What exactly is ERC-8021, which developers are talking about?

Author: Zun Source: X, @Zun2025 Translation: Shan Ouba, Jinse Finance

If you look at Twitter, you'll find that most developers are discussing ERC-8021. What exactly is it? Simply put, it's essentially Ethereum's native referral mechanism.

When we use any decentralized application, we are essentially executing transactions.

For example, suppose I develop a DApp on Base, and the front end shows 100,000 daily active users, but Base itself cannot verify how much traffic this DApp actually brings to it.

But now with ERC-8021, the Base public chain can track which DApp the traffic comes from, how much traffic it brings, and can also incentivize developers in this way.

From a technical perspective, how does it work?

Developers register their developer code in the smart contract registry and link it to their personal wallet address. For example, I registered base-miniapp. Afterwards, whenever a user executes any transaction on that developer's DApp, the developer will attach their developer code to the end of the transaction. In other words, the user submits the transaction and the developer code together to the blockchain. The platform can track the source of the activity and ultimately distribute rewards to developers based on the transaction volume they generate. This idea actually comes from Hyperliquid, considered a pioneering project.