Ethereum developers are preparing to roll out ERC-8004, a new standard designed to help software agents find each other, prove who they are, and decide who to trust when operating across different systems.
The proposal introduces a simple idea. If AI agents are to act, coordinate and perform tasks autonomously, they need persistent identities and a common way to build credibility – just like users, wallets or smart contracts do today.
It comes as large companies race to deploy AI agents in-house, with most systems still relying on closed identity lists, API keys or bilateral trust agreements. It works in a company, but breaks down when agents have to coordinate across suppliers, chains or jurisdictions.
ERC-8004 defines three lightweight registries that can live on the Ethereum mainnet or layer-2 network.
ERC-8004 will go live on the mainnet soon.
By enabling discovery and portable reputation, ERC-8004 allows AI agents to interact across organizations, ensuring credibility travels everywhere.
This opens up a global market where AI services can work together without gatekeepers. https://t.co/Yrl0rvnSxj
— Ethereum (@ethereum) 27 January 2026
The first is an identity registry, which assigns each agent a unique chain identifier using an ERC-721-like token. This identifier points to a registry file that describes what the agent does, how it can be reached, and what protocols it supports. Ownership of the identifier can be transferred, delegated, or updated, providing agents with portable, censorship-resistant identities.
The second is a reputation registry where clients—human or machine—can submit structured feedback about an agent’s performance. The register stores raw signals in the chain while allowing more complex scoring and filtering to occur outside the chain. The goal is not to rank agents directly, but to make reputation data public and reusable across applications.
The third is a validation registry, which lets agents request independent verification of their work. Validators may include staked services, machine learning credentials, trusted hardware, or other verification systems. These results are stored on the blockchain so other users can see what was checked and by whom.
Developers involved in the proposal are portraying it as infrastructure rather than a marketplace. ERC-8004 does not handle payments, pricing or business models. Instead, it provides common tracks for discovery and trust, leaving monetization to higher-level protocols.
If adopted, the standard could push Ethereum further into a role as neutral infrastructure — not just for financial contracts, but for coordinating autonomous software agents in an increasingly fragmented AI ecosystem.
The ether of the network trading just above $3,000 in Asian afternoon hours on Wednesday, up nearly 3% in the past 24 hours.
