TL;DR
- Ethereum will introduce the ERC-8004 standard to enable direct communication and settlement between AI agents as a native capability on mainnet.
- The standard will allow agent discovery and portable reputation, enabling onchain transactions between organizations without manual processes.
- ERC-8004 will include tiered trust models and can be deployed on mainnet and across L2s.
Ethereum will introduce the ERC-8004 standard to enable direct communication and settlement between artificial intelligence agents. The foundation confirmed that the proposal will reach mainnet soon and will allow agent-to-agent interactions to function as a native capability of the network.
The Shift Toward Onchain Economy Automation
Until now, agentic tasks were executed on an ad hoc basis and required human intervention. ERC-8004 introduces a common framework that allows agents to discover other agents, communicate with each other, and execute onchain transactions without users performing manual processes. The standard enables discovery and portable reputation, allowing agents to operate across different organizations within a permissionless ecosystem.
ERC-8004 incorporates an onchain reputation system that grants agents access to the decentralized economy based on their verifiable track record. Agents will be able to participate in services and agreements without additional verification, using reputation as the access criterion. The design supports an open agent economy with control mechanisms that adjust according to risk.
Developers will be able to choose from different trust models. These include reputation based on client feedback, validation through staking, zero-knowledge machine learning proofs, and oracles supported by trusted execution environments. The models operate in tiers to cover low-risk tasks as well as operations involving higher value exposure.
ERC-8004 Can Be Deployed Across Ethereum L2s
The planned tasks range from simple actions to high-value transfers and complex operational decisions. The standard can be deployed on Ethereum mainnet as well as on any L2 network in the ecosystem, maintaining full cross-layer compatibility and reuse of reputation.
The proposal was developed by Marco De Rossi, Davide Crapis, Jordan Ellis, and Erik Reppel. Teams associated with MetaMask, Ethereum, and Coinbase also participated. The announcement has already driven the formation of teams working on agent solutions and screening systems based on ERC-8004.
Ethereum activity remains close to all-time highs, with around 1 million daily active wallets recorded. The network currently operates with smart contracts, bots, and regular users. The introduction of autonomous agents adds a new source of onchain activity.
