# EIP-681
> Source: https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/eip-681
> research date 2026-06-03 · extracted at 2026-10-03
> Publisher: Barcoder — encyclopedia of QR, barcode and payment-code standards
Specifications:
- [ERC-681: URL Format for Transaction Requests](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-681)
- [ERC-831: URI Format for Ethereum](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-831)
## Overview
**EIP-681** (ERC-681), "URL Format for Transaction Requests," defines a standard way to represent Ethereum transactions — especially payment requests in ether and ERC-20 tokens — as `ethereum:` URIs that can be embedded in a [QR Code](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/qr-code) or a link for robust cross-application signalling.[1][1] Authored by Daniel A. Nagy and created 1 August 2017, it is a Standards-Track ERC that depends on EIP-20 (ERC-20 tokens) and EIP-137 (ENS), and it builds on the general `ethereum:` URI container defined by EIP-831.[1][1][2][2] A wallet scanning such a URI parses the target, chain, optional contract function and parameters and pre-fills a transaction for the user to confirm.[1][1]
## History
ERC-681 was created on 1 August 2017 by Daniel A. Nagy as a Standards-Track Ethereum Request for Comment, with dependencies on EIP-20 and EIP-137.[1][1] It deliberately resembles Bitcoin's `bitcoin:` URLs ([BIP-21](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bip-21)) for user familiarity, generalising the simpler `ethereum:` URI base of EIP-831 into a format expressive enough to encode arbitrary ABI-specified contract calls, with payment requests as the headline special case.[1][1][2][2] More recent successors target related niches, e.g. ERC-7856 ("Chain-Specific Payment Requests").[5][5]
## Technical specification
Syntax:[1][1]
```
ethereum:[pay-][@chain_id][/function_name][?parameters]
```
- **Schema prefix**: `ethereum:`, optionally `ethereum:pay-` for the payment special case; the prefix may be omitted in plain coin-transfer contexts.[1][1]
- **target_address**: an Ethereum address in `0x` hex form, or an ENS name.[1][1]
- **@chain_id**: optional decimal chain identifier; if omitted it defaults to `1` (Ethereum mainnet).[1][1]
- **/function_name**: optional smart-contract function (e.g. `transfer` for ERC-20).[1][1]
- **parameters**: query string of key=value pairs.[1][1]
Parameters:[1][1]
- **`value`**: amount of native token in wei; numeric values support scientific notation, with only integers permitted when an exponent is used (exponent ≥ the number of decimal places).
- **`gas` / `gasLimit`**: suggested gas limit.
- **`gasPrice`**: suggested gas price.
- **ABI-typed parameters**: keys named by Solidity type (e.g. `address`, `uint256`) supply the arguments of the named function.
All supplied amounts and arguments are *suggestions* the user may edit before signing; with no amount the wallet prompts for one.[1][1]
Examples:[1][1]
Send 2.014 ether:
```
ethereum:0xfb6916095ca1df60bb79Ce92ce3ea74c37c5d359?value=2.014e18
```
Request transfer of 1 unit of an ERC-20 token (token contract `0x8920…`, recipient `0x8e23…`):
```
ethereum:0x89205a3a3b2a69de6dbf7f01ed13b2108b2c43e7/transfer?address=0x8e23ee67d1332ad560396262c48ffbb01f93d052&uint256=1
```
## Use cases
- **Ether payment requests**: a payee shares an `ethereum:` link/QR; the payer's wallet pre-fills the recipient and `value`.[1][1]
- **ERC-20 token transfers**: encoding `/transfer` plus `address` and `uint256` arguments requests a token payment to a specified contract.[1][1]
- **General transaction requests**: because the format is ABI-driven, any contract call can be encoded, not just payments.[1][1]
- **Cross-chain targeting**: `@chain_id` lets a single URI specify the network (e.g. an L2) the transaction belongs to.[1][1]
## Implementations
- **eth-url-parser** (brunobar79) — JavaScript; parses/builds ERC-681 and ERC-831 Ethereum URLs; ~31 stars, active 2024.[3][3]
- **parity-js/erc681** — JavaScript; ERC-681 and ERC-831 URL/URI parsing.[4][4]
- **eip681-link-generator-v2** (brunobar79) — JavaScript tool generating EIP-681 transaction links.[3][3]
- **web3swift** — Swift; documents an EIP-681 URI scheme parser used in mobile wallets.[6][6]
## Comparison
- **EIP-681 vs a plain address**: a bare `0x…` address conveys only a destination; an EIP-681 URI additionally carries amount (`value`), gas hints, target chain (`@chain_id`) and even a full contract call — so the wallet can pre-fill a complete, confirm-only transaction.[1][1]
- **EIP-681 vs EIP-831**: EIP-831 defines only the generic `ethereum:` URI container; EIP-681 specialises it with the transaction-request / payment grammar (`pay-`, `value`, function calls).[1][1][2][2]
- **EIP-681 vs [BIP-21](https://docs.barcoder.ai/docs/standards/bip-21)**: both are scan-to-pay URI schemes and EIP-681 was modelled on `bitcoin:`, but EIP-681 is far more expressive — it encodes arbitrary ABI contract calls and chain selection, not just an address plus amount/label.[1][1]
## Fun facts
- ERC-681 expresses amounts in scientific notation (e.g. `2.014e18` wei for 2.014 ETH), explicitly to keep human-meaningful units while staying integer-exact at the wei level.[1][1]
- The spec was consciously patterned on Bitcoin's `bitcoin:` URLs to make Ethereum payment links feel familiar to users.[1][1]
## Status
EIP-681 is a Standards-Track ERC ("Final"-class in practice) and the de facto Ethereum payment-URI used in QR codes and dapp deep-links, with multiple parser libraries and wallet implementations; newer ERCs such as ERC-7856 extend the chain-specific payment-request space around it.[1][1][3][3][5][5]
## Sources
[1]: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-681
[2]: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-831
[3]: https://github.com/brunobar79/eth-url-parser
[4]: https://github.com/parity-js/erc681
[5]: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7856
[6]: https://deepwiki.com/web3swift-team/web3swift/7.2-eip-681-uri-scheme
[1] [ERC-681: URL Format for Transaction Requests](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-681) — ethereum.org, 2017
[2] [ERC-831: URI Format for Ethereum](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-831) — ethereum.org, 2018
[3] [eth-url-parser](https://github.com/brunobar79/eth-url-parser) — GitHub, 2024
[4] [parity-js/erc681](https://github.com/parity-js/erc681) — GitHub, 2019
[5] [ERC-7856: Chain-Specific Payment Requests](https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-7856) — ethereum.org, 2024
[6] [EIP-681 URI Scheme — web3swift](https://deepwiki.com/web3swift-team/web3swift/7.2-eip-681-uri-scheme) — DeepWiki, n.d.
## Deployments
_No country reports mention this standard by name._
## Regions / aggregations not mapped to a single country
- Universal