Ethereum Improvement Proposal (EIP)

An Ethereum Improvement Proposal is a formal write-up that suggests a change to how the Ethereum network works. Anyone in the community can draft one, then others review, discuss, and refine it in public. The proposal might cover anything from a small tweak to a major change that could require a hard fork of the chain. The format helps a decentralized community move in step without a central company making all the decisions.

What an EIP covers

EIPs act like specifications. They spell out the motivation for a change, the technical design, and the expected impact on the network. The goal is clarity, so developers and users can understand what is being proposed and why. This standard way of writing proposals keeps debate focused and makes upgrades easier to evaluate.

Who can propose and where the discussion happen

The process usually starts with an author drafting an idea and opening a pull request to the public EIPs repository on GitHub. From there, the community and core developers review the text, suggest edits, and decide whether it should move forward. When a proposal passes review for inclusion in a future network upgrade, it can be marked Accepted.

EIP lifecycle

Proposals move through named stages that reflect their maturity. Common statuses include Draft while the text is under active revision, Last Call when it is ready for broad review, Final when it is ready to implement, and Deferred for items that are paused for later consideration.

Types of EIPs

Several categories help readers know what part of the stack a proposal touches. Standard Track items cover changes to the protocol and have sub-areas such as Core, Networking, and Interface. Application-level standards and conventions live under ERC, which sits as a subcategory in the same family.

EIP vs. ERC

EIP is the umbrella process for proposing changes to Ethereum. ERC stands for Ethereum Request for Comments and is used for application standards like token formats and common contract interfaces, for example, ERC-20 and ERC-721. In short, EIPs guide changes to the network itself, while ERCs guide how apps and tokens behave on top of it.

Governance model and inspiration

EIPs reflect Ethereum’s open governance. Ideas rise from the community, are discussed in public, and get shipped only after broad agreement. The model is similar in spirit to Bitcoin’s BIP process, which inspired how Ethereum organizes its proposals.

How EIPs are numbered and referenced

Each proposal is tracked with a unique number once it is in the system. Over time, those identifiers become shorthand in documentation, code, and community conversations.

Notable example

EIP-3675, known as “the Merge,” specified Ethereum’s move from proof of work to proof of stake. That proposal set the path for the consensus change that reduced energy use and prepared the protocol for future scaling work.