LibraryMarkets2018Design paperCorpus record
Payable Token
ERC 1363. Vittorio Minacori.
ERC 1363, Payable Token. Defines a token interface for ERC-20 tokens that supports executing recipient code after transfer or transferFrom, or spender code after approve.
Status in the source: Final. A reading of the public specification, not a copy of it and not a certification.
Payable Token is worth reading for the rule it actually adds: Defines a token interface for ERC-20 tokens that supports executing recipient code after transfer or transferFrom, or spender code after approve.
The five-minute read
The rule
Defines a token interface for ERC-20 tokens that supports executing recipient code after transfer or transferFrom, or spender code after approve.
What was already failing
A token that each contract invents from scratch does not transfer, approve, or display in any other contract. The cost of a shared interface is that the interface's holes become everyone's holes.
What the number does not mean
The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
What a builder should be able to point at
An implementation either constrains GAS, MUST, ERC1363 or it is a different design.
One action, walked through
- Open ERC 1363 and read the status line before the examples.
- Write down the rule in one sentence. A fair version of that sentence is: Defines a token interface for ERC-20 tokens that supports executing recipient code after transfer or transferFrom, or spender code after approve.
- Name the object that changes: GAS, MUST, ERC1363.
- Ask what an old client, an old contract, or an offline counterparty does. If the document is silent, the silence is part of the design.
The argument, unpacked
What the text is allowed to settle
Ethereum Request for Comment 1363 can settle the shape of Payable Token. It cannot settle whether a later client, a later fork, or a later wallet still does this.
What this page will not pretend
There is no benchmark, no adoption number, and no claim that the mechanism is safe outside the assumptions written in the source.
What has to be true
- You are implementing ERC 1363 at the status the text itself states: Final.
- The object that has to change is GAS, MUST, ERC1363. A neighbouring document with a similar name is not this one.
- The standard does not enforce royalties, identity, or a price. If the transfer function does not check it, the chain will not.
What happened after the paper
The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it. Later documents can narrow, replace, or ignore this one. Cite the number you mean.
What to check before you use the idea
- Which function in Payable Token actually moves or approves value?
- What happens on a callback, a zero amount, or a contract recipient that rejects?
- Which names does the text commit to: GAS, MUST, ERC1363?
Terms
- ERC 1363
- The public text titled Payable Token.
- Final
- The document's own label for how finished the text is. It is not a market fact.
The problem the paper names
A token that each contract invents from scratch does not transfer, approve, or display in any other contract. The cost of a shared interface is that the interface's holes become everyone's holes.
What the design proposes
- Defines a token interface for ERC-20 tokens that supports executing recipient code after transfer or transferFrom, or spender code after approve.
- Standard functions a token contract and contracts working with tokens can implement to make a token Payable.
- transferAndCall and transferFromAndCall will call an onTransferReceived on a ERC1363Receiver contract.
How the mechanism is specified
- Taken from the specification, the next constraint is: Standard functions a token contract and contracts working with tokens can implement to make a token Payable.
- Locate GAS, MUST, ERC1363 in ERC 1363 and apply it to one transaction or call.
- Then check the failure the class of rule always has: a node that did not upgrade, a reverted call, a replayed signature, or a peer that does not speak the message.
What this page does not treat as proven
- An application standard is not consensus. A contract can ignore it and still be a valid account.
- The standard does not enforce royalties, identity, or a price. If the transfer function does not check it, the chain will not.
- The source marks this final. That is a statement about the text, not a promise that every wallet or node has shipped it.
Why a venture studio still reads it
Use ERC 1363 when a pitch says 'Payable Token' without saying whether the rule is consensus, policy, or an interface. The number is the citation. The pitch is not.
This is Blockchain Lab's reading of a public design paper. It is not the paper, not a copy of it, and not an offer of tokens, equity, custody or a partnership. Later network behaviour can diverge from the text. Nothing here is investment, legal or technical advice.
Research status: Design paper. Last reviewed: 1 October 2026. This is a reading of a public paper, not investment, legal or security advice.
