[Ethereum] What are the benefits and problems with Non ERC20 Tokens

erc-20go-ethereumicotokens

I have been following various dapps based on ethereum and found one that has a 2-token model. One Token is ERC20 Standard compliant and one that is not. The one that is compliant is the one that acts like currency and the other doesnt have a monetary value. That one is just used to perform rating for individuals. I don't get what could be the benefits or problems with implementing such an idea and would like to know more. So please explain your thoughts regarding this.

Best Answer

ERC20 tokens are used because they "play nice" with existing smart contracts that operate on tokens, like etherdelta. Even some type of reputation token can be an ERC20 token, as long as it follows this standard: https://theethereum.wiki/w/index.php/ERC20_Token_Standard

An ERC20 token must implement these functions and getters:

contract ERC20 {
 function totalSupply() constant returns (uint totalSupply);
 function balanceOf(address _owner) constant returns (uint balance);
 function transfer(address _to, uint _value) returns (bool success);
 function transferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint _value) returns (bool success);
 function approve(address _spender, uint _value) returns (bool success);
 function allowance(address _owner, address _spender) constant returns (uint remaining);
 event Transfer(address indexed _from, address indexed _to, uint _value);
event Approval(address indexed _owner, address indexed _spender, uint _value);
}

I would highly recommend conforming you token to the ERC20 standard, unless you have a good reason not to.

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