Evolving ERC-721 metadata standards
During the launch phase of KnowOrigin, at BlockRocket.tech we focused on aligning with standards defined here & here.
What quickly become apparent after launch and after we got added to TrustWallet and OpenSea is that although we did adhere to the ERC-721 standards, including metadata schemas, this wasn’t quite enough.
There are two additions to the metadata standards which are missing and from this point forward we will include in every asset we mint on the KnownOrigin platform which I will cover in more detail below.
The origin JSON schema, found here, defines the following structure:
The above covers a baseline amount of data which should be associated to each unique ERC-721 digital asset, including name, description and image.
What I propose is the additional of two optional fields to the current specification JSON schema specification.
The first field I propose is external_uri. The main rationale behind this field is to allow for the 3rd party marketplaces and wallets which can handle non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to be able to deeplink back to the original marketplace or service where the ERC-721 token was purchased or originally viewable.
This provides the user with a way to easily see the original source for the token as well as standardising an already used feature of services such as OpenSea and TrustWallet, both of which allow for collectable ERC-721 tokens to link back to the original source.
This could also be used or changed to be a Ethereum Name Service (ens) listing with a default method invocations, or even traditional click back URLs.
The second field I believe should be added is attributes, again something similar is already used on site such as OpenSea and is a simple and effective way for adding additional information about ERC-721 tokens. The main benefit is to allow wallets and marketplaces to easily build a set of filter criteria and searchable attributes for a set of tokens. Enhancing user experience on these applications and increasing the quality of metadata attached to each token.
Below is a sample of the update JSON schema specification:
The next assets to be added on the KnowOrigin Marketplace will be enhanced to include the above fields.
To reference the opened EIP change for this see here — https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/pull/1028
This is part of a short series on some of the technical aspects and reasoning used to build the KnownOrigin marketplace. If you’d like to checkout the marketplace then visit knownorigin.io in any web3 enabled browser or mobile Ethereum wallet.
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To find out more about BlockRocket.tech follow @BlockRocketTech or our community group Blockchain Manchester at @blockchain_manc.
Visit knownorigin.io and follow the marketplace group on twitter @knownorigin_io for updates on our progress. We have a Telegram group too!
