Standard
A-REX Core — the standard
What the standard defines, what a conforming token does, how it changes and how it becomes an ERC. The normative text is shared under early access.
Status
Draft, before submission. The text is written in the format of an Ethereum Request for Comments so that it can go to ethereum/ERCs once independent implementers have used the interfaces in production. It will be published under CC0; the reference implementation is MIT.
What it defines
A-REX Core is a small extension of ERC-1155 and ERC-7943. A batch (a lot of a physical commodity, or the right to a future lot) is one ERC-1155 token id. The standard adds four layers to it:
| Layer | Interface | What it covers | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | ERC-1155, ERC-165, IERC7943MultiToken | balances and batch transfers; freeze, forced transfer, account eligibility | yes |
| 1 | IARexBatch | the batch record: open commodity and unit codes, production and expiry times, an origin reference, a commitment to an off-chain document, a lifecycle status, and lineage when a lot is split, merged or processed | yes |
| 2 | IARexHook, IARexHookManager | one ordered pipeline of external rule contracts; a rule answers with a machine-readable reason | yes |
| 3 | IARexAttest | certifications, inspections and declarations per batch and topic, from issuers trusted for that topic | recommended, in the token or a companion contract |
What a conforming token does
- It behaves as an ordinary ERC-1155 token, so wallets, marketplaces and indexers work unchanged.
- It exposes the ERC-7943 enforcement surface: a lot can be frozen or moved under a court order, a lien or a recall, and every such action is visible on chain.
- It keeps a record for every batch and records each split, merge or processing step, so the parents of a lot can always be traced.
- It runs every transfer through its rule pipeline and can say why a transfer is refused.
- It declares the interfaces it implements, so tools can detect it.
A rule contract (a hook) conforms when it implements IARexHook. One rule contract can serve many tokens.
What it leaves out
There is no list of crops, grades or certifications: codes are open. There is no personal data on chain: no plot coordinates, names or identifiers of natural persons. No identity provider, oracle or registry is mandated. Decay curves, delivery workflows, carbon accounting and insurance are built as rules or companion contracts; the reference implementation demonstrates some of them, and conformance does not depend on them.
Versioning
The interfaces are versioned with the standard. A change to a function, an event or a requirement is a major version and comes with a migration note. Optional additions, such as new recommended codes or metadata fields, are a minor version. Until submission the interfaces may still change, always as a major version.
Path to an ERC
The text goes to ethereum/ERCs when four conditions hold: a production deployment with real batches has run for six months; at least three independent rule contracts exist; the reference implementation has a published third-party audit; and the interfaces have not changed for one release cycle. The roadmap is in Future Developments.
What this site withholds
The normative clauses, the interface sources and their identifiers, the rejection codes and the batch metadata schema stay in the standard repository while it is private. Companies that want to implement A-REX, issue batches with it or audit it request read access on Request early access. Each request is reviewed by hand; approved readers receive read-only access to the standard and to the reference implementation. The material stays confidential until it is published under CC0, and early access grants no exclusivity.