Hi,
I’ve written up an EIP proposal “Subscription Token Standard for NFTs and Multi Tokens”. Been busy lately but this proved very useful in my own dapp so thought I’d share.
One of the features that I really like about it (being as unbiased as possible) is the notion of subscriptions as a thing of value, which it has as it is exchanged for ERC-20 tokens. And if an implementer so desired, they are able to make them tradeable by implementing the remaining methods of ERC-20 that the specification does not cover.
I kept the spec minimal so that it can be as general purpose as possible. I also kept my mind open to future uses of NFTs and tried the best I could to ensure that this standard would cope with that.
It works by linearly reducing the balance of a subscriber’s subscription tokens held, until the balance is zero meaning that the subscription has expired. Whatever subscription service that was subscribed to can simply run the balanceOf method and disable when zero, or at least until more subscription tokens are bought to top the balance up again.
For example, an implementation mints an amount of subscription token that totals to one subscription token per day of the subscription period length paid for by the subscriber; for example a week would be for seven subscription tokens. The subscription token balance then decreases automatically at a rate of one token per day continuously and linearly over time until zero.
interface ISubscriptionToken {
/**
@dev This emits when the subscription token constructor or initialize method is
executed.
@param name The name of the subscription token
@param symbol The symbol of the subscription token
@param provider The provider of the subscription whom receives the deposits
@param subscriptionToken The subscription token contract address
@param baseToken The ERC-20 compatible token to use for the deposits.
@param nft Address of the `nft` contract that the provider mints/transfers from.
All tokenIds referred to in this interface MUST be token instances of this `nft` contract.
*/
event InitializeSubscriptionToken(
string name,
string symbol,
address provider,
address indexed subscriptionToken,
address indexed baseToken,
address indexed nft,
string uri
);
/**
@dev This emits for every new subscriber to `nft` contract of token `tokenId`.
`subscriber` MUST have received `nft` of token `tokenId` in their account.
@param subscriber The subscriber account
@param tokenId MUST be token id of `nft` sent to `subscriber`
@param uri MUST be uri of the `nft` that was sent to `subscriber` or empty string
*/
event SubscribeToNFT(
address indexed subscriber,
uint256 indexed tokenId,
string uri
);
/**
@dev Emits when `subscriber` deposits ERC-20 of token type `baseToken` via the `deposit method.
This tops up `subscriber` balance of subscription tokens
@param depositAmount The amount of ERC-20 of type `baseToken` deposited
@param subscriptionTokenAmount The amount of subscription tokens sent in exchange to `subscriber`
@param subscriptionPeriod Amount of additional time in seconds subscription is extended
*/
event Deposit(
address indexed subscriber,
uint256 indexed tokenId,
uint256 depositAmount,
uint256 subscriptionTokenAmount,
uint256 subscriptionPeriod
);
/**
@return The name of the subscription token
*/
function name() external view returns (string memory);
/**
@return The symbol of the subscription token
*/
function symbol() external view returns (string memory);
/**
@notice Subscribes `subscriber` to `nft` of 'tokenId'. `subscriber` MUST receive `nft`
of token `tokenId` in their account.
@dev MUST revert if `subscriber` is already subscribed to `nft` of 'tokenId'
MUST revert if 'nft' has not approved the `subscriptionToken` contract address as operator.
@param subscriber The subscriber account. MUST revert if zero address.
@param tokenId MUST be token id of `nft` contract sent to `subscriber`
`tokenId` emitted from event `SubscribeToNFT` MUST be the same as tokenId except when
tokenId is zero; allows OPTIONAL tokenid that is then set internally and minted by
`nft` contract
@param uri The OPTIONAL uri of the `nft`.
`uri` emitted from event `SubscribeToNFT` MUST be the same as uri except when uri is empty.
*/
function subscribeToNFT(
address subscriber,
uint256 tokenId,
string memory uri
) external;
/**
@notice Top up balance of subscription tokens held by `subscriber`
@dev MUST revert if `subscriber` is not subscribed to `nft` of 'tokenId'
MUST revert if 'nft' has not approved the `subscriptionToken` contract address as operator.
@param subscriber The subscriber account. MUST revert if zero address.
@param tokenId The token id of `nft` contract to subscribe to
@param depositAmount The amount of ERC-20 token of contract address `baseToken` to deposit
in exchange for subscription tokens of contract address `subscriptionToken`
*/
function deposit(
address subscriber,
uint256 tokenId,
uint256 depositAmount
) external payable;
/**
@return The balance of subscription tokens held by `subscriber`.
RECOMMENDED that the balance decreases linearly to zero for time limited subscriptions
RECOMMENDED that the balance remains the same for life long subscriptions
MUST return zero balance if the `subscriber` does not hold `nft` of 'tokenId'
MUST revert if `subscriber` is not an approved operator of `nft`
MUST revert if subscription has not yet started
When the balance is zero, the use of `nft` of `tokenId` MUST NOT be allowed for `subscriber`
*/
function balanceOf(address subscriber) external view returns (uint256);
}
This spec does create some implications on control of NFT lifetimes. This area is probably not as or yet to be fully developed by existing EIPs, and I don’t think it clashes with anything out there?
My particular use case for this proposal is numerous from:
Streaming services
Club memberships
Season tickets etc.
Other use cases I see are:
Renting of digital assets
Fixed rate to variable income in DeFi
etc.
My main motivation was to come up with a way to help loosen the stranglehold around content creators so they can administer their own subscription service eco system.
But let me know if you feel that this is something that could be useful? If there is anything that could be improved, or if there is an issue, or perhaps something that you don’t understand? etc.
Cheers
