With the widespread adoption of blockchain and cryptocurrencies, NFTs, as a new form of digital asset, have gradually attracted people's attention. Unlike traditional currencies, NFTs possess not only utility value but also financial value, leading to a surge in their market prices. However, accompanying this trend are concerns regarding the security and reliability of NFTs, including issues such as theft. In response to these challenges, EIP-6147 emerges as an extension standard.

The popularity and problems of NFT

NFTs, as digital assets, possess both utility value and financial value. However, due to the significant increase in their market prices, incidents of NFT theft have become more prevalent. Currently, the common anti-theft solution for NFTs involves transferring them to cold wallets to ensure security. However, this approach renders the NFTs unusable and creates certain inconveniences. Additionally, the existing NFT lending and borrowing models require transferring the NFTs into contracts, resulting in the borrower losing the right to use them after obtaining a loan. Similarly, there are also some issues with existing NFT leasing and installment payment schemes. Regarding a specific type of NFT known as SBT, it is generally believed to be non-transferable, but this presents a complex problem when attempting to recover SBT in cases of address private key leakage or loss.

Background and Design Principles of EIP-6147 Extension Standard

The EIP-6147 extension standard is an extension of ERC721, which separates the holding and transferring rights of NFT/SBT and introduces a new role of GUARD. where the OWNER has the holding right of NFT but not the transferring right, while the GUARD has the transferring right of NFT. This enables the design of NFT theft, lending, leasing and SBT. The motivation for the standard came from the special nature of NFT and the current problems.

EIP-6147 Extension Standard Rules and Conditions

The EIP-6147 extension standard aims to address these issues by introducing the guard role. The guard role can be set as the cold wallet address of the NFT holder or an address trusted by the NFT holder. When an NFT simultaneously has an owner and a guard, the owner possesses the ownership rights but lacks the transfer rights, while the guard possesses the transfer rights. This enables the design of features such as theft prevention, lending, leasing, and SBT functionality. For example, in NFT lending and borrowing, the borrower can set the guard as the lender's address to ensure security and reliability.

Application Scenarios

1.     NFT Theft Prevention, Lending, Leasing, and SBT

The design principles of the EIP-6147 standard emphasize universality, simplicity, and scalability. Based on an analysis of the rights attached to real-world assets, this standard abstracts the rights associated with NFTs into ownership rights and transfer rights, implementing this separation through the introduction of the guard role. In addition to theft prevention, lending, leasing, and SBT scenarios, the standard offers more flexible functionality for these use cases. For example, the NFT lending and borrowing model can achieve better security and reliability by setting the guard. Similarly, leasing and installment payment schemes for NFTs can be made more flexible by configuring the guard role.

2.     Trials, Installment Payments, and Social Recovery

The EIP-6147 extension standard can also provide more flexible functionality for NFT trials and social recovery scenarios. In NFT trials, the holder can control the usage time and frequency of the NFT by setting the guard, thereby preventing excessive or abusive use of the NFT. Additionally, in terms of social recovery, the EIP-6147 standard can offer improved protection of NFT ownership, reducing the risk of theft or loss.

EIP-6147 Extension Standard's Scalability

In addition to the mentioned application scenarios, the EIP-6147 extension standard exhibits strong scalability. Due to its design principles of universality and simplicity, it can be integrated with other blockchain applications and customized and extended based on specific requirements. For example, the guard role can be combined with smart contracts to enable more complex NFT use cases, such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and digital identity verification.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the emergence of the EIP-6147 extension standard addresses various challenges faced by NFTs/SBTs and provides broader and more flexible possibilities for their use cases. The application scenarios of this standard extend beyond NFT theft prevention, lending, leasing, and SBT functionalities, encompassing NFT trials, installment payments, and social recovery. With the continuous development and widespread adoption of blockchain technology, we believe that the EIP-6147 standard will contribute to the innovation and growth of NFT applications, becoming an indispensable part of the NFT ecosystem.