Key Points:
- BNB Chain adopted ERC-8004 to give autonomous agents portable on-chain identities.
- The standard introduces registries for agent identity, reputation, and validation data.
- BNB Application Proposals add a framework for application-layer agent standards.
- A new Non-Fungible Agent model allows agents to be owned, transferred, or leased.
BNB Chain has announced support for ERC-8004, an emerging Ethereum standard designed to give autonomous AI agents portable, verifiable on-chain identities, a move aimed at accelerating development of agent-native applications across decentralized networks.
Proposed in 2024 by contributors from the Ethereum Foundation, MetaMask, Google, and Coinbase, ERC-8004 introduces three core registries that record agent identities, reputations, and validation data on-chain. The framework enables software agents to authenticate, preserve historical behavior, and carry reputational context as they move between applications and blockchains.
BNB Chain said it has deployed ERC-8004 on BNB Smart Chain mainnet and testnet, positioning the network as an early hub for agent systems that require low fees and fast execution. Layer-2 network Scroll has also highlighted the standard’s cross-chain design, noting its potential to enable agent portability across ecosystems.
Project contributors say more than 24,000 agent identities are already tracked on Ethereum-based deployments, while platforms such as Olas report thousands of mirrored agents operating across multiple environments.
Building an On-Chain Identity Layer for AI Agents
At its core, ERC-8004 is intended to provide a common identity layer for autonomous programs, allowing them to demonstrate who they are and what they have done without relying on centralized intermediaries.
By anchoring identity and reputation on-chain, agents can retain trust relationships when switching between applications, rather than starting from scratch in each environment.
BNB Chain framed the standard as foundational infrastructure for open, auditable agent interactions and interoperability, a prerequisite for more complex agent-to-agent coordination and service discovery.
BNB Application Proposals and the Non-Fungible Agent Standard
Alongside ERC-8004 support, BNB Chain introduced BNB Application Proposals (BAPs), a governance framework focused on application-layer standards covering identity interfaces, wallet behavior, token and NFT interactions, and application communication methods.
The first proposal, BAP-578, defines a Non-Fungible Agent (NFA) standard, representing agents as on-chain entities that can hold assets, execute logic, interact with protocols, and be transferred or leased by users. In effect, agents become tradable digital assets, enabling marketplaces where they are deployed as services or integrated into automated workflows.
Supporters see these standards as a step toward an “agent economy,” where autonomous programs coordinate tasks and exchange value with minimal human oversight.
Still, challenges remain, including developer adoption, cross-chain compatibility, security of agent logic, and unresolved legal and privacy questions around digital identity and automated decision-making.
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