Introduction: ERC-20 token
ERC-20 tokens have been a vital contributor to the massive adoption and expansion of crypto and blockchain. ERC-20 tokens gained an enormous rate of adoption primarily owing to their versatile and robust token mechanism and not to forget the vibrant Ethereum community. ERC-20 is the Ethereum Standard to create fungible (tradable) tokens like Basic Attention Token, Uniswap, and Matic to name a few.
ERC-20 allows smart-contract-enabled tokens to be used across Ethereum-based networks and projects across DeFi- Decentralized Finance, GameFi, Decentralized Applications, and other categories. ERC-20 tokens can be applied as utility, payments, governance, or as security tokens on solutions built on the Ethereum blockchain.
The rise of ERC-20 tokens
After Uniswap (UNI) and Maker (MKR), ERC-20 tokens took off well and were later applied across blockchain-based channels like Metaverse, P2E gaming, DeFi, utility, and payments.
The market cap of the Ethereum (ERC20) Tokens sector is $ 97.66 billion, representing 10.39% of the total crypto market cap.
| ERC20 token Name and ticker | Market Cap |
| Tether (USDT) | $67,926,307,873 |
| Binance (BNB) | $42,645,727,667 |
| Uniswap (UNI) | $4,094,704,241 |
| Aave (AAVE) | $1,046,407,376 |
| Chainlink (LINK) | $3,522,283,848 |
| Maker (MKR) | $608,293,957 |
| Wrapped BTC (WBTC) | $4,657,229,789 |
| Matic (MATIC) | $6,512,567,533 |
| Apecoin (APE) | $1,596,836,370 |
| Cronos (CRO) | $2,618,899,049 |
Source: Coinmarketcap
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Tether (USDT)
Tether is a stablecoin and is the third largest crypto asset by market cap. USDT also happens to be one of the top promising Ethereum tokens. A stablecoin is a crypto asset that is pegged to fiat by 1:1. Stablecoins are backed by fiat or other valuable assets. Tether came into existence when a firm named Tether used the Omni channel to issue tokens. Exchanges liked the idea of trading between a crypto pair instead of fiat.
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Binance (BNB)
Binance coin is the fifth largest crypto asset by market capitalization. BNB tokens incorporate the idea of global finance – Binary Finance or Binance. The platform has grown enormously with its arm Binance exchange, Binance Smart Chain. The token has risen to fame, all thanks to its deflationary token model that burns the transaction fee to keep the network decentralized. BNB is accepted as payment on a range of platforms.
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Uniswap (UNI)
Uniswap is one of the earliest ERC-20 Tokens to join the Ethereum ERC ecosystem. It is an AMM Automated Market Maker – Uniswap created a revolutionary feat for DeFi and climbed the Top Ethereum ERC-20 Tokens list. Uniswap primarily enhances the liquidity of Ethereum tokens to maintain healthy lending and borrowing platform. UNI’s platform is powered by a smart contract to automate the financial processes of the dex – decentralized exchange.
Additional Read: Uniswap Price Prediction
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Aave (AAVE)
Aave (AAVE) is one of the best Ethereum ERC-20 tokens in the ecosystem. Aave is a lending protocol on the Ethereum blockchain and has been ranked in the top 20 Ethereum ERC-20 Tokens. Aave stood out in the ERC-20 competition primarily because of it being the first mover in the DeFi space in 2018. Aave solved the issues of liquidity by incorporating an incentive structure for Aave users in lieu of providing liquidity.
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Chainlink (LINK)
Chain Link is an oracle service provider that connects universal smart contracts. The oracles fetch data from trusted sources for various Ethereum blockchains coins or tokens making it easy for DeFi platforms to automate their financing process.
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Maker (MKR)
Maker is the governance token of MakerDAO and MakerProtocol which issues the DAI token – another Ethereum ERC-20 token categorized as a stablecoin. Maker is the earliest Ethereum blockchain coin to exist. Maker as an Ethereum ERC-20 was the earliest project to create a token for a Decentralized Autonomous Organization – DAO. The stablecoin of the Maker protocol- DAI does not pay any dividends to the holders but has appreciated over the years.
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Wrapped BTC
An interesting Ethereum ERC -20 token, Wrapped Bitcoin is the first pegged coin to be developed in Ethereum ecosystem tokens. The concept of WBTC is disruptive as it allows individuals to hold WBTC with a value pegged to Bitcoin on the Ethereum blockchain. The concept of wrapped tokens rose to popularity after WBTC was developed on the Ethereum blockchain.
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Matic (MATIC)
Matic is a layer 2 blockchain built on top of Ethereum to bridge the issues of scalability, security, and decentralization on the Ethereum blockchain. MATIC has become a prominent ERC-20 Ethereum project post its launch of Zk roll-ups and three other enterprise-level roll-ups for Ethereum-based tokens like MANA, and AXIE to name a few. The growth of MATIC has been phenomenal in the last year with multi-year partnerships and phenomenal developments along the way. MATIC ranks 13th on the global crypto list.
Additional Read: Top Crypto Partnerships
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Apecoin (APE)
A fairly new ERC-20 token, Apecoin was launched for ApeDAO – the community that supports the BAYC project (Bored Ape Yacht Club) The Ethereum ERC-20 token works as a governance token for the BAYC NFT community and offers them certain rights over the project’s development. APE falls under the top ERC-20 tokens list.
Additional Read: Apecoin Price Prediction
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Cronos (CRO)
Cronos is the native token of the Cronos blockchain – a product of the Crypto.com exchange. CRO is the ERC-20 token that powers the blockchain and powers the operations of the Crypto exchange. CRO was built to expand on the idea of users adopting crypto as one of their primary methods of payment. The motto of the project is to put crypto in every user’s wallet. Users holding the CRO token get a range of privileges while trading on Crypto.com.
Bottomline
Ethereum ERC-20 tokens have revolutionized the crypto industry. It has not just created a payments channel or a DeFi platform, but a range of categories that blockchain developers can think of. The smart contract agility of Ethereum blockchain is the key reason for phenomenal success of these ERC-20 tokens today. From DeFi (Uniswap, Aave) to crypto exchange (Cronos) to web3 interest browsing (Basic Attention Token) to top metaverse coins (Decentraland, Axie Infinity) Ethereum has weaved a landscape of trailblazing solutions.