EIP-0000 Native ETH as ERC-20 System Contract – Draft for feedback

crypDuck · August 5, 2026, 7:29pm

Discussion topic for Native ETH as ERC-20 System Contract (early draft)

Update Log

2026-08-05: Initial draft published

External Reviews

None as of 2026-08-05.

Outstanding Issues

Final confirmation of the exact gas constants by client teams (targets are currently illustrative)
Final confirmation of address 0x20 by AllCoreDevs
Edge cases around the balance invariant under EIP-7702 temporary code
Selector-collision risk on the optIn() method for legacy contracts

Context

Native ETH currently lacks a uniform ERC-20 interface. Protocols that want to treat ETH the same way as other tokens either special-case native transfers or route through WETH. This creates ongoing overhead, extra transactions, and state growth. The broader goal is to encourage the use of native ETH vs. other tokens, thereby strengthening ETH’s role as the preferred medium of exchange and unit of account by increasing its utility and making it the preferred token at the protocol level. The ultimate goal is enhancing ETH’s status as the “reserve currency of the digital economy”.

Proposal

Introduce a stateful system contract at address 0x20 that:

Exposes native ETH balances through a standard ERC-20 + ERC-2612 interface
Moves real account balances (no token-balance mapping)
Never executes recipient code
Carries a preferential gas schedule so the native path is cheaper than ordinary ERC-20s or WETH

This revives and updates an idea previously discussed on Magicians in 2022:

Repo (README + both drafts):

Specific draft:

github.com/crypDuck/eip-drafts

01-native-eth-as-erc20-precompile.md

main

---
title: Native ETH as ERC-20 Precompile
description: Introduce a system contract at address 0x20 that exposes native ETH balances through a standard ERC-20 (and ERC-2612) interface, with a preferential gas schedule that makes the native path cheaper than ordinary ERC-20 tokens or wrapped ETH.
author: crypDuck
discussions-to: https://ethereum-magicians.org/t/native-eth-as-erc-20-system-contract-draft-for-feedback/29301
status: Draft
type: Standards Track
category: Core
created: 2026-08-04
requires: 20, 2612, 7528
---

## Abstract

This EIP introduces a system contract at address `0x20` that implements the ERC-20 and ERC-2612 interfaces against native ETH balances. Transfers through the contract move real account balances, emit standard `Transfer` events, and never execute recipient code. The methods are given a preferential gas schedule so that using native ETH via the standard ERC-20 interface is cheaper than the same operations on ordinary ERC-20 tokens or on wrapped ETH. The change removes the need for most WETH wrapping while preserving native ETH semantics for gas payment and value transfers.

Although the title retains the familiar term “precompile” for continuity with prior discussion and existing implementations, the facility is implemented as a stateful system contract. State is required to store allowances and nonces.

## Motivation

This file has been truncated. show original

Feedback is especially welcome on the system-contract design, the opt-in mechanism for legacy contracts, the illustrative gas schedule, and any edge cases. There is a related companion proposal on preferential gas costs for native ETH operations in the same repository.