When we listen to names like ERC-20 or ERC-3643They seem codes invented by a group of programmers who seek to show off with technicalities. But in reality they are somewhat simpler: they are rules to organize in the new digital economy in Blockchain.
The business world always relied on common rules. ISO 9001, for example, ordered how quality and companies should be measured; The decision to use 220 volts allowed any appliance to work the same in much of the planet. In blockchain the same thing happens: every time we represent a contract or an asset digital, we need a protocol that everyone respects: we call it ERC. They are shared languages that allow us to trust, exchange and build on solid bases.
And ERC significa Ethereum Request for Comments. In simple: they are technical rules that the Ethereum community debate and approves so that all developers speak the same language when creating contracts or tokens. In short, it is like a recipe: if everyone follows, what is cooked is compatible for anyone in the network.
The first tokenized hotel opens in Argentina
The Mirage of the City
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In the Argentine crypto ecosystem, an idea as attractive as dangerous was installed: to create an ERC-20 or an ERC-3643 automatically equals “Make RWA”that is, tokenize real world assets. Many in the City believed it and spent fortunes on projects that, basically, were just digital file factories. Yes, yes, but since my aunt’s Fiat 600: I could walk, but it was not the ideal vehicle for corporate trips.
A Token is not an asset of the real world. In the same way that a monopoly ticket is not money, or editing a photo of a writing with your name makes you owner of a house.
Doña Rosa understands it better than anyone
Imagine Doña Rosa, who keeps the writing of her house in a drawer. That yellowish role, with signatures and stamps, gives it peace of mind because he knows he is registered in the Property Registry. If someone tried to dispute the house, they can carry that writing before a judge and defend his right.
Now, if someone says: “Doña Rosa, I made a token in Ethereum that represents his house.” She looks at the number on the cell phone screen, but when she goes to the court, no one will recognize it. Without legal anchor, that Token does not represent anything: it is just a JPEG or, in the best case, a PDF, but without legal value. Because? Because the oracle is missing: in this case, the notary who acts as a red thread between what happens in the real world and its reflection in the blockchain.
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ERC-20 and ERC-3643: the most used bricks, not necessarily the best
The ERC-20, created in 2015 by Fabian Vogelsteller and Vitalik Buterin, became the standard for fungible tokens: identical units with each other, such as tickets or casino chips. Thanks to him, thousands of cryptocurrencies and projects funded worldwide emerged. To do coins, it’s fine.
The ERC-3643, on the other hand, is more recent. Born as T-Rex and promoted by Tokeny Solutions, it was standardized in 2021. Only authorized persons can be used, under certain conditions, because it is designed to comply with financial standards and represent regulated assets. In essence, it is a currency with restrictions.
Even here seems fascinating: standardized protocols and clear rules. But that to represent real world assets does not reach. Tokenize real assets is much more complex than coining chockchain chips. It implies a bridge between the blockchain and the legal, financial and registration infrastructure that supports the economy.
A token will be a true RWA (Real World Assets – real world assets) if, and only if, it represents a required right: A tokenized sale ticket, an endorsed promissory note in a compensatory chamber, an action guarded in a securities box or a ton of corn recorded in a silo under customs control.
Connecting that real world with digital requires something key: oracles. Depending on the industry, the oracle will be the one who translates reality to blockchain language. That is the “secret sauce” of a good tokenizer. Without that bridge, the Token is just the digital housing of something non -existent.
The story demonstrates it: we pass from the stone to the paper, from the paper to the PDF, and now from the PDF to Token – or the “digital representation (RD)”, as the CNV prefers to call it. The substrate changes, but what gives value is always institutional recognition.
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The risk of mirage
The real challenge is to build infrastructure that dialogue with our institutionality. For at least the next five years we will live in a hybrid stage: analog part and digital part.
The value of a Token is not in the number that appears on the screen, but that a Smart Contract can transfer a sale ticket, endorse a digital promissory note or represent an action recorded in the Securities Box. That every time the state changed in the blockchain, that change impacts the real world, and that if I go to justice, have legal recognition to defend my asset. Because an asset is yours only if you can defend it.
That is what makes a token a true RWA: that it has concrete legal and economic consequences.
The mistake of these years was to believe that with a standard it reached. I see it all the time: customer lawyers who expect a magical formula, as if saying “use erc-20” and everything was resolved. But not. It is not enough with an ERC-20 or with an ERC-3643 without oracles that connect with reality. That orchestration is the true “secret sauce.”
The standards are necessary, but they are barely brick of a much larger engineering. As I heard a regulator say this week: “The Systems Boy is not asked.” And he is right: at this point we should all understand that this is not resolved by the one that fixes the mail.
The industry is built with real systems: with code that automates records, transfers and custody; with integrations that reduce friction for users; but above all with rules that unan blockchain and right.
Argentina has a lot to win if you advance in that direction. The CNV has already taken the first big step. We have a dollarized but little liquid real estate market, a low depth financial system and a small capital market compared to the region. A well -made token can unlock credit, open new investment channels and give transparency. But for that much more than talks in conferences are needed. Because at the end of the day: you have to put more code to create an industry.
*Coupdadora & COO de Blockchain
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