Cowrie Research

erc-1328-primary-sources-2026-05-14

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ERC-1328 primary sources — 2026-05-14

Project status in this pass

  • No standalone ERC-1328 whitepaper or litepaper surfaced.
  • The clearest current sources of truth were the ERC page itself, the raw ERC markdown in the Ethereum ERCs repository, and WalletConnect’s v2 pairing-URI spec.
  • The sources consistently frame ERC-1328 as the URI-layer bootstrap for app-to-wallet connection, not as the full WalletConnect session or auth protocol.

Primary-source snapshots

1) Canonical ERC page

  • URL: https://eips.ethereum.org/EIPS/eip-1328
  • Key excerpt/signals:
    • The subtitle says the standard defines a URI format for initiating connections between applications and wallets.
    • The abstract says the URI can be shown as a QR code or a link.
    • The syntax centers on wc:topic@version?parameters.
  • Why it mattered:
    • This is the cleanest evidence that ERC-1328 belongs in the corpus as connection-bootstrap transport infrastructure rather than as a full auth or session-management protocol.

2) Raw ERC markdown / versioned parameter surface

  • URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ethereum/ERCs/master/ERCS/erc-1328.md
  • Key excerpt/signals:
    • For WalletConnect v1 the required parameters are key and bridge.
    • For WalletConnect v2 the required parameters shift to symKey, methods, and relay-protocol, with optional relay-data and expiryTimestamp.
    • The spec requires explicit URI versioning so newer WalletConnect generations can evolve without silently breaking older parsers.
  • Why it mattered:
    • These details show ERC-1328 standardizes the invitation envelope itself and makes version upgrades a first-class part of wallet-connection transport.

3) Raw ERC markdown / transport rationale

  • URL: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ethereum/ERCs/master/ERCS/erc-1328.md
  • Key excerpt/signals:
    • The rationale says the proposal moved away from JSON because JSON was inefficient for parsing QR intent payloads.
    • It also says a URI form lets implementers leverage Android intents.
  • Why it mattered:
    • This clarifies that ERC-1328 is fundamentally about wallet-edge transport ergonomics and parser simplicity, not about richer session permissions or wallet capability semantics.

4) WalletConnect v2 pairing URI spec

  • URL: https://specs.walletconnect.com/2.0/specs/clients/core/pairing/pairing-uri
  • Key excerpt/signals:
    • The spec explicitly labels the URI schema as EIP-1328.
    • It treats the URI as the bootstrap artifact for pairing in the decoupled v2 architecture.
    • It documents the v2 parameter meanings inside the broader pairing flow.
  • Why it mattered:
    • This is the strongest implementation-facing evidence that ERC-1328 remains a real lower-layer dependency beneath later WalletConnect v2 pairing and session behavior.

Working conclusion

ERC-1328 is best cataloged as the low-level invitation format for WalletConnect-style app-to-wallet handshakes. It standardizes how pairing metadata is carried across QR codes and deep links, while leaving actual pairing negotiation, session lifecycle, authentication, and later capability scope to higher layers.

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