ERC-20 vs ERC -721 vs ERC-1155

ERC-20:

ERC stands for ethereum request for comment, ERC-20 is a technical standard, proposed by fabian vogelsteller in 2015 and implemented in 2017. It is use to issue and implement fungible token in the ethereum blockchain. This standard lays out all the guidelines that should be followed for a token to effectively function within the ethereum ecosystem. In 2017 & 2018, ERC-20 was a dominant standard in creation of new tokens in the cryptocurrency space. It was very popular with crowd funding and ICOs

ERC-20 token standard is still widely in use today for major roles in the blockchain space. ERC-20 tokens are fungible tokens, that is to say they have a property that makes each token exactly the same (in type and value) of another token. Eg one Eth is exactly the same with other Eth

ERC-721

The hype surrounding the NFTs (non- fungible tokens) can be credited to the emergence of ERC-721. Unlike the ERC-20, the ERC-721 is specialized for non-fungible tokens (NFTs), which is essentially a set of rules for non-fungible tokens. Erc-721 standard can be used to mint token and these tokens have unique characteristic (that is to say, they have different properties and values from each other).

ERC-721 is not so new, it has been used for some years, to be precise crypto punk and crypto kitties were two major projects that used this standard in 2017. NFTs are unique (different in properties and value) and none can be used to replace another. ERC-721, introduces a standard for building NFTs on ethereum blockchain.

ERC-1155

ERC-1155 was introduced in 2019. It is a hybrid between ERC-20 and ERC-721 It was created due to the limitation associated with ERC-20 and ERC-721. ERC-20 and ERC-721 are based on separately deploying a smart contract for every type of collection. It’s impossible to obtain a token identifier directly and this makes transactions with these tokens difficult. Imagine a scenario where a buyer wants to buy a set of 4 NFTs from same collection and in other to transfer these 4 NFTs, he has to carry out 4 separate transactions. Such multiple transactions will certainly create congestion on the network and would in turn lead to high network and gas fees and prolong transaction time.

ERC-1155 also solves the incompatibility issue between ERC-20 and ERC-721 token. Many Dapp use both token, it makes it very complex, this is because for you to use ERC-20 and ERC-721, you will have to use different smart contract. These are some of the reasons why ERC-1155 was introduced

ERC-1155, allows each token to replace a new token type that is configurable, this can largely reduce the amount of data required to distinguish one token from another

ERC-1155 also allows sending different types of NFTs in one single transaction, that is to say you can send 4 different types of NFTs on same smart contract in one single transaction, instead of doing in it on 4 different transactions, thereby reducing transaction cost and time

It also allows sending fungible and non-fungible token within the same transaction. This function also reduces network congestion and in turn ultimately reduces network/ transaction fees.