What is an EIP? An EIP (Ethereum Improvement Proposal) is a formal design document that proposes new features, standards, or processes for the Ethereum network, which the community reviews and debates before adoption.
EIP Explained Ethereum has no CEO who decides what gets built next. Changes happen through a public proposal process anyone can participate in.
An EIP is that proposal. An author writes a precise specification of a change, the community and core developers debate it, and if consensus forms, it gets implemented.
Some EIPs change the core protocol itself, such as how fees work. Others define application standards, called ERCs, like the token standards that power the entire DeFi and NFT ecosystem.
What an EIP Means For Audience
Use Case
Developers and protocol engineers
Follow and implement the standards and protocol changes that affect how their applications work
Founders and product teams
Anticipate upcoming Ethereum changes that create new product capabilities or break old assumptions
Analysts and researchers
Track the proposal pipeline to understand where the ecosystem's infrastructure is heading
Examples EIP-1559 redesigned Ethereum's fee market, introducing base fee burning and changing how users pay for gas.
ERC-20, originally proposed through this process, standardized fungible tokens and enabled wallets and exchanges to support thousands of assets uniformly.
A developer drafts a new EIP to standardize a pattern their app needs, gathering community feedback in public review.
A team tracks an in-progress EIP, like a new attribution or account standard, to build support for it ahead of adoption.
FAQs What is the difference between an EIP and an ERC? ERCs are a category of EIPs focused on application-level standards, such as token interfaces. Core EIPs change the Ethereum protocol itself.
Who can submit an EIP? Anyone. The process is open: an author drafts the proposal, editors check format and completeness, and the community and core developers debate its merits.
How does an EIP get adopted? Through rough consensus. Application standards get adopted by builders using them; core protocol changes require agreement among client developers and inclusion in a network upgrade.
What are some famous EIPs? EIP-1559 for the fee market, EIP-721 for NFTs, EIP-20 for fungible tokens, and EIP-4337 for account abstraction are among the most influential.
Why should builders follow EIPs? New standards create new capabilities, from token mechanics to attribution and account features, and early awareness helps teams build ahead of the curve.