returns a boolean value indicating whether the operation succeeded or not.
     *
     * Emits a {Transfer} event.
     */
    function transfer(address to, uint256 amount) external returns (bool);

The allowance() function returns the authorized amount.

    /**
     * @dev Returns the amount authorized by the `owner` account to the `spender` account, default is 0.
     *
     * When {approve} or {transferFrom} is invoked，`allowance` will be changed.
     */
    function allowance(address owner, address spender) external view returns (uint256);
  • approve() Authorization
/**
 * @dev Allows `spender` to spend `amount` tokens from caller's account.
 *
 * Returns a boolean value indicating whether the operation succeeded or not.
 *
 * Emits an {Approval} event.
 */
function approve(address spender, uint256 amount) external returns (bool);
  • transferFrom() authorized transfer.
/**
 * @dev Transfer `amount` of tokens from `from` account to `to` account, subject to the caller's
 * allowance. The caller must have allowance for `from` account balance.
 *
 * Returns `true` if the operation is successful.
 *
 * Emits a {Transfer} event.
 */
function transferFrom(
    address from,
    address to,
    uint256 amount
) external returns (bool);

Implementation of ERC20​

Now we will write an ERC20 contract and implement the functions defined in the IERC20 interface.

State Variables​

We need state variables to record account balances, allowances, and token information. Among them, balanceOf, allowance, and totalSupply are of type public, which will automatically generate a same-name getter function, implementing balanceOf(), allowance() and totalSupply() functions defined in IERC20. name, symbol, and decimals correspond to the name, symbol, and decimal places of tokens.

Note: adding override modifier to public variables will override the same-name getter function inherited from the parent contract, such as balanceOf() function in IERC20.

    mapping(address => uint256) public override balanceOf;

    mapping(address => mapping(address => uint256)) public override allowance;

    uint256 public override totalSupply;   // total supply of the token

    string public name;   // the name of the token
    string public symbol;  // the symbol of the token
    
    uint8 public decimals = 18; // decimal places of the token

Functions​

  • Constructor Function: Initializes the token name and symbol.
    constructor(string memory name_, string memory symbol_){
        name = name_;
        symbol = symbol_;
    }
  • transfer() function: Implements the transfer function in IERC20, which handles token transfers. The caller deducts amount tokens and the recipient receives the corresponding tokens. Some coins will modify this function to include logic such as taxation, dividends, lottery, etc.
    function transfer(address recipient, uint amount) external override returns (bool) {
        balanceOf[msg.sender] -= amount;
        balanceOf[recipient] += amount;
        emit Transfer(msg.sender, recipient, amount);
        return true;
    }
  • approve() function: Implements the approve function in IERC20, which handles token authorization logic. The spender specified in the function can spend the authorized amount of tokens from the authorizer. The spender can be an EOA account or a contract account, for example, when you trade tokens on Uniswap, you need to authorize tokens to the Uniswap contract.
    function approve(address spender, uint amount) external override returns (bool) {
        allowance[msg.sender][spender] = amount;
        emit Approval(msg.sender, spender, amount);
        return true;
    }
  • transferFrom() function: Implements the transferFrom function in IERC20, which is the logic for authorized transfer. The authorized party transfers amount of tokens from sender to recipient.
    function transferFrom(
        address sender,
        address recipient,
        uint amount
    ) external override returns (bool) {
        allowance[sender][msg.sender] -= amount;
        balanceOf[sender] -= amount;
        balanceOf[recipient] += amount;
        emit Transfer(sender, recipient, amount);
        return true;
    }
  • mint() function: Token minting function, not included in the IERC20 standard. For the sake of the tutorial, anyone can mint any amount of tokens. In actual applications, permission management will be added, and only the owner can mint tokens.
    function mint(uint amount) external {
        balanceOf[msg.sender] += amount;
        totalSupply += amount;
        emit Transfer(address(0), msg.sender, amount);
    }
  • burn() function: Function to destroy tokens, not included in the IERC20 standard.
    function burn(uint amount) external {
        balanceOf[msg.sender] -= amount;
        totalSupply -= amount;
        emit Transfer(msg.sender, address(0), amount);
    }

Issuing ERC20 Tokens​

With the ERC20 standard in place, it is very easy to issue tokens on the ETH chain. Now, let's issue our first token.

Compile the ERC20 contract in Remix, enter the constructor's parameters in the deployment section, set name_ and symbol_ to WTF, and then click the transact button to deploy.

Deploying the contract

Now, we have created the WTF token. We need to run the mint() function to mint some tokens for ourselves. Open up the ERC20 contract in the Deployed Contract section, enter 100 in the mint function area, and click the mint button to mint 100 WTF tokens for ourselves.

You can click on the Debug button on the right to view the logs like below.

There are four key pieces of information:

  • The Transfer event
  • The minting address 0x0000000000000000000000000000000000000000
  • The receiving address 0x5B38Da6a701c568545dCfcB03FcB875f56beddC4
  • The token amount 100

Minting tokens

We use the balanceOf() function to check the account balance. By inputting our current account, we can see the balance of our account is 100 which means minting is successful.

The account information is shown on the left like below image, and the details of the function execution are indicated on the right side.

Check Balance

Summary​

In this lesson, we learned about the ERC20 standard and its implementation on the Ethereum network, and issued our own test token. The ERC20 token standard proposed at the end of 2015 greatly lowered the threshold for issuing tokens on the Ethereum network and ushered in the era of ICO. When investing, carefully read the project's token contract to effectively avoid risks and increase investment success rate.