Ethereum is preparing to launch ERC-8004 on its mainnet this week, with developers signaling a target around Thursday, January 29. The new standard aims to let autonomous AI agents find each other, prove who they are, and work together without relying on centralized platforms.
ERC-8004 focuses on “trustless agents,” meaning software agents can interact safely even when they have never met before. The standard arrives as AI systems begin to handle payments, data access, and automated decisions at scale, creating a need for shared, verifiable trust tools.
How ERC-8004 Enables Trustless AI Agents
At its core, ERC-8004 introduces three on-chain registries for identity, reputation, and validation. Each AI agent can register an identity, often represented as a tokenized “passport,” that links to metadata describing its skills, endpoints, and owner. This helps other agents confirm they are talking to the right counterpart.
The reputation registry lets users and agents leave bounded feedback scores, usually between 0 and 100, plus tags and links to detailed reports stored off-chain. These scores can be aggregated on-chain so smart contracts can quickly check an agent’s track record before working with it. A separate validation registry supports stronger checks, including economic staking, re-execution of tasks, and cryptographic proofs from trusted hardware or zero-knowledge systems.
Why This Matters For Ethereum And AI
Developers and analysts view ERC-8004 as a way to make Ethereum a neutral trust layer for the growing AI agent economy. Instead of fragmented, proprietary platforms, agents can share identity and reputation data on an open, permissionless network. The standard uses a “minimal on-chain” design, storing heavy data off-chain to keep costs lower while preserving verifiable links.
If the mainnet rollout proceeds as planned this week, ERC-8004 could support new markets where AI agents discover services, negotiate, and pay across many organizations. Future versions plan to deepen support for cross-chain operation and payment protocols such as x402, which would let agents both verify counterparties and settle stablecoin micropayments automatically.
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